Tomorrow's Professor: UPDATE 2012: Recent Changes in Higher Education That Can Impact Your Preparation for an Academic Career

UPDATE 2012: Recent Changes in Higher Education That Can Impact Your Preparation for an Academic Career
Section topics

http://derekbruff.org/blogs/tomprof/2012/01/


(1) Severe and Persistent Budget Constraints
(2) Significant Growth of Non-Tenure Track Positions
(3) Growth of Interdisciplinary Research Programs
(4) University-industry Partnerships
(5) The Presence of Social Media and Information Technology in Everyday Life
(6) Growth of Online Education
(7) New Developments with Respect to Teaching and Learning
(8) Continuing Increases in Foreign-born Ph.D. Students and Postdocs Studying in the United States Who Aspire to Become
Professors at American Universities
(9) Career Opportunities for Ph.D.s and Postdocs at Community Colleges
(10) Non-Academic Careers for Ph.D.s and Postdocs


(2) Significant Growth of Non-Tenure Track Positions
The sine qua non of academic careers for over a hundred years has been the tenure track position leading in about six years to tenure and promotion from assistant to associate professor and then to life-time employment at a particular institution. Tenured faculty serve on academic councils and other governing committees and are the pool from which department chairs, deans, provosts, and presidents are drawn.

By having a system that encourages longevity, which tenure clearly does, the institution benefits from the reduced costs associated with not having formal annual reviews (as found in industry) and in having senior people available for administrative, governance, and mentoring responsibilities. Additional financial advantages of tenure for the institution become clear when we remember that tenure is a benefit just like health care and vacation time. Tenure, or more accurately the promise of it, is part of the total compensation package that candidates negotiate at the time of employment, and if the university did not provide its faculty with the security of tenure, it would probably have to compensate them with a higher salary.

It is also the case that in these difficult budgetary times employees everywhere become more risk averse and show a greater willingness to accept excessive or inappropriate demands from management. This is true in higher education as well, making tenure protection all the more important.

For these and other reasons, tenure is not going away. However, the number of new tenure track positions at all higher education institutions across the United States is decreasing significantly. In 1975, almost 57 percent of faculty were tenured or on the tenure track, yet today that percentage has been almost cut in half, and the percentage of new non-tenure track faculty has gone from 43.2 percent to 68.8 percent. [10, 11] Note that phrases such as fixed-term, limited-term, contract, and contingent, are often used in place of "non-tenure track," but they all mean essentially the same thing.

The main reason for the increase in non-tenure track positions is the budget constraints referred to above. In spite of the financial advantages to the institutions of having at least some tenured faculty, when it comes to adding new faculty, having a significant number enter off the tenure track can result in significant savings to the college or university. Paid sabbaticals, research and travel budgets, housing assistance and so on are rarely offered to non-tenure track faculty. Thus, new non-tenure track faculty, as opposed to those already in the system, are often significantly less expensive, some averaging about half as much per credit hour of teaching as their tenure track counterparts. [10]

Hiring non-tenure track faculty also gives the institution more flexibility in meeting supply and demand shifts in student interests. Other motives, as noted by Gross, might include "temporarily replacing tenure track faculty on leave, the use of 'adjuncts' who bring special knowledge and experience into the academy, the expanding need for 'remedial' education, and the employment of a partner in a dual career recruitment." [10] Of course there are also negative impacts on the academic culture from having such a large number of non-permanent faculty. These include such things as a loss of community, lack of shared sacrifice, and the difficulty of creating a long term vision. However, in these financial times many institutions are willing to pay this price.

No matter the reasons, the reality is that today there are simply far more graduate students and postdocs seeking tenure track positions than there are such positions and there is every reason to believe that the same situation will continue throughout the coming decade. Some graduate students and postdocs will certainly want to pursue tenure track positions and they should be encouraged to do so, hopefully using some of the techniques and approaches outlined in this book. Yet, while the benefits of becoming a tenured professor are obvious, they do come at a price, and one that may not be worth the cost for some segments of the graduate student and postdoc population seeking academic positions. Furthermore, there are, believe it or not, some real benefits to not seeking a tenure track position.

What might you gain by not being on the tenure track? One way to answer this question is to consider the other things you could do if you were not worrying about getting tenure, such as spending more time teaching, doing research at your own pace, whether faster or slower, exploring options at other academic institutions, taking advantages of long-term opportunities in other countries, considering possibilities outside academia concurrent with your faculty position such as other part-time employment, consulting for you and your partner, and doing more things with your family and friends. With the strong emphasis today on research, even at many master's and liberal-arts colleges, being free from such pressures to concentrate on teaching might be a real plus.

