Research as a community college prof

[Catria]

The first time I've ever heard about community college faculty being able to conduct research on the job was in a graduate course, where the instructor mentioned that he worked with a community college teacher on a grant. Upon hearing about how these grants worked, I told myself, back then, if I ended up teaching at the community college level at home, maybe... maybe I could apply for one such grant so that I could continue doing research (if successful)!

 

And another community college teacher hired in the past five years said that, at home job market trends point, on the next 5-10 years, towards more PhDs on CEGEP faculty rolls in STEM disciplines (BSc and MSc-holding retirees will likely be replaced with PhD holders) and, with them, more room granted to research with each new collective bargaining agreement, with the current one (which granted more room to research in CEGEPs than ever before) creating a grant program tailored for them. As for the grants themselves: one that is awarded a grant can have one of the following, for 3 years: 1/3 reduction in yearly teaching load + $12k allowance for research expenditures or 1/2 reduction in yearly teaching load + $4k allowance for research expenditures.

 

However, how much room is given to research in STEM disciplines in American community colleges? Is a PhD (or a better research record) more attractive to a CC than a MSc for CCs in the US (despite the likely higher cost), if the teaching records are decent?

 

My PI said that I shouldn't rule out community college teaching but I should keep research conditions in mind.

[juilletmercredi]

Thoughts:

 

1) The standard course load at a community college is 5/5.  You get no teaching assistants, so all grading and other class responsibilities are up to you.  It would be difficult to carve out time for research if you are teaching five classes a semester.  And there probably is not the opportunity to buy out at most CCs, given that your dedication is supposed to be to teaching.  A 1/3 reduction would be around 7 classes a year, which is probably more like a 3/4 - possible, but difficult.

 

2) There are far fewer resources to do research at a community college.  Many CCs won't have an office of sponsored research.  They will be unfamiliar with how to handle grants and outside funding.  Attracting research assistants for your research would be quite difficult, since you will be dealing only with first- and second-year students who may not know enough to help you yet.

 

3) CCs in most fields probably would prefer a PhD to an MS holder.  In the past, they took MS and MA holders as instructors in part because of the lack of competitive PhDs competing for those jobs.  But as the market tightens and it becomes harder for PhDs to get tenure-track jobs elsewhere, more are turning to CCs.  It started in the humanities, and now it's to the point that it's quite difficult to get a tenure-track position at a CC in the humanities without a PhD.  I wouldn't be surprised if this shift also happens in the STEM fields.

 

Currently the academic shift seems to be going the other way - more PhDs hired on a part-time or contingent basis, with less time to do research.  If more CCs start hiring PhDs, I don't think it will be because they have decided to change their priorities; rather, it will be because there are a glut of applicants that allow them be more choosy about who they hire.  But the first and foremost responsibility of CCs to their students is teaching, teaching, teaching.  If you do research it will probably be on your own time, and you probably won't get much support for it.

[psych face]

I would guess that, due to the way grants work in STEM - that is, a large chunk is taken out by the university prior to what ends up going to the researcher/lab/project - I would guess that they also get a reduced courseload. The enormous chunk the university pilfers out of the grant is more than enough to cover the costs of replacing a professor for a few courses. When I found out how much money my university makes off of STEM by siphoning off the top of grants like this, I was totally APPALLED.

[Catria]

Thoughts:

 

1) The standard course load at a community college is 5/5.  You get no teaching assistants, so all grading and other class responsibilities are up to you.  It would be difficult to carve out time for research if you are teaching five classes a semester.  And there probably is not the opportunity to buy out at most CCs, given that your dedication is supposed to be to teaching.  A 1/3 reduction would be around 7 classes a year, which is probably more like a 3/4 - possible, but difficult.

 

2) There are far fewer resources to do research at a community college.  Many CCs won't have an office of sponsored research.  They will be unfamiliar with how to handle grants and outside funding.  Attracting research assistants for your research would be quite difficult, since you will be dealing only with first- and second-year students who may not know enough to help you yet.

 

3) CCs in most fields probably would prefer a PhD to an MS holder.  In the past, they took MS and MA holders as instructors in part because of the lack of competitive PhDs competing for those jobs.  But as the market tightens and it becomes harder for PhDs to get tenure-track jobs elsewhere, more are turning to CCs.  It started in the humanities, and now it's to the point that it's quite difficult to get a tenure-track position at a CC in the humanities without a PhD.  I wouldn't be surprised if this shift also happens in the STEM fields.

