Carden and Coyne on Liberal Arts vs. Research University
Liveblogging from the Career Development Seminar with Chris Coyne and Art Carden
1. Academic life at a liberal arts college.
Characteristics:
- Tend to be 5,000 students or fewer
- Main focus is undergrad
- Most students there are traditional, full-time, live on campus
- Even students in the hard sciences take part in the liberal arts curriculum.
- Teaching emphasis is often higher - 3-3 or 4-3 load is common
- Office hour requirements are higher
- Smaller classes with opportunities for interdisciplinary and co-taught courses with other faculty
- Student quality tends to be higher & more uniform
2. Academic life at a research university.
- Large student bodies
- Main focus is on faculty & grad students
- Research intensive - lower level classes are taught by TAs
- Students are full time, part time, off campus, on campus
- Lighter teaching load
- Larger classes with more of a standard curriculum to the discipline
- Student quality is more dispersed
- Higher salary and more research & conference funding
3. Academic Politics & Committees:
- They exist everywhere, but especially at smaller arts colleges.
- Participation is expected as part of faculty service, BUT...
...they generally accomplish very little and waste massive amounts of time. One reason: faculty committees are a frequent home to established professors who don't do research and have plenty of time to spend speaking, fighting trivial political battles, nitpicking etc.
Committees are impossible to avoid, but you can form a strategy that minimizes the pain. Example: start a center, look for other ways to help the university in a service capacity.
4. Q. Where should you seek a faculty position?
A. It all depends on what you are looking for from your teaching & research career.
Tip 1: Explain why you want to teach where you are applying. If you want to teach at a liberal arts school, signal that in your cover letter.
Tip 2: Use your teaching statement to highlight your pedagogical technique. Tailor it to the institution where you are applying.
Tip 3: Keep your expectations realistic when applying. Know that it's extremely difficult to get an entry job at a top research university.
Tip 4: Balance your teaching while in grad school with your research. It's usually good to have some teaching experience, but not too much esp. if it comes at the expense of another year in grad school.