In particular, non-tenure track options have advantages for graduate students and postdocs who aren't sure if they want an academic career and would like to try it out without the full-time, intense probationary period that the tenure track requires, although going from a non-tenure track position to a tenure track position later on may be difficult. It also offers those individuals, especially in science and engineering fields, the opportunity to work part-time while continuing with full-time employment in industry or government with the eventual possibility of full-time academic positions.

Stanford University, for example, has a non-tenured faculty category called "teaching professor." One such professor teaches a number of classes ranging from small sophomore seminars to large introductory lectures of up to 500 students in his specialty, environmental sciences. With a reappointment every five years, he has been doing so full-time for the last 20 years.

In another case, also at Stanford, a professor teaches two specialized courses in a field called "smart product design" while also being employed half-time locally at one of the best product design firms in the country. His wife is a full-time tenured professor at Stanford. They would both have liked tenured positions, but finding them at the same institution is difficult for any academic couple. Their willingness not to insist on this path led to an excellent academic and industrial combination for him, and it gave her a full-time career at a prestigious university.

The same situation can also apply to research. In this case, however, it is important that you make sure that your non-tenure track position gives you the authority to serve as a Principal Investigator (PI) which allows you to author proposals, receive external funding, and supervise graduate students and postdocs. Often such appointments come with titles like Research Professor, or Senior Research Scientist. An inorganic chemist I know, after a very successful career in government, went to the University of California, Los Angeles as a senior research scientist. In such a role she was able to direct research and supervise graduate students without the service and teaching responsibilities associated with tenured faculty members.

It also turns out that tenure can actually limit your freedom of personal choices, particularly if both you and your partner are academics -- something far more common today than just a few years ago. As an associate professor of psychology at the University of Chicago put it to me a few years ago: "My wife and I both just got tenure in our respective departments. We're glad, but now we are really trapped. Now we can't go anywhere!"

Yes, you can always walk away from a tenured position. Yet, after the investment you and your partner put into getting it, that would be very difficult to do and more often than not you would stay where you are. This is particularly true when you realize that even for successfully tenured faculty members the likelihood that as a couple you can leave one institution and both find tenured positions at another one is quite low.

There is also the notion that if you have tenure you are more likely not to do things that will make you more attractive to other academic institutions or to industry. After all, if you can't be fired, why put in the effort to stay at the cutting edge in your field? Most tenured faculty do in fact keep up with their teaching and research, and in fact excel in later stages, but we all know of several situations where that is not the case. [11]

According to Tower, there are three kinds of Ph.D. and postdoc candidates who prefer non-tenure track jobs. They are: (1) The strategists, those who are willing to trade tenure track for a better location, more prestigious institution, opportunities for spouses and quality of life, (2) The pragmatists, those who need a job now and can't wait for the unlikely possibility of a tenure track job later, and (3) The nonconformists, those who just like the freedom to work at their own pace, to switch employers as needed, and who are simply not impressed with the idea of tenure. Tower goes on to point out that in some cases you can actually negotiate a higher salary - as a trade-off against benefits - than if you were on the tenure track. For still others, a non-tenure track position is a way to prove to themselves - without the clock running ? that their qualifications will improve for a tenure track position that may open up at a later date although as noted above this is not a sur
e thing at all.[12]

The strategies for applying for non-tenure track positions are essentially the same as those outlined in this book for tenure track jobs. The differences are that: (1) if you take such applications seriously the likelihood of being successful goes up considerably over those many others who will treat the effort as a throw-away afterthought or a ?backup plan?, (2) your chances of success increase simply because there are so many more such positions than tenure track positions and, (3) your bargaining position goes up if you have an accompanying spouse being considered for a tenure track position since such couples are greatly sought after by institutions and thus you can be more assertive in raising questions and issues that will be important to you.

What specific factors should you pay attention to in non-tenure track negotiations?

According to Porac there are several considerations to at least raise in your negotiations. [13] Since you are likely to have a large, often undergraduate, teaching commitment, you should see if you can reduce the number of different classes you teach and thereby reduce your class preparation time. This will be particularly important in your first year when you will be doing all you can to be successful. In addition, be sure to check on possible teaching assistant help. Also, see if you can arrange to not teach classes on certain days, T/Th or MWF for example, since this will free you up for other activities.

