Academician comes to mind, but that's not exactly right, by definition. I'm looking for a word to describe the person that went from grade school to high school to undergrad school, to grad school, then straight into teaching at the college level, becoming tenured. Someone who has done nothing else in life, but spend their time on campus. No other jobs.
1 Answer
If you’re looking for a word which has negative connotations, I’ve heard some academics refer to colleagues such as you describe as being “[academically] institutionalized”, in the sense of OED’s third definition for the word:
3 (of a person) apathetic and dependent after a long period in an institution.
‘I became less institutionalized, more able to function as an individual’
This usage is also one which Urban Dictionary recognises. Of course there are intentional undertones of the more common usage of the word, namely to describe a person who has been committed to a mental institution!
For something with a less negative connotation, how about:
Academian (n) a member of an academy
… which is nice, since if “Academia” were a country, its citizens would surely be called “Academians”!