 

Currently the academic shift seems to be going the other way - more PhDs hired on a part-time or contingent basis, with less time to do research.  If more CCs start hiring PhDs, I don't think it will be because they have decided to change their priorities; rather, it will be because there are a glut of applicants that allow them be more choosy about who they hire.  But the first and foremost responsibility of CCs to their students is teaching, teaching, teaching.  If you do research it will probably be on your own time, and you probably won't get much support for it.

 

CC faculty at home seemed to be on a lighter teaching load (vs. the US). The grant-awarding agency that supervises the grant assumes, when calculating how much funding is actually awarded on each grant (per the current Quebec-wide collective bargaining agreement), that the teaching load is 3/3. 1/3 reduction could mean 2/2, or one semester off-duty but one has to teach one course in the summer term.

 

In fact I would say that CC profs used the PhD glut as leverage to obtain that grant system and that the ever-increasing room given to research is a reaction to the glut... they say that, as you said, many PhD holders turned to CCs, and, for this reason, there is a loss of expertise and that a few grants would allow to reduce the loss.

 

I would guess that, due to the way grants work in STEM - that is, a large chunk is taken out by the university prior to what ends up going to the researcher/lab/project - I would guess that they also get a reduced courseload. The enormous chunk the university pilfers out of the grant is more than enough to cover the costs of replacing a professor for a few courses. When I found out how much money my university makes off of STEM by siphoning off the top of grants like this, I was totally APPALLED.

 

At least overhead is not taken out of the grant at home; the school receives a separate check to cover overhead expenses. In the context of the CC grant, this means 1/3 or 1/2 the yearly salary of the awardee, depending on whether the awardee asked for a 1/3 or 1/2 reduction respectively.

 

That one grant applicant that came to my lab on Wednesdays said that she planned to use the $12k allowance to pay for summer interns at $1,300/month for 3 months apiece...

Edited December 9, 2014 by Catria

[TakeruK]

"Home" is Canada, right, Catria? Are you using the term "community college" to mean a program where students tend to go for 2 years, get an Associates degree, then transfer to a 4 year university to finish their degree? (i.e. the American definition of CC), or do you mean the Canadian (or at least, the British Columbian) definition of CC: i.e. a trade or vocational school where students mostly earn 1-2 year certificate programs (e.g. in accounting, plumbing, hairdressing etc.). I think you mean the former right? (i.e. what most Canadians call "college")

 

I've also considered this career path. The minimum requirements in Canada tend to be a Masters degree (but a Canadian MSc is different than American MS) but I agree with juilletmercredi that more and more schools are only hiring PhDs because there are more PhDs now looking for these types of jobs! I know that when I first started considering grad school (~7 years ago), I looked at the local colleges and saw their Physics departments: almost all instructors had MSc and the only PhD was the department head! But I'm starting to see more of a shift hiring people with PhDs as instructors.

 

I also agree with juilletmercredi that more and more schools are hiring "sessional lecturers" (also called "adjuncts" in some places). Thus, instead of hiring on a permanent basis, instructors are paid per course and their contracts are renewed on a year to year basis. My first year English professor was one of these "sessional lecturers"--he taught 2 classes a week at my 4-year university and also 3 classes a week at a local college. These types of positions generally get paid as low as $3000 (i.e. $30k/year on a 5/5 load) per course per semester but I've seen positions that pay as high as $7000 ($70k/year on a 5/5 load).

 

However, without some kind of permanent standing, it is pretty hard to establish a research program. Also, many of these lecturers will not have work over the summer, especially in our field of Physics, where enrollment is barely high enough to merit running summer classes. 

 

But perhaps summer would be a good chance to do research. I know that a PhD from one of the local colleges near my undergrad school actually does some research with summer students at my 4-year university. I think building a strong connection with professors at a 4-year university and thus having access to their students (especially the 3rd and 4th year students) can really make a difference in your ability to do viable research while employed at a college/CC. 

