Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I teach to go to meetings

I used to think my job was to teach, but now I think I teach to go to meetings. The meetings begin at 8;00 or 9:00, are shoe-horned in between classes and don't stop until 5:00 or 5:30, but many things are eventually getting done.

In General Education, we have combined a first-year Women's Studies course with English Composition. The collaboration of classes involves a Women's Studies and English teaching duo that further coordinates with another first-year course, in say, Nutrition, Psychology, Statistics or Climate Studies. The teachers and students in these courses make up a Living/Learning community, where we hope that by sharing curriculum and ideas, students will look for and find connections across disciplines. It involved a lot of planning, thus meetings.

Our Russell Sage College Curriculum Committee approves new courses and the changes to existing courses. We meet once a week. Our goal for the year is to continue the overhaul of general education at Sage. We have had the current curriculum in place for over 15 years and while we have piloted new programs, we have yet to formally make major changes. Students now take a "Chinese menu" of courses--two from natural sciences, two from social sciences, four from humanities and various cross-cultural and capstone courses. Our charge now is to look at what skills we think all students should cross the stage with at graduation and use that for our foundation of courses.

It only involves getting the input, buy-in and then approval of the entire Sage faculty. Simple, right? We'll see...after many more meeting.

Our Theatre department's new Theatre Institute at Sage is shaping up plans for the year. Meetings are being held to discuss making the Institute a resource for the entire campus. NYSTI was a great resource for our department, but did not often collaborate with the wider Sage community. We think it is important to begin sharing resources and ideas with departments like Education and English, to integrate and appreciate each other's work. All it takes is meetings to get it done.

So why am I blogging at 6:00 a.m.? I have one class and four meetings today. Add grading to that and maybe lunch and there won't be time for blogging later. I teach to meet.

Friday, September 2, 2011

So What Have I Missed...? (Part Two)

Our Provost, Terry Weiner, calls it "zigging when everyone else is zagging." I'll explain. Over the years, Sage has had less and less new faculty put on tenure lines, with the number of tenured faculty dropping at the college. This fits with the national trend for colleges to jettison faculty tenure lines for more adjuncts, lecturers and on-line classes. These options can more cost effective, but also reduces the number of faculty available to advise, do committee work and simply keep the campus humming.

During the last three years, tenure has slowly been restored to Sage. After six years, I was put on a tenure line and in February (gratefully) received tenure. Each year the numbers of both new and old faculty put on tenure lines is increasing. At the last Board of Trustees meeting, the Board agreed to allow Sage to become a more tenure-driven institution, meaning that campus-wide, tenure lines may be available for all faculty. After this year, faculty who are not tenured will either be placed on tenure lines or become "Professors of the Practice". The POP will be on multi-year contracts, with more emphasis on teaching and service and less research requirements. This may be a preferable option for a long-serving, untenured faculty member who does not wish to go through the tenure review process.

I think that this is good news for Sage. It should strengthen faculty investment in the institution and puts out a strong message that faculty work is valued at Sage. It bucks a national trend and that's always interesting. One thing I know for sure is that I'm glad I don't have to go up for tenure again.