Hey Allan,
I am required to serve on a couple of committees, How do I deal with it? Fortunately when I discovered this requirement I was able *volunteer* for committees that could benefit my program directly. Safety, Student success etc.
I am also spending considerable time in building new curriculum, but at least some of it is grant and I will be paid, (at least that's the plan) and my new partner will have fresh new curriculum to guide him/her on day one, rather than start from complete scratch like I did 4 years ago. I also spend considerable time in contact with local industry, but this gets me new students and places current ones, so It's hard to be bitter about that time investment.
When I look at my teaching load and office hours and compare them with what I was doing for the Airline they are pretty awesome.
Did I take a paycut when I accepted the job?...... You bet. However;.. I now have June, July and August off. I have about a month off in December and a week at spring break, a very solid retirement plan (which is a good thing since I can use my United Airlines Esop and retirement to paper walls), no copay on my medical or dental ... I can shovel snow, plant a garden, read Russian novels, travel, or do consulting work for good cash during my off time (I've tried it all).
I really couldn't be happier with my situation. My state also has pretty good salary structures at the various technical colleges, the Technical College system is staffed by industry expert program instructors who regularly out earn PhDs community college teachers, which is as it should be. It's my judgment that we are highly valued by the state and local administration for being experts in industry and the unique niche abilities we bring to the various technical programs.
My contact time with students remains a constant... All my classes are lecture/lab combos so I simply won't leave the lab unattended, I'm there every minute. (another advantage of building your own curricula)
Hello Lawrence, part of my post was the result of some frustrations, thus the venting portion of the post. I do love teaching and the satisfaction of having an impact on the lives of so many individuals, even if only in a small way. The part where I discussed the interaction time however is sadly true. Even though we have scheduled class times for holding lab, meeting times are generally held whenever an administrator or dean decides to do so, when that occurs the only way that I can attend without cancelling classes is to have my teaching partner take the entire class or find a stand-in to take over. This is becoming more and more prevalent at our institution.
As our school has both academic transfer degree type programming and vocational programs there are some extreme differences in class offering times. The academics are typically offered in the morning or evenings by adjunct faculty, vocational programming is generally offered morning, afternoon and in many cases evenings also. The majority of meetings and faculty upgrade training opportunities are held around the academic employee schedules, or in the afternoons. So it isn't hard to figure out that if you need to be involved in these meeting activities there is time loss in instructor/student interaction.
Another interesting note here. Almost all of the welding classes that we offer are classified as lab classes even though they incorporate lecture sessions as the applications fit and we also, in a sense, lecture to each individual student when we critique their welding performance and make suggestions for improvement and explain various topics as they relate to welding challenges. Having said that, here comes the rub. Our contact hours are based on a one and a half to one ratio compared to lecture type classes taught by academics. That means that an academic employee of our college who had say a 24 hour contact load would rate the same as I would having a 36 hour contact load and I still have the same committee assignments and other related requirements to meet for my position. I guess this is just one more thing that kind of gets under my skin when I consider how the trades are viewed in our society.
I feel that unless you are fortunate enough to have administrators that are sympathetic to the trades or have a real understanding of their importance you will have a very hard uphill battle. At my school and many others that is exactly what we face all the time. It takes me some time to collect my thoughts sometimes and regroup so that I can decide on a new tact and go at it again. Thank you for your thoughts Lawrence, I do appreciate your comments and thank you also Christine. Regards, Allan
Allan,
Vent away... we will do what we can to support you, even if its just listening for now.
I think you hit the nail on the head in your last graph. If the department Dean is progressive about technical training and in touch with the manufacturing sector of the region than it's a smooth ride.. If the Dean is a bean counter, there will be trouble.
I have gotten a good break here. My Dean is hands off as long as I keep a constant flow of communication and get him involved when I do need help. He really facilitates rather than manages. But the best part is that along with this progressive attitude, the guy is territorial. If somebody were to try to give collateral duties to one of his faculty without clearing it with him...... Fireworks! It is a beautiful thing to have just one boss, really its the first time in my carreer.
Er. I dealt with those thoughts by dropping adjunct teaching and going into college administration :)
I don't, however, ever plan to return to college administration, even after I earn this PhD, and it's one reason I plan to focus on adjuncting and research instead of a tenure track position, because you are all too correct in your observation, and it's not just in vocational education. I did and do, however, love the _teaching_ part of it -- I was lucky enough to get great students, and that for me is fun.
-- christine
Forum
