https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/7d97fc8690aa7b7968a8aed73a2b522f.pdf 0c3ed75f848d7525cd890acb8d5c15de PDF Text Text I Fled a Humorless University Job for a Sanctuary of the Liberal Arts 5 BY CHAD M. HANSON HEN I became a com­ I attended, rather than as a result of a munity-college teacher, particular set of educational policies or it meant resigning from practices. a position as a research As an undergraduate, I realized that associate in the University ofmy Texas ­ one of contrition. I was an rolesys was tem. Before I left, colleagues approached inconvenience to my professors, and I me one by one, well meaning and ear­ knew that. They were paid to conduct nest, warning me that if I went down the research, and if they were successful in ladder, I wouldn’t be able to climb back their writing and publishing, their re­ up again. ward included the chance to rid them­ That dire pronouncement made the selves of me and my kind. Even so, I transition feel risky and even a little bit ir­ muddled through, and then, years later responsible. I lay awake in the wee hours, as a graduate student, I took a job teach­ fretting about whether my impulse to ing part time at a community college teach at a two-year college would hurt my to help pay the rent. It was there that I career by scarring me with a stigma. In discovered the meaning and purpose of the end, I left my job at the university to postsecondary life. teach sociology at a community college. I have never been comfortable within More than a decade hence, I remain an the boundaries of academic departments. unrepentant two-year-college teacher. My unwillingness to stick within the I am a product of the American uni­ confines of a single field is so great that versity system. I have universities to my doctorate became interdisciplinary, thank for my ability to write and think out of necessity. Mainstream sociology and conduct myself as both a citizen and is empirical and quantitative, and al­ a scholar, but the university system is though I revel in the joy of sophisticated flawed. At times it seemed as if I earned multivariate analysis, I also appreciate my education in spite of the institutions Zen poems written by Chinese moun­ W tain hermits in the era before Christians began keeping track of time. When it comes to understanding or casting light on social patterns, I am convinced that both are valuable, and in the university such convictions come with a price—un­ employment. Despite the interdisciplin­ ary history of the social sciences, sprout­ ing as they did from the study of phi­ losophy, the lines between the sciences and humanities are rarely crossed by career-minded academics today, at least those on the tenure track. In contrast, community colleges offer a refuge for those with wide-ranging curi­ osities. Community colleges are sanctuar­ ies for generalists. When it comes to the advancement of knowledge, the contribu­ tion of specialists is obvious, but scholars with broad interests and abilities should find comfort in knowing that there are nearly a thousand public institutions in the United States with the express pur­ pose of offering the first two years of the baccalaureate, two years dedicated to pro­ viding students with a general education, the sole purpose of which is to sharpen wits and fuel imaginations. y first book was a col­ lection of short stories and literary essays about fly­ fishing, collected under the title Su'imming With Trout. The was published last fall, and to promote it, my publisher arranged a series of read­ ings and book signings. The first event was in Laramie, Wyo. When I walked M Educating tomorrow's leaders. 100% Online Degrees Partner Institutions Community College Research Center Teachers College, Columbia University http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu MDRC htip://www.mdrc.org Curry School of Education University of Virginia http://curTy.edschool.viiginia.edu Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctoral Certificates of Advanced Graduate Studies The National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR) focuses on measuring the effectiveness of programs designed to help students make the transition to college and master the basic skills needed to advance to a degree. NCPR is currently pursuing research in dual enrollment; postsecondary remediation, including learning communities; and financial aid. Established through a five-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (lES) of the U.S. Department of Education, NCPR is housed at the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, and operated in collaboration with partners MDRC, the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and faculty at Harvard University. Through its research, NCPR aims to: • Reduce barriers to college and other education programs • Ease students' transition from high school to college • Make college advancement easier • Increase college completion rates Msit our website to learn more about NCPR research and to sign up to receive free electronic mailings. WWW, PostsecondaryResearch.org National Centerfor Postsecondary Research Teachers College, Columbia University 525 fTest 120th Street, Box 174. New York, NY 10027 phone: 212.678.3091 fax: 212.678.3699 ncpr@columbia.edu MEd now $285 a credit Monthly course starts No residency Many career building specializations BUSINESS • EDUCATION • PSYCHOLOGY NCU Ed students recently awarded Hawaii Teacher of the Year, Texas Teacher of the Year finalist. Outstanding E-Learning Faculty Award from ITC. NorthcentralUniversity Convenient. Affordable. Accredited. Contact us at 866-776-0331 • www.ncu.edu/CHE B30 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION • COMMUNITY COLLEGES OCTOBER 31, 2008 �into the bookstore and introduced my­ self, the