(168c) Lessons from an Untenured Administrator…

As the number of non-tenure track faculty members grows across the country in engineering disciplines, it is perhaps inevitable that some of us will end up in administrative roles that in the past may have been primarily reserved for those on