Find out as much as you can about how your teaching will be evaluated and use this information in your course planning. You also want to find out about other aspects of the support you will need to be a successful tenure candidate. Are there resources to guide junior faculty along the path to tenure, what are they and are they effective: does the institution have faculty support programs or services to provide resources and training in teaching (eg., pedagogy, instructional technology, curriculum development), does the department or school have a mechanism for young faculty to be mentored by more senior ones in similar disciplines, whether in academic or non-academic aspects of faculty life? This may be particularly important for women faculty in disciplines where they are a minority, or at institutions where there is a premium placed on acceptance by the department faculty. If your tenure decision will entail a review of your research productivity, as it usually does, you wo
uld want to know if you will have a research budget and what the customary practice is as far as allocating research dollars at the institution. For example, particularly in science and engineering, are you expected to generate all of your research dollars through external funding or are means within the institution to support your research program financially, at least in the early years of your position? The former means that you will be making significant effort writing and submitting grant proposals in order to generate the necessary resources for you to kick-off a research program, while the latter can jump-start that process with internal competition to worry about. The same applies to research assistants; who pays for them?

You will certainly want to know the length of your contract and how you will be evaluated for possible renewal. You need to find out who will make the decision regarding the renegotiation of your contract. As Porac notes, "at some universities contract renewal decisions regarding limited term faculty are made solely by the department chair while at others it is the decision of a committee. You should know whether you must please only one colleague or a committee of colleagues." [13]

Naturally, you will want to know if there is a possibility that your non-tenure track position could be converted to a tenure track appointment. You are not likely to get a firm answer to this question, certainly not one that is binding, and in any case you can be sure that a public search will take place for the position. Your familiarity to your colleagues will have both pluses and minuses in this regard so it is best not to count on such a conversion in your planning.

Finally, remember, a poor, for whatever the reasons, tenure track offer may not be as good as a better non-tenure track offer, at least at the beginning of your academic career. For many potential academics this is an option well worth considering.

HELPFUL LINKS

* Is the Tenure Path the Best Route for You? http://chronicle.com/article/Is-the-Tenure-Path-the-Best/45696

* Negotiating the Non-Tenure Track http://chronicle.com/article/Negotiating-the-Non-Tenure-/45495

* Overexposed? The Questionable Life of a Science Professor http://scientopia.org/blogs/science-professor/tag/non-tenure-track/

* Variations on the Theme of Academic Careers: The Non-tenure Track Position http://www.apa.org/careers/resources/academic/non-tenure.aspx

* Why Hire Non-Tenure-Track Faculty? http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=463

Tomorrow's Professor: UPDATE 2012: Recent Changes in Higher Education That Can Impact Your Preparation for an Academic Career

TeachHub.com: Connecting Literacy Skill Development to the 21st Century

By: Dr. Katherine McKnight

http://www.teachhub.com/connecting-literacy-skill-development-21st-century

When we were in high school and college, we learned how to use the Dewey decimal system, note cards, microfiche, and setting the margins in an electric typewriter. We were the last generation of students that actually pounded out papers and research on an electric typewriter and actually memorized the abbreviated guide in the Periodic Guide of Literature as a means to save time.

The embodiment of a “good” student in our generation was the ability to ferret out morsels of information that were buried in the library shelves and microfiche drawers. This took an exceptional amount of time. Some fellow educators argue that this is actually rigor and teaches academic discipline. Perhaps it did, or at least we’d like to think so.

As literacy educators, we know that school is very different than our experience as teenage students in the 1980s.

Today, what took us hours to accomplish in the library, our students can accomplish in minutes. A Google search will produce millions of informational pieces that students need to quickly analyze and synthesize. We would argue that this takes an rigor and academic discipline just as we did in the dusty library stacks. But there is a very marked difference. Out students can do this in minutes or even seconds.

Applying Modern Literacy Skills to Bloom's Taxonomy

As educators we are quite familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy for understanding. If we look at the bottom levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, we know that the lowest level of understanding include recall and the harvesting of information.

As teenagers, we spent hours harvesting information because we went to school (a crazy thought) without the Internet! Now, that stage is almost eliminated.

As a result, we would contend that our 21st century students spend far more time in higher levels of understanding (according to Bloom’s Taxonomy) that include analysis, synthesis and representation. This is an essential difference in our 21st century students than what many of us may have experienced as students.

Modernizing Teaching Techniques for Using Texts

The ways, in which we read text, create text, use text, and how text effects us has completely changed. As we readily know, we are now in the midst of the technology or digital age and as educators, we often talk about 21st century skills and what these mean now for our students (as most recently articulated in the Common Core State Standards).

If our students are spending more time and focus analyzing, synthesizing, and representing what they know and understand (rather than collecting and memorizing information) we know that this is far more rigorous. Instead of facts and storing massive amounts of content, our students need to develop skills that facilitate the higher-level skills of analysis, synthesis and representation. Effectively integrating technology in literacy learning so that students are creating expanded and original expressions of comprehension and understanding.

