Tenure Track Community College Position v. Adjunct

Tenure Track Community College Position v. Adjunct

HDFS_Anon (guest) 01 May 2011 01:32

I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice. I expect to be offered a tenure track CC position in the upcoming week. VERY competitive salary, in the region I want to be in, and 3 and 3 teaching load. Many have suggested that I do not take the position as it will be virtually impossible to move out of the community college world if I decide it is not a good fit. I have a reasonable publication record with probably 4 studies to be written up for publication so I'm not terribly worried about not conducting research, writing alone should keep my record strong for a year or two.

My question is, am I better off taking this position, or adjuncting locally for a year and trying again? Presumably I will not be able to get more than one additional publication between now and September when the first round of applications will go out. I have a few courses lined up to teach at my current university if I don't get/accept a position elsewhere.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Anon (guest) 01 May 2011 02:16

I agree with those who have advised you that it's really hard to move out of the CC world. If you are committed to a research career or want to teach at a 4 year school, I think you're better off as an adjunct. But if the CC career path appeals to you, more power to you. As for the salary, think about the long term financial picture - yes, if you take the CC job you will certainly make much more in the next year than you will as an adjunct. But, 4 year colleges, and especially universities with grad programs, usually pay more than CCs. So over the long haul, you might end up in a better place financially by not taking this job, even though that seems counter-intuitive. It is really about how you picture your life & career and what you want for yourself, though. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Ellie (guest) 01 May 2011 15:16

I ended up in a similar position this year with a choice between a t-t position at a less prestigious SLAC and a visiting position at a well-known SLAC. My advisors told me that if I took the t-t position, it would be very hard to transition out, especially if I spent more than 3-ish years in that position. Even though it was a less prestigious SLAC, I really liked the faculty and students. It came down to location—if I thought my family and I could have been happy in that town long-term, I would have taken the less prestigious t-t position. I opted to go with the visiting position instead.

My advice: visit again, with your spouse if you have one. Check out the community college thread on the Chronicle boards to get a better sense of what the environment would be like. The fact that this is a t-t position in a desirable location is huge. Find out cost of living information in the town—living in a desirable location is great, but if it's an expensive desirable location, you may be limited, even with a great salary. Before you get drawn in by the competitive salary, check out out average salaries at the kind of colleges/universities you think you could have a good shot at after a year or two of adjuncting. Also try to negotiate ramping up to a 3-3, maybe by starting with a lighter course load your first year or two. Good luck!

anotheranon (guest) 01 May 2011 04:55

I know people going the CC route who are thrilled with it. If you want to make an impact in students' lives, and help people who might be overcoming big obstacles to get educated, then a CC is a great place to end up. I have also heard that CC pay can be pretty competitive. But, like Anon says, you need to be okay with the fact that you might be committing to a career at a CC, which means a certain lack of institutional support and resources for research. In 20 years, are you going to regret not holding out for a t-t position? If so, you should probably give yourself another chance on the market. But if you're okay with letting the t-t dream go, you could be very happy at a CC. (by the way, I'm not saying that you could NEVER move from a CC to a t-t job, just that you should be prepared for that outcome)

anon (guest) 01 May 2011 16:47

I currently teach at a low tiered SLAC. I have looked at CC positions and the pay is significantly more than what I make at my institution. Additionally, 3-3 is not much more than the teaching load at some SLACs. Some SLACs have a teaching load of 4-4. I teach 3-3 but they are 4 unit classes. If you are interested in an R1 position or an R2, I would suggest taking the adjunct position. However, with the way the job market is currently, many highly qualified candidates are taking positions with heavy teaching loads. Those R1 positions are hard to come by and every year there is another crop of very qualified job applicants that vie for those positions. Teaching at a SLAC is not necessarily better than teaching at a CC in terms of having time for research.