proprietor looked surprised and said, “Oh—I expected someone quite a bit older." She knew from my biography that I taught sociology, and she explained that she had assumed I had reached the end of my career as an academic, since I had found time to write a book meant for a general audience. I understood her surprise. University faculty members must prove themselves to a narrow audience of experts before they can take time to dabble in something as prosaic as writing fly-fishing stories. For community-college teachers, however, there is no waiting or hand-wringing over the timing or placement of publications. You can write and publish wherever and whenever you please, and without regard for disciplinary boundaries. The tenure process at community col­ leges hinges on student and collegial eval­ uation of teaching performance. I realize that earning tenure under such conditions might sound like a cakewalk, given that teaching receives more attention at com­ munity colleges than either research or service. But don’t be fooled: Students can be harsh critics. They are rarely qualified to assess a faculty member’s overall com­ petence, but they can tell whether they are receiving an education or not. A successful career at a community college depends on shifting one’s per­ ception. Students—even the snarling ones with baseball caps pulled down over their eyes and baggy pants hanging off their posteriors—must become the focus of one’s work life and the source of one’s job satisfaction. Regardless of whether they want or feel as if they need to take your courses, ill-prepared and unmotivated students show up in your classroom, and that fact often presents a challenge to new teachers. Even so, the good ones eventually realize that making ill-prepared and unmotivated students a priority is a luxury of sorts. At universi­ ties, educators take pride and pleasure in the challenge of securing grants to pay for new lines of research, but I have the freedom to make the surly, often-ill-pre­ pared kid in the back row the challenge of my professional life, and that suits me. laughter that makes your eyes water and your cheeks ache. I longed for that. I was surrounded by brilliant people who took themselves far more seriously than any­ body should, no matter how many ways you prove yourself or your intelligence. Once on a coffee break, I caught a look at myself in a mirror—short-sleeve shirt, bold-striped necktie, and a pocket pro­ tector lined with upscale pens and me­ chanical pencils. I looked like a ball of rubber bands wound too tight to be use­ ful to anyone. I knew I needed a change. Universities are high-minded, reward­ ing, and prestigious places to work. But HAVE COLLEAGUES who complain about the amount of time it takes to teach five sections of such stu­ dents per term, but the fact is that at comprehensive state universities, fac­ ulty members often teach four sections per semester, and they are also expected to find external sources of financing, to the point that the grant money offsets a share of their salaries. At community colleges, grant writing is encouraged but not required, and when faculty members are paid through a grant, that money is typically disbursed in addition to, not in lieu of, salaries. Community-college teaching can be lucrative. I received a pay increase when I left the tiniversity and took up teaching at a two-year college. But that’s not why I left my job conducting research. I left because, though the work was meaning­ ful, it was humorless. Near the end, as I sat in front of the computer in my of­ fice, I could feel the hours and days slip­ ping by without the kind of uninhibited I OCTOBER 31, 2008 each semester I look forward to meet­ ing my new batch of community-college students. I especially look forward to working with the sullen bunch that sits in the last two rows of desks, near the door in the back. I consider it my duty to make them smile at some point early in the term. Chad M. Hanson is chairman of the sociol­ ogy and social-iDork department at Casper College. He also torites poetry and short sto­ ries and is the author of Swimming With Trout (University of New Mexico Press, 2001). You can write and publish wherever and whenever you please, without regard for disciplinary boundaries. Is your IGREAT college a COLLEGES great place TO WORK FOR to work? CHRONICLE Be a part of The Chronicle's 2009 Great Colleges to Work For survey and find out. The survey, now in its second year, has generated research and insight that have helped many institutions with their goals of creating great workplaces. Your participation this year can help you understand your employees' perception of your institution, and can also provide a framework from which you can refine your recruitment and retention strategies. Due to the overwhelming response to last year’s survey, we have opened the 2009 survey to a wider variety of institutions, including community colleges. But space is strictly limited, and we expect to reach our cutoff point soon. Make sure your institution is included—go to ChronicleGreatColleges.com and sign up today. THECHRONICLE Essential Reacli'iig for Higlier Education COMMUNITY COLLEGES • THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONS B3 1 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource I Fled a Humorless University Job for a Sanctuary of the Liberal Arts Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2008-10-31 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chad Hanson Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Chad Hanson Journal Publications, CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01_ChadHansonPapers_10 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education</em> is published by The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc.