Transitioning From Adjunct To Tenure Track

Three faculty members in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech discuss their successful transitions from adjunct faculty to tenure-track faculty. One faculty member had industrial experience, worked as an adjunct in a community college before becoming tenuretrack faculty, and is now a tenured faculty member. The second faculty member had experience as a university researcher, worked as an instructor in one department and as an adjunct in another division at Virginia Tech before becoming a tenure-track faculty member in 1999. The third faculty member worked as an adjunct for 2.5 years in what is now the Department of Engineering Education and was hired as a tenure-track faculty member in 2003. The faculty members discuss differences in job expectations, employee benefits, and university resources for adjunct and tenure-track positions, what they did to prepare for a tenure-track position, why they believe they were successful in obtaining a tenure-track position, and interviewing for a tenure-track position. With the recent departmental shift from a primarily teaching to a research-oriented focus, these three faculty members also elaborate on how they are approaching this transition as well. Michael Gregg, Associate Professor An alternate and increasingly less traveled road toward tenure in engineering is via industry. This is particularly true in a research university, such as Virginia Tech. Twenty years of industrial experience included self employment, government consulting (honorably referred to as a ‘beltway bandit’ in the Washington D.C. environs), machine design and automation, quality control, marketing and manufacturing. Reaching a ‘technical ceiling’ in industry – a position above which administrative duties abound but active engineering is relegated to others – required a reassessment of career path. Teaching engineering had never been considered as an option, having seemingly endured that experience as an undergraduate and graduate student. I was, however, convinced by an engineering colleague that in the world of academics, particularly engineering, politics played a back-burner role and besides, you would only teach one or two classes a week. I thus began my long tenure-track process as an adjunct teaching engineering at one of Virginia’s community colleges. As a community college adjunct faculty, I began by teaching evening engineering courses for token compensation. Courses included Manufacturing Processes, statics, strength of materials, drafting, CAD, programming and heat transfer, among other courses. The most memorable course was a three hour long lecture offered once a week covering manufacturing processes. This course proved much easier on the faculty than on the audience. In retrospect, I have to P ge 10355.1 “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Education” applaud my captive industrial audience of fifty plus souls who survived 15 weeks of this Thursday evening class. What struck me in teaching engineering at the community college level was the motivation of the students – most were well beyond their ‘teens and approached these classes with a need-to-know. The adjunct status morphed into a full time academic year teaching position. In this position I was the engineering department: I taught all of the classes, determined their content, selected books, and arranged my schedule. My only real contact with the college administration was at the end of the academic year for review of the mandatory teaching evaluations – a reality check on the nature of colleges and, in retrospect, a harbinger of life at the university level. The expected reduction in income (relative to industry) was offset by considerable scheduling freedom, vacations typically matching those of the students, little administrative interference, combined with considerable personal responsibility and autonomy. A tenure track position with Virginia Tech came about via a conference between my community college and VT. The position was in VT’s ‘freshman engineering program’ and involved teaching and advising, with no mention of a research component. I was not ‘looking’ for a new position and, frankly, not particularly interested in exchanging my position as ‘the department’ for a position as one of many faculty members teaching 1500 first year engineering students. This attitude and my general naïveté concerning university search processes were to my benefit. In addition, I over-prepared for my presentation, was relaxed (no stress), was confident in my abilities, had researched the employer and department, and took a professional approach to the interview. When I received a call from the department head with a job offer the next week I was unprepared to make that decision – I had not seriously considered the possibility of being offered the job. I took a week to decide to turn down the offer, and then spent another sleepless week before I called the department head on the off-chance that the position was still available; it was and I accepted. The Virginia Tech position in the Division of Engineering Fundamentals (now the Department of Engineering Education) involved teaching, advising and scholarly work. There was no expectation of developing research programs or of generating substantial funding. Faculty typically taught four sections of a twoor three-credit class each semester and advised 180 engineering students. Salary levels in this division were not only less than industry, but substantially less than faculty conducting organized research. Whereas in industry you occasionally worked 60 hour weeks, sometimes 100 hour weeks, in academia, particularly the early years, 60 hour weeks are the norm. Overloaded work schedules in industry are balanced by slow periods or ‘comp’ time. In academia, particularly when teaching every day, you must be ready for every class, irrespective of mental or physical health. Evenings and weekends are spent preparing for classes and grading student work; weekdays are spent delivering class, revising material for subsequent classes, and advising students. The change of the Division of Engineering Fundamentals to the Department of Engineering Education was a result of a change of mission. Advising and teaching had been the primary objective; it is now research, in conformance with the mission of a research university. This change has been substantive, particularly when the faculty member was tenured for advising and teaching. Preparation for tenure now is significantly different than in my case. I did the best professional job I could both teaching and advising students. I volunteered whenever possible for committees both inside and outside the University. I served as a member of the faculty P ge 10355.2 “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Education” senate, vice-chair of the Engineering Faculty Organization, leadership roles in ASEE’s Engineering Design Graphics Division, S.E. Section; and leadership of ASEE’s Freshman Programs Division. I wrote papers and made presentations at every opportunity. The current paradigm is funding based. A new faculty member should make every effort to network with senior faculty both within their department and with other departments or institutions. Make connections with as many faculty with established research programs as possible in the course of establishing your own research program. Make your department look good, which generally means concentrating on research relevant to that department. Find a mentor to help lead you through the intricacies of university/government grant applications; a good university will have a mentor assigned to you. Be prepared to work tirelessly and assiduously avoid stepping on toes. Tamara Knott, Assistant Professor I had completed my undergraduate degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech and had begun work on my master’s degree when I had the opportunity to take a position as a Research Associate working with the NASA-Virginia Tech Composites Program. Although I was initially hired to do analytic and experimental research in mechanics of composite materials, I evolved into the manager of the experimental and computer laboratories for the program, maintaining the equipment and training and supervising graduate and undergraduate students in the use the equipment, in addition to my research responsibilities. Once I had completed my master’s degree, I was asked to teach one or two sections of Statics or Strength of Materials each semester. Through this opportunity I discovered that I was a successful instructor and that I enjoyed teaching. Because of my teaching experience and success, when funding for the research position was tight I was able to transfer to a position as an instructor with the department. In the spring of 1994 I had the opportunity to teach for the Division of Engineering Fundamentals at Virginia Tech. I taught three sections (32 students each) of the second semester freshman engineering course. My teaching evaluations were strong, and I was offered a position as an adjunct professor with the division for the 94/95 academic year. As an adjunct I was responsible for teaching four 32-seat sections each semester. In addition I was also the freshman year academic advisor for those students in my fall semester sections. At the time, teaching and advising were the primary functions of the division. Although the tenured and tenure-track faculty were involved with university service and expected to conduct scholarly work, as an adjunct I was not involved in these activities. I was able to focus on my teaching and my students. I was also available and willing to fill in for colleagues when they were unable to hold class. During this year I was excited to learn tha