 

Catria's information is consistent with other info I've heard about grant overheads in Canada. We operate very differently than the US system, and in general, overhead is way smaller. Part of the reason, according to my profs who worked on both sides of the border, is that grant overheads do pay for things like our tuition waivers as well as other things like building upkeep, employee benefits and payments from the University to the various unions (most student researchers are unionized employees). In Canada, typical tuition for grad students range from $4k/year to $7k/year, while in the US, this number is usually much higher! Also, as far as I know, Canadian grants have a budget line item for overheads (consistent with what Catria said), so if a prof needs a $20k grant for something, they would write the grant for $20k+overhead. But I admit I don't have first hand experience writing a grant. 

 

Finally, in the same vein as CC positions, there are also other positions that might be part-time research and part-time something else! For example, Catria, you might be interested in this job posting that I just received via the CASCA mailing list. The job is posted here: http://casca.ca/?p=5255 and I've pasted the description below:

 

McGill University has recently created the McGill Space Institute (msi.mcgill.ca) and requires a dynamic, outgoing individual to coordinate internal centre interactions and events, workshops, do administration including assistance with grant applications, reports and logistics, as well as organizing outreach events and initiatives for the McGill community and the general public.  The successful candidate with have a PhD in a field related to astrophysics, planetary science or astrobiology, and will be granted 25% of their time to work on research of direct relevance to cosmology, astrophysics, planetary science, or astrobiology.  Excellent communication skills are required; ability to communicate effectively in French is a strong asset.   Experience in outreach at all levels is also a strong asset. The position is for 2 years, with renewal by mutual agreement and contingent on funding.  Salary will be commensurate with experience.

 

 

I know that positions like this will be very interesting to me when I am on the job market!

[juilletmercredi]

I am almost certain that overhead in the U.S. is also added to the top.  If a researcher applies for an NIH R01 (which is $500,000 a year over 5 years) at a university with 50% overhead, they actually get that $500,000 per year.  Then the university gets an additional $250,000 on top of that per year of the grant.  And at most places, I actually don't think that you can use the overhead costs for course buyouts; I think you have to write that into the grant, aka you have to have a large enough grant to be able to cover that.

 

Not only that, but your university has to allow course buyouts.  For example, the regular load at my current university is a 2/2, a professor can buy themselves out of up to three courses, but every faculty member here needs to teach at least one course per year.  At other schools I've seen it limited to 50% of the load.  A community college may not allow them, and even if they did, they might have limits and requirements (like maybe you can only buy your way down to a 3/2, which would be a 50% reduction).  And anyway, a community college probably doesn't have the resources for you to get an R01 or the equivalent NSF award.  So you'll mostly be working with smaller grants, so you might not have enough money for enough course buyouts to really make it worth it/push the grants through.

 

Although why would we be appalled by the amount of money that the university takes in overhead?  It costs money to keep the lights on, run the electricity researchers' computers need, pay the IT guys who maintain the network, pay janitors who come clean the lab and the bathrooms on the hallway, purchase subscriptions to the journal articles the scientists use in their work, maintain the other library facilities - including the librarians who order that stuff, maintain the graduate students' work space...and all of the other thousands of things that universities cover that support STEM scientists in their work.  It's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Edited December 9, 2014 by juilletmercredi

[TakeruK]

Although why would we be appalled by the amount of money that the university takes in overhead?  It costs money to keep the lights on, run the electricity researchers' computers need, pay the IT guys who maintain the network, pay janitors who come clean the lab and the bathrooms on the hallway, purchase subscriptions to the journal articles the scientists use in their work, maintain the other library facilities - including the librarians who order that stuff, maintain the graduate students' work space...and all of the other thousands of things that universities cover that support STEM scientists in their work.  It's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

 

Definitely agree! In addition, the University guarantees the professor a salary no matter what, so the overhead helps ensure this is possible. The alternative in my field is to work at a "soft money" institution where the overheads are really low (I've heard 20% or so?) but then you are responsible for paying for all associated expenses yourself out of your grants! Personally, I'd prefer the security of the University providing for "overhead costs" in years where my grant successes are not great instead of having the uncertainty of your ability to pay yourself/overhead expenses fluctuate with availability of grants. Especially since grants don't really allow you to ask for more money to "save up" for a future "bad year" of grant writing.

[Catria]

As far as college-specific grants in Canada are concerned (there could be other province-specific grants I never heard about):

 

Canada-wide

 

Quebec-specific (in French)

 

I wonder whether there are similar programs in the US, either through a US-wide grant-awarding agency (NSF, NIH, DOE Office of Science, DOA, etc.) or a state-specific agency... maybe some of you here are interested in both teaching at the CC level and in maintaining a research program.

