The Higher Education Job Market For M.S. And Ph.D. Engineering Education Program Graduates

The potential job market in colleges and universities is investigated for graduates of new certificate, M.S., and Ph.D. programs in Engineering Education. Data sources include positions posted to engineering education listservs over a recent one year period and an anonymous survey of engineering academic deans. The results suggest that engineering education program graduates will be competitive for a variety of staff and faculty positions in colleges and schools of engineering. However, availability of tenure-track positions will be limited, as a Ph.D. in the discipline is generally required and very few Engineering Education departments currently exist. (This paper also discusses an engineering education certificate for graduates in traditional engineering disciplines. These graduates remain competitive for faculty positions in the discipline of their Ph.D. degree.) Despite negative comments about how engineering education graduates will fit into the current university faculty structure, there is support for the new engineering education M.S. and Ph.D. degrees and evidence that graduates will be considered for a variety of positions at four-year institutions. Introduction Recent years have seen the emergence of engineering education graduate programs and departments, including those at Purdue University, Virginia Tech, and the Ph.D. granting partners of the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (Utah State University, University of Georgia, University of Illinois, and University of Minnesota). Though applications and informal inquiries attest to the interest in these programs, the question remains as to where (and whether) engineering education graduates will find work. Specifically, the research questions for this study were: • What types of positions in higher education settings, including faculty positions, might be available to engineering education program graduates? • Will engineering education graduates be accepted as competitive applicants for these positions? • What job market considerations might guide the development of engineering education degree programs and the advising of engineering education students? To answer these questions and triangulate the results, two different data sources were used. Position vacancies were tracked to estimate the number and type of positions available, while engineering academic deans were surveyed regarding their perceptions of how competitive engineering education graduates might be for these positions. Method There were two main sources of data in this study. The first was position vacancies posted to various listservs: 1. Wepan-l, the announcement email list for WEPAN, Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network. All but three positions in this study were posted to this list. 2. The ASEE Educational Research Methods Division list. P ge 11296.2 3. The Assessment in Higher Education list (assess@lsv.uky.edu), which included one engineering-specific assessment position during the sampling period. Both the web sites and print versions of ASEE PRISM (Classifieds) and the Chronicle of Higher Education were also monitored, but these did not provide additional relevant postings. Second, engineering academic deans were invited to complete a survey of the types of positions available at their institutions and the desirability of engineering education graduates for these positions. The survey was designed based on positions posted to the listservs during the first six months of monitoring. Academic assistant and associate deans were targeted because they often directly supervise the staff positions included in the survey. The paper version of this survey is included in Appendix B. Table 1 summarizes the engineering education program descriptions presented to survey participants. The Ph.D., M.S., and certificate in engineering education were evaluated by survey respondents. The intent of the certificate program is to augment the training of Ph.D. students in traditional engineering disciplines who wish to pursue tenure-track faculty positions. Since the job market for traditional Ph.D. engineering graduates is well-understood and unlikely to change as a result of the new engineering education certificate, the focus of this study was on the M.S. and Ph.D. graduates. An important question to answer is whether Ph.D. engineering education graduates will be able to find work in tenure-track faculty positions. Table 1. Summary of the three engineering education graduate programs planned at Virginia Tech, as described in the survey. These are not necessarily the current requirements for the Virginia Tech degree programs. Program Targeted Source of Students Number of Units Focus of Coursework Expected Higher Education Job Opportunities Certificate Students earning a Ph.D. in another engineering discipline 12 Pedagogy* Tenure-track faculty in the Ph.D. discipline Master’s (M.S.) with thesis 30 Pedagogy, assessment, statistics, and research methods* Staff positions in administration** Doctorate (Ph.D.) Students with a B.S. in engineering 37 course, plus research credits Pedagogy, assessment, statistics, research methods, and proposal writing* Staff positions in administration**, some faculty appointments *All programs also include a required teaching practicum. **Staff positions include opportunities in Assessment, Diversity Programs, Advising, Engineering Teaching Centers, and Curricular Improvement. To collect the survey data, a web version of the survey was posted using Snap web survey software, and an invitation was sent through the ASEE dean’s listserv. Approximately 55 responses were obtained in this manner. Then, at the engineering academic dean’s meeting at the 2005 ASEE national conference, the attendee from Virginia Tech distributed paper versions of the survey to collect another 15 responses (to total 70). This person was careful to explain that if the web version of the survey was completed, the paper version was not necessary. A total of 70 responses were received. Assuming that there were no duplicate responses from any single P ge 11296.3 institution, the response rate can be calculated as 20% of the 345 institutions with at least one currently accredited ABET engineering degree program. Position Posting Results Table 2 summarizes the positions identified during the twelve-month sampling period. A table detailing each position is included in Appendix A. This gives a general, non-rigorous idea of the number and types of positions that might be available to M.S. and Ph.D. engineering education graduates interested in higher education work. It should be noted that there is likely a bias toward overrepresentation of diversity positions, since the main data source was the listserv for a professional society focusing on women in engineering programs. Table 2. Summary of Position Postings. More detailed information for each position is provided in Appendix A. Positions preferring Ph.D. (15 total positions over the 12-month sample period) Positions preferring M.S. or B.S. with experience (9 total positions over the 12-month sample period) • Six faculty positions (four tenure track, two lecturers) • One teaching center associate director and one engineering education center director • Two research scientist positions • One assessment director position • Three directors of diversity programs • One technical internship program manager • Seven diversity programs staff dealing with recruitment, retention and outreach • One lecturer position • One advising position • One assessment position (a professional society’s ABET coordinator) • One research coordinator position All positions are specific to engineering, and those that specified a disciplinary background indicated either engineering, education, or either type of degree. One lecturer position, for example, specified an undergraduate degree in engineering and a doctorate in an education field. As a group, the postings list faculty, research, assessment, diversity programs, and advising positions. The dean’s survey asked the deans to rate the desirability of engineering education graduates for these types of positions. A copy of the paper version of the survey is included in Appendix B. Survey Results: Certificate Program The 12-unit certificate program was intended to be an additional credential for Ph.D. candidates in traditional engineering disciplines interested in tenure-track faculty positions. Therefore, this section’s survey questions focused on desirability of faculty candidates with traditional engineering degrees and a certificate in engineering education. The responses to this question are summarized in Table 3. Over 67% of respondents would find the candidates very desirable or somewhat desirable; however, 33% of deans appear to have indicated that the additional credential would make not difference. Table 3. Desirability of engineering education certificate graduates with a Ph.D. in the discipline for tenure-track faculty positions. “Don’t know” was a fourth response option, receiving zero responses. Response Percentage of Responses Very desirable, a likely finalist 16% (11 responses) Somewhat desirable, a possible finalist 51% (36 responses) Neutral opinion, it would not matter 33% (23 responses) P ge 11296.4 There was no open response question dedicated to the certificate program, but many deans chose to comment on this issue in the final survey question. A few made it clear that the certificate would be viewed as a secondary qualification to demonstrated research skill. One respondent summarized this view by writing: Having a Ph.D. student take courses in teaching is an excellent idea if they are interested in an academic career. However, when recruiting for faculty positions, their potential for a successful research program is very important and the teaching experience would be frosting on the cake (not the cake). Given two candidates with a similar research record, the certificate