Effectively Integrating Technology to Develop Student Literacy Skills

Start small and build. Integrate a few technology tools and build. The following short list is meant as a means to get started.

This list of suggestions is meant to be a starting point and is no means exhaustive.

Blogs

Encourage your students to read blogs as well as teach students how to write blogs. Warren’s students use blogs to research, learn, and comprehend new information. They also use blogs to share their work.

Here are some sample student blogs from Warren’s students: http://gcevoices.com/

Use a Backchannel

When you have large group discussions or when the students are engaged in small groups, you can use a back channel like www.todaysmeet.com as a platform where students can report, question, and present what they know and understand.

Google Docs

Warren regularly uses Google docs with his students as a tool for collaboration, classroom discussion and sharing information and ideas. What is particularly exciting about Google docs is that students can see each other’s thinking as they all contribute to the document.

Web 2.0 with Edmodo

Think Facebook for education when you explore the possibilities with Edmodo www.edmodo.com This web 2.0 tool is social networking site that can further classroom discussions. In the work that Katie has done in schools across the country, she has seen teachers use Edmodo as a means to organize and share group work as well as continue and expand classroom discussions.

Remember, as you rethink and revise your literacy curriculum to develop 21st century “literacy skill ready” lessons, start by using applications that are familiar and build from there. For example, you’re likely to use Facebook in Education if you’re already using Facebook for social media.

Similarly, if you use Google as a search engine, and Microsoft Word to type and share reports then you are likely to find Google docs an accessible and worthwhile investment. In any case, we need to continually evolve the ways in which we effectively develop literacy skills in students.

How do you integrate 21st century skills and technology to teach literacy skills? Share in the comments section!

TeachHub.com: Connecting Literacy Skill Development to the 21st Century

TeachHub.com: Top 12 Things You Learned In School That Your Students Won’t

By: Annie Condron

 

http://www.teachhub.com/obsolete-lessons-for-modern-students

 

For better or worse, some teaching topics and students lessons are falling out of favor in current curriculum.

Here are the top 12 things you learned in school that may not be taught today:

Cursive

There's a contentious debate among techy teachers who are ready to discard handwriting / cursive and traditional teachers who see the value for reading, writing and fine motor skills that teaching handwriting provides.

Check out how cursive scored in a TeachHUB poll on the subject!

Card Catalog / Dewey Decimal System

With Google at our students' finger tips, they must think we were crazy to spend hours thumbing through note cards in the card catalogs, combing the stacks and revising microfilm to find research materials. I'm constantly begging students to go beyond Google and mix it up with the old school books as well.

Pluto as a Planet

Now that Pluto’s been downgraded to a dwarf planet, you’ll have to update the old rhyme:
My (Mercury) Very (Venus) Easy (Earth) Method (mars) Just (Jupiter) Speeds (Saturn) Up (Uranus) Naming (Neptune) Planets (Pluto).

Share your new-school mnemonic device in the comments section!

Typing

While I spent time in grade school and high school memorizing the home row and trying to up my speed at typing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," today's kids can text and type at speeds I'd never thought possible.

For kicks, let your students work on a typewriter, breaking out the white out for mistakes and retyping each draft. Be prepared to take video in case someone has to replace the ink ribbon.

Old School Gym Class Staples

Climbing the rope in gym class seems to be a relic of times passes, along with (I hope) square dancing. Let's just hope that physical education becomes more modern instead of just disappearing entirely.

Paper-Based Reference Materials

Researching with encyclopedias, paper dictionaries, microfilm and other paper-based resources used to be a must. Now, students don't need guidance on choosing their proper encyclopedia volume or skimming a page to find your entry.

Now, students need to taught how to find reliable online resources and choose relevant keywords to find the proper results. Check out Dr. Katie McKnight's guide to connecting literacy skills with 21st century skills.

Food Pyramid

Say goodbye to the bottom layer of carbs that the previous generations knew and loved. The latest in nutritional guides is actually a circle divided into food categories that demonstrates proper portion size.

Diagramming Sentences

When we asked TeachHUB facebook followers about obsolete school lessons, the Language Arts contingent lamented the diagramming sentences no longer being taught in some schools.

Evolution (Exclusively)

While evolution is a core part of science curricula, some states and districts are also allowing supplemental units on creationism or intelligent design. Dr. Barbara Forrest is an advocate against this change in education policy.

Math Drills

In the age of the calculator, math teachers among the TeachHUB fans listed math drills are lacking in current curriculum standards. Students are relying too heavily on calculators for basic math facts. Don't let the machines win!

Clapping erasers

Oh chalk boards, how I don't miss you! Dry erase and SMART boards are welcome replacements... nails on a dry erase board just don't have the same effect.