 

But is the teaching load 5/5 in STEM too, or it is more of a humanities/social science thing?

[dr. t]

I can say that where I am, the overhead from grants (30%) is removed from the total award.

[Crucial BBQ]

"Home" is Canada, right, Catria? Are you using the term "community college" to mean a program where students tend to go for 2 years, get an Associates degree, then transfer to a 4 year university to finish their degree? (i.e. the American definition of CC), or do you mean the Canadian (or at least, the British Columbian) definition of CC: i.e. a trade or vocational school where students mostly earn 1-2 year certificate programs (e.g. in accounting, plumbing, hairdressing etc.). I think you mean the former right? (i.e. what most Canadians call "college")

For sake of clarification in the U.S. we have 2-year public vo-tech schools, 2-3 year private vo-tech schools (although not that common), and community college--which can be either vo-tech, "college" or usually a combination of the two.  In some States community college is known as jr. college.  I don't think one community college in the State of California has the word "community" in its name.  

 

I believe that a main difference between community college professors and university professors is that the CC profs are more tied into what is going on in the community and in broader world of their fields in terms of private industry.  The university profs don't really seem to have a clue.  At the small community college were I received my A.S. (Applied Marine Biology), we had all sorts of people hanging out--buddies with the faculty.  There were people from NOAA, Woods Hole, DNR, various aquariums, fisherman, Coasties, independent researchers, and so on.    Not one professor from a university ever stopped by as far as I recall.  

 

Profs were doing basic research, sometimes known as pure research.  One guy was doing gene sequencing on a type of fish.  He was sampling fish from two locations, 100 miles apart from each other.  He was looking for a genetic marker in sample B that should only be found in sample A but was showing up periodically in sample B.  He also raised alewife to later be released.  There were also two other projects he was doing:  one involved developing a new type of lobster trap and the other was developing a synthetic lobster bait.  He is a fisheries guy.   

 

A chemistry prof was looking into pollutants in the water column (ocean/near shore); another science prof was developing an improvement to a piece of oceanic equipment; another prof was using coastal drifters to track coastal currents.   There were a few others.  

 

Other profs either worked in their fields outside of the classroom, or were retired from it before they began teaching.   I think coming from industry made/makes them better teachers, in my opinion, than those who only know academia. 

 

The fisheries guy mentioned above hired a former student to work on the synthetic lobster bait project.  This student was paid by the community college, not him, and I believe she was considered an official employee of the CC.  The program had an independent research course where students could choose to work on various projects.  He often used students enrolled in that course to work on his gene sequencing project. The guy who was working on the piece of oceanic equipment also used student labor who were paid for by the CC.  

 

Another "trick" they used was to coincide lab assignments with their research projects when applicable. 

 

I am not sure about teaching load; I thought it was four courses per semester to be considered full-time.  Part-time facility either still had their "day jobs" or taught at multiple colleges to make full-time.  Community colleges are hiring Ph.D.s more-and-more; to my knowledge the requirement is still a Master's to teach transferable courses and "expertise" to teach non-transferable courses.  

 

Based on what I saw at this CC it seems that it could be possible to teach at a CC and do research at the CC -or off campus- as long as you put teaching first.  

[Catria]

But really, my subfield (theoretical particle cosmology) usually has no special facility requirement, unlike some experimentalists (condensed matter, for example), hence why I would readily consider doing research if I ended up teaching at the CC level.

[TakeruK]

But really, my subfield (theoretical particle cosmology) usually has no special facility requirement, unlike some experimentalists (condensed matter, for example), hence why I would readily consider doing research if I ended up teaching at the CC level.

 

That definitely helps. But as the discussion here have said, there are other support systems that might not be available at a CC. In addition to what was said above, another one we might take for granted is access to journals. Smaller schools like CCs might have a very limited number of journal subscriptions and they might not have access to the papers you want/need to read. As I said above, if you were going to go the "research at a CC" route, I would strongly recommend affiliating yourself with a 4 year university where possible! My undergrad had some researchers from nearby colleges as "visiting fellows" or some title like that where they aren't employed by the school at all, but they are able to attend seminars, interact with other profs a little bit, access the library etc.