Technical Engineering Research, Publication And Pedagogical Scholarship In A Teaching Oriented Small Campus Environment

The experience of conducting technical research and publishing technical research and pedagogical papers at a small campus location is fundamentally different from that of most faculty in a major research university environment. At the same time, this campus experience has many similarities with graduate student research at a major research university. This information may be useful to potential tenure-track faculty members as they make decisions about positions and to new tenure-track faculty members in the early or middle stages of the tenure process. Specifically the issues of research funding, graduate students, solo research and publication, collaborative research and publication, and the difference between pedagogical research and scholarship are discussed. The general findings can be summarized as follows. Obtaining external funding for research projects, a critical concern for faculty at a major research university, is usually not a concern for faculty in a small campus environment. While this relieves the campus faculty of this concern, it means that there will be severe limitations regarding the type and scope of research that he/she can perform. Furthermore; because of the lack of funding, and more often than not, the lack of graduate students themselves, the small campus faculty must conduct their research either solo or in collaboration with other faculty members. Realistically, the opportunities for conducting collaborative research may make it difficult, impractical, or impossible. While similar to graduate research, solo research and publication presents its own unique challenges. Pedagogical endeavors represent additional publication opportunities; however, faculty need to understand the difference between pedagogical research and scholarship. Furthermore, all these considerations should be made with the understanding that maintaining a single research focus is important for a small campus faculty member. This is particularly true given the high teaching loads and the lack of graduate research assistants available for such a faculty member.