As a student though, I did enjoy the classroom duty of clapping erasers if it was a nice day outside.

Scales & Balances

Digital scales make the traditional balance scales and their slew of weights unnecessary. If nothing else, this lesson going by the wayside will clear some closet space in science classrooms.

The Endangered Learning List

In addition to our top 12 lost or soon-to-be-lost lessons, there are also a few skills that may also be in danger of falling into extinction.

• Reading a clock - Don't let digital kill the clock!
• Spelling / proofreading - With word processors auto-correcting or highlighting most potential mistakes, kids don't care to double check.
• Note-taking - Why take notes when you can take video of the lecture or get a print off of the power point? Because it helps you learn and add your own ideas!
• Balancing a checkbook - While not necessarily school-related, it strikes me as odd that most kids won't even know what that means.

TeachHub.com: Top 12 Things You Learned In School That Your Students Won’t

Arts & Humanities Research Council e-bulletin May 2012

 

e-bulletin May 2012 The Arts and Humanities Research Council [AHRC] supports world-class research that furthers our understanding of human culture and creativity. In this issue: News | Events | Competitions Closing dates: Call for Expression of Interest for research participation in an AHRC/BBC Wales seminar on Dylan Thomas: Thursday 14 June Call for Research Grant - Environmental Change and Sustainability: Thinking forward through the past proposals : Tuesday 30 October AHRC/BBC Wales seminar on Dylan Thomas New call A new call has been issued for expressions of interest from arts and humanities researchers from all disciplines within the arts and humanities to participate in a half-day AHRC/BBC editorial seminar on Dylan Thomas on the 29 June 2012 in Cardiff. Find out more about the call on our website. Projects explore groundbreaking ideas for new heritage experiences Collaborative awards Six projects that have been commissioned out of the South West are unlocking histories, hauntings and happenings in all kinds of UK heritage attractions, as well as unravelling rich experiences through the use of cutting edge technologies. Find out more on our website. AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hub celebrates the 'Digital Public Space' New FutureEverthing project A new online artwork produced for the London 2012 Festival is offering people the opportunity to see what is being said and felt about a sporting event at the moment of triumph or despair thanks to the way it visualises the online digital interactions, such as Twitter, as they happen in what is known as the Digital Public Space. For more information please see our website. AHRC appoints new members to its Advisory Board Five new members Meeting four times a year, the role of the AHRC Advisory Board is to advise Council on the development of strategies that reflect AHRC's Charter and the challenges facing arts and humanities research. Find out more on our website. Archaeological evidence for Saxon Britain glass industry New research Research funded by the AHRC and led by the University of Reading has revealed that finds at Glastonbury Abbey provide the earliest archaeological evidence of glass-making in Britain. For more information please see our website. British religion has changed dramatically Funding initiative findings Summing up findings from the £12m Religion and Society Programme at the final Westminster Faith Debate last week, Professor Linda Woodhead argued that research shows that religion in Britain has changed more rapidly since the 1980s than our ideas about it. Find out more on our website. SCRIPT Conference 6-8 June, Edinburgh The AHRC Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh (SCRIPT) will be ten years old in 2012. To celebrate this event, SCRIPT is hosting a conference in Edinburgh on the theme of 'Law and Transformation' Further information is available on the SCRIPT website. Fifth annual Subject Associations Meeting 20 June, London AHRC is holding its fifth annual Subject Associations Meeting. A special panel session in the morning will focus on the value of research outside the academy. Further information is available on our website. Connected Communities Programme Summit 2012 11-12 July, Manchester The theme of this year's event will be community engagement, with a further focus on co-design and co-production of research. Award holder events A selection of events organised by our award holders 9th International Symposium on Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval (CMMR) - Music and Emotions 19 June, London Sculpture, The Arts and The Decorated School 23 June, Leeds Fairness and Responsibility in an Unequal Society 28 June, London Find out more about our award holder events We have a range of AHRC stickers, posters and pens for your AHRC-funded event. Please email communications@ahrc.ac.uk Call for Expression of Interest for research participation in an AHRC/BBC Wales seminar on Dylan Thomas Closing date: 14 June The AHRC and BBC Wales are organising a seminar that brings together BBC and independent commissioning and production staff with arts and humanities researchers specialising or with an interest in Dylan Thomas. Find out more on our website. Call for Research Grant - Environmental Change and Sustainability: Thinking forward through the past proposals Closing date: 30 October Applications for up to £1.5m (full economic cost) are invited under this highlight notice in AHRC's standard and early career research grants routes. The highlight notice addresses the 'Environmental Change and Sustainability' area within the Care for the Future theme. Find out more on our website. Non-AHRC News and Competitions News from the arts and humanities community The following items are not AHRC news but may be of interest to our community. ·  ASHPIT think tank, 28 May, University of Oxford The think tank event will respond particularly to the new landscape of Doctoral Training Centres and cross-HEI consortia, and to policy arising from the impact agenda. More information can be found on the project blog. ·  Worlds Together: an international conference exploring the value of the arts in young people's lives from Shakespeare to the digital realm. September 6-8, 2012. Worlds Together is a collaborative conference between Tate Modern, the British Museum, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It draws together different disciplines in order to ask what is at stake for children�s cultural lives today. More information can be found on the RSC website. Arts and Humanities Research Council www.ahrc.ac.uk

Arts & Humanities Research Council e-bulletin May 2012

EduDemic: 20 Surprising Stats About Technology Use In College

EduDemic

20 Surprising Stats About Technology Use In College
5 Ways Rapid Technology Change Impacts Education
Free Microsoft eBooks For The Tech-Geek In You
7 Ideas For Students This Summer [Infographic]
20 Surprising Stats About Technology Use In College
Posted: 21 May 2012 03:30 PM PDT
Back in my day... we didn't have fancy things like iPhones and electricity. Okay, maybe just iPhones. I grew up without the kind of cutting-edge technology in the hands of every college student.


5 Ways Rapid Technology Change Impacts Education
Posted: 21 May 2012 11:46 AM PDT
Rapid technology change is here to stay. No sense in trying to change the way the world works--at least when you're messing with the wallets of major corporations.


Free Microsoft eBooks For The Tech-Geek In You
Posted: 21 May 2012 10:22 AM PDT
The Microsoft Press blog has again made several technical books available for readers for free in pdf and eBook MOBI formats, including two guides on better understanding Microsoft Office.


7 Ideas For Students This Summer [Infographic]Posted: 21 May 2012 08:44 AM PDT
While summer is (rightfully) celebrated as an extended time of leisure in academia, it can also be a period of transition for many learners. Here are some ideas to keep higher-ed learners thinking forward during the looming summer break.

EduDemic: 20 Surprising Stats About Technology Use In College

Officials Say More Diversity Among Recruits Would Boost Teach For America

Officials Say More Diversity Among Recruits Would Boost Teach For America


Diverse Issues in Higher Education
May 22, 2012
Officials Say More Diversity Among Recruits Would Boost Teach For America
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim

In Teach For America’s quest to become “bigger and better,” leaders of the organization on Monday said they also recognize the need to make the alternative teacher preparation program more diverse.

“When we think about getting bigger and better, there’s no more crucial aspect of our work than becoming more diverse and representative of the communities that we’re serving,” said Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder of Teach For America, an organization that secures two-year commitments from recent college graduates to teach in “high-need” urban and rural public schools.

Kopp—joined by other members of her management team and board member Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund—made her remarks Monday during a conference call with reporters.

No one on the call mentioned any specific criticism of Teach for America and its success—or lack thereof—in diversifying America’s teacher ranks. But the fact that the organization is cognizant of certain perceptual challenges it faces was reflected in the themes included in materials that announced the event, such as “Setting the Record Straight” and “National Leaders to Share the Truth about Teach For America.”

The conference was bereft of any groundbreaking study or report that shows Teach for America has embarked upon some sort of elixir for the country’s overall lack of teacher diversity—a problem that has persistently plagued public education in the United States since the era of desegregation.

The phone conference largely consisted of facts and figures that could be gleaned from the Teach For America web site.

Like public education itself, Teach For America is predominantly made up of White teachers.

According to the organization, 65 percent of its teacher corps is Caucasian, 12 percent is African-American, 8 percent is Latino, and 6 percent is Asian American.

Aimee Eubanks Davis, executive vice president, People, Community and Diversity at Teach for America, said that, among new hires at the organization, 18 percent are African-American and 13 percent are Latino.

In the next five years, she said, the organization plans to increase those figures so that roughly half its teachers are people of color.

The diversity at Teach For America is significantly better than it is for public education overall, where 84 percent of the teachers are Caucasian, 7 percent are Black, and 6 percent are Hispanic, according to the 2011 Profile of Teachers in the United States, by the National Center for Education Information.

Still, critics say the organization is not diverse enough.

Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, dean of the Howard University School of Education, noted that HBCUs produce 50 percent of the nation’s African-American teachers and that many HBCUs have had programs designed to recruit more African-Americans, particularly Black men, into the teaching profession for three decades.

“The point of referencing these data is that TFA (Teach For America) has not had the unrivaled track record of contributing African-American and Hispanic/Latino teachers to the nation's schools,” Fenwick told Diverse. “Consequently, TFA's efforts and recommendations cannot be informed by expert knowledge and a track record of successful experience.

“TFA’s leadership is more likely working on hunches. Well meaning as TFA might be, the nation needs HBCU- and HSI-based experts to address this problem.”

Teach For America officials say they are working with HBCUs and HSIs to do just that.

At the same time, TFA officials say they tend to recruit top students from the few hundred top-tier schools, as listed in the annual rankings of US News & World Report, where they noted that only 5 percent of graduating seniors from such schools are Latino and only 5 percent are African-American. Until the student bodies at the nation’s top colleges and universities become more diverse, they said, there’s only so much Teach For America can do.

Beyond facts and figures, Teach For America officials who participated in the conference spent significant time using anecdotes and the power of personal biography to illustrate the organization’s commitment to diversity, as reflected in its statement on the importance of diversity.

Among those who spoke is Kwame Griffith, senior vice president for regional operations at Teach For America.

Griffith shared various efforts Teach For America is making to recruit more Black teachers, such as outreach at Morehouse and Spelman, and recounted his own experience as a Black male teacher in Houston’s Fifth Ward.

“Many Black boys looked up to me as a Black male instructor,” Griffith said.

Lomax, the UNCF president, spoke of how he became involved on the board at Teach For America during his tenure as president of Dillard University in New Orleans. During that time, he said, he witnessed many students come out of New Orleans public schools ill-prepared for college, and he observed how Teach For America was dedicated to stopping that from happening.

Since joining the board at Teach For America more than a decade ago, Lomax said, he has worked with the organization’s national team to increase recruiting among African-Americans with a focus on HBCUs. UNCF directly supports 38 private HBCUs.

Lomax said TFA’s commitment to ending inequities in public education “has turned campuses like Spelman and Howard and now Morehouse, my alma mater, into some of the most robust resources of (TFA) corps members imaginable.”

Even though TFA only requires its teachers to make a two-year commitment to teaching in public schools, organization officials said, many alumni go on to work in education policy or launch schools themselves.

To illustrate this point, Lomax spoke of a commencement speech he gave recently at KIPP Charter School in Helena, Ark., in what he described as the economically-ravaged Mississippi Delta.

Of the 24 graduating seniors, 23 of whom were African-American, he said, all were leaving high school “fully prepared for college.”

“The point I’d make about them is this school was founded by a Teach For America

Officials Say More Diversity Among Recruits Would Boost Teach For America

Call for Proposals: The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Call for Proposals
The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Submissions should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee, at suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31, 2012. Incomplete proposals or proposals submitted as printed hard copy will not be considered by the review committee.

About POD
The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) fosters human development in higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development.  POD comprises nearly 1,800 members – faculty and teaching assistant developers, faculty, administrators, consultants, and others who perform roles that value teaching and learning in higher education. While POD members come primarily from the U.S. and Canada, the membership also represents many other countries.

The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education encourages the advocacy of the on-going enhancement of teaching and learning through faculty and organizational development. To this end it supports the work of educational developers and champions their importance to the academic enterprise.  For the full mission statement, see http://www.podnetwork.org/about.htm.

Description of the POD-AAC&U Organizational Development Institute

The organizational development dimension of our work as faculty developers recognizes that faculty members are part of a larger system, the dynamics of which affect their behavior as instructors. As faculty developers we seek to influence the structures and processes of the colleges and universities in which we work to create an environment that supports excellence in teaching and student learning and development.

Since 2009 POD has conducted a one-and-a-half day organizational development (OD) institute immediately before the AAC&U Annual Meeting, typically held in January either in Washington, DC or a major West Coast city such as San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA. Partnering with AAC&U in this way has been valuable to POD in two main ways:

1) By leveraging our own resources with AAC&U’s more extensive resources, we have been able to provide a valuable professional development opportunity to our membership through the OD institute, and

2) AAC&U’s extensive publicity for the conference has increased the visibility of POD and educational development to the AAC&U membership and conference attendees, which includes a preponderance of higher education administrators.

