Can one get teaching work with a LSMA in Community colleges or beyond?

[Watmeworry]

I'm hoping to get work teaching in community colleges. I have a LSMA in modern European Studies & BA is in English and and Comparative Literature.

I graduated from an Ivy.

Should I go back to college for a subject degree? Or is this a PH.d only market?

[KreacherKeeper]

I'm hoping to get work teaching in community colleges. I have a LSMA in modern European Studies & BA is in English and and Comparative Literature.

I graduated from an Ivy.

Should I go back to college for a subject degree? Or is this a PH.d only market?

Check on Chronicle of Higher Ed. A PhD is pretty standard even for jobs that are in CC and for freshman labs. I guess it is a buyer market.

[Watmeworry]

Check on Chronicle of Higher Ed. A PhD is pretty standard even for jobs that are in CC and for freshman labs. I guess it is a buyer market.

On the CUNY website they ask for lecturers and adjuncts...has anyone tried for these kinds of jobs. Does experience in the real world matter?

[kickpushcoast]

In short, a master's is a good qualification, but your chances of getting a job vary by field and school.

Technically and legally, a Master's degree is a sufficient qualification for teaching at the community college and university (undergraduate) level. If you look at the faculty listings of your local community college (or even university) you'll see many of them "stopped" with the Master's.

For accreditation purposes, a very common requirement is for the instructor to hold a Masters degree, with/or 12-18 graduate hours in the subject they teach. I say "with/or" because a Master's does not always include 18 hours in one subject.

Some instructors go back for additional graduate work, so they may have a Master's degree in Poli Sci but have 18 hours in HIST as well, which qualifies them for either subject area. This gets tricky for people with, for example, MBAs since that degree does not often include 18 hours in one area, so that's another scenario for having to meet the 18 hour requirement with more coursework.

Your undergraduate education is not a factor here, so right now you'd only be qualified to teach subjects that are closely related to the graduate coursework you've completed.

Obviously in a tight market, you'd be "competing" with PhDs, but it is not a Phd-only market by any means.

As for real-world experience, it is always nice to have, but often more essential in fields like business, health sciences, etc than the liberal arts.

References:

Here's a listing of a CC in NY and their faculty degree stats: only 16 Phds and 39 with a Masters

http://www.sunysccc....out/factfig.htm

Other sites/documents detailing faculty requirements:

http://ww2.nscc.edu/..._Guidelines.pdf

http://www.teachingc...ge-instructors/

http://search.legis....t-frame.htm$3.0

Edited April 18, 2011 by kickpushcoast

[Watmeworry]

In short, a master's is a good qualification, but your chances of getting a job vary by field and school.

Technically and legally, a Master's degree is a sufficient qualification for teaching at the community college and university (undergraduate) level. If you look at the faculty listings of your local community college (or even university) you'll see many of them "stopped" with the Master's.

For accreditation purposes, a very common requirement is for the instructor to hold a Masters degree, with/or 12-18 graduate hours in the subject they teach. I say "with/or" because a Master's does not always include 18 hours in one subject.

Some instructors go back for additional graduate work, so they may have a Master's degree in Poli Sci but have 18 hours in HIST as well, which qualifies them for either subject area. This gets tricky for people with, for example, MBAs since that degree does not often include 18 hours in one area, so that's another scenario for having to meet the 18 hour requirement with more coursework.

Your undergraduate education is not a factor here, so right now you'd only be qualified to teach subjects that are closely related to the graduate coursework you've completed.

Obviously in a tight market, you'd be "competing" with PhDs, but it is not a Phd-only market by any means.

As for real-world experience, it is always nice to have, but often more essential in fields like business, health sciences, etc than the liberal arts.

References:

Here's a listing of a CC in NY and their faculty degree stats: only 16 Phds and 39 with a Masters

http://www.sunysccc....out/factfig.htm

Other sites/documents detailing faculty requirements:

http://ww2.nscc.edu/..._Guidelines.pdf

http://www.teachingc...ge-instructors/

http://search.legis....t-frame.htm$3.0

[Watmeworry]

kickpushcoast : Thank you

This is very helpful and appreciated. your response might be something that those who are working in Liberal Studies degrees might want to take on board. I know I'll be looking very carefully at my have done list and thinking about what I need to do.