The Institute is a valuable professional development opportunity for faculty developers with five or more years’ experience who wish to extend their work beyond traditional faculty development activities including workshops, luncheon seminars, classroom observations, and consultations. To that end, the Institute may address any number of topics and issues related to organizational development including, but not limited to, the following: the role of teaching centers in promoting institutional change including undergraduate curriculum reform; theories of organizational change; the dynamics of change in the academic department; leadership development including chair development; strategies for working effectively with administration; the role of academic and co-curricular units, university committees, and faculty champions, in promoting institutional change; the role of external agents such as government mandates, accrediting bodies, and professional organizations in promoting institutional change; the role of teaching centers in promoting collaboration across campus in service to excellence in teaching and learning; and the role of various forms of institutional inertia in impeding or slowing change

Qualifications of Facilitators and Compensation

Facilitators of the Institute are experienced POD members with a proven track record in organizational development and ideally visibility within POD and nationally. From time to time individuals who have recognized expertise in OD who are not members of POD may co-facilitate with a POD member(s). In the spirit of volunteerism, facilitators do not receive an honorarium nor is POD able to cover any of their travel expenses.  Facilitating these workshops is viewed as an honor as well as an important and valuable service to POD.


Since the Institute is strictly speaking not part of the AAC&U conference, facilitators do not receive complimentary conference registration for the AAC&U conference. POD’s President will notify successful applicants of their selection with a letter, which past facilitators have used as a means for securing support from their own institution for their travel.

Target Audience

The target audience for the OD Institute is POD members with five or more years’ experience as faculty developers. The Institute is not intended as an introduction to faculty development. The Getting Started Pre-Conference Workshop at the POD conference and the POD Institute for New Faculty Developers are excellent professional development opportunities for new faculty developers.

The 2013 AAC& Annual Meeting:

The 2013 AAC&U Annual Meeting is being held in Atlanta, GA, from January 23-26.  The POD-AAC&U OD Institute is traditionally scheduled for a full day before the AAC&U meeting begins and the first morning of the meeting, which means that for 2013, the OD Institute would be scheduled:

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2013                               Full-day workshop (8:00 am – 4:00 pm)

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2013          Half-day workshop (8:00 am – 12:00 noon)

For additional information on the AAC&U Annual Meeting, please see AAC&U’s website (http://www.aacu.org/).

Proposal Submission Guidelines
The CFP submission guidelines appear below.  Applications should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee at suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31, 2012.  Proposals submitted in hard copy form or incomplete proposals will not be considered by the review committee.

The 2013 POD-AAC&U organizational DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Submission guidelines

The following information must be included for the proposal to be considered complete.  Questions regarding the submission guidelines may be sent to Suzanne Tapp (Chair, POD Professional Development Committee) at Suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu

Applications should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31^, 2012.   Proposals submitted in hard copy form or incomplete proposals will not be considered by the review committee.

For information on past POD-AAC&U Organizational Development (OD) Institutes, please see the POD conference web page and look for “POD/AAC&U Institute”:  http://www.podnetwork.org/conferences.htm

Required Information:

Name of Proposed Facilitators, Titles, Institutional Affiliations, Contact Information (including email address), POD Membership Status, and Brief Description of Experience relevant to the OD Institute. Please note Primary Contact Person.

Description and Rationale for the Proposed Topic of the Institute (please review suggested topics in the earlier section of the CFP above)

Overview of the Proposed One and a Half Day Program. The proposed program should include a balance of presentation and interactive, hands-on experiences. Facilitators should provide ample opportunity for participants to think about the topic of the Institute in the context of their own institutions.

Call for Proposals: The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Register Now for CHEA's 2012 Summer Workshop

Council for Higher Education Accreditation One Dupont Circle NW Suite 510 Washington, DC 20036 (tel) 202-955-6126 (fax) 202-955-6129 chea@chea.org CHEA 2012 Summer Workshop Accreditation Today and Challenges of Tomorrow June 21 - 22, 2012 Washington Marriott Hotel 1221 22nd Street NW - Washington, DC NOTE: CHEA has obtained a special guest room rate of $239 per night (single/double) at the conference hotel, available only until the room block is filled. Make your reservation by calling (202) 972-1500 or use the online reservation form (the group code "cmecmea" is already entered on the online reservation form). In less than a month, the CHEA 2012 Summer Workshop will take place in Washington, DC. Don't miss this opportunity to: Hear presenters from government, academia, the accrediting community and higher education associations. Get up-to-date information on topics ranging from the NACIQI report on accreditation to the ongoing attention to accreditation by Congress. Learn more about emerging trends that will affect accreditation, including data collection as it relates to student achievement and the growth of outside-the-system credits and degrees. Join participants from colleges and universities, accrediting organizations, government and the public to exchange ideas and information on accreditation and its future. A preliminary program for the 2012 Summer Workshop, including times and topics for sessions, is available on the CHEA Website. You can register by mail, fax or online. Register now for the Summer Workshop. We look forward to seeing you in Washington! A national advocate and institutional voice for self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation, CHEA is an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes 60 institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations. For more information, visit CHEA's Website at www.chea.org.

Register Now for CHEA's 2012 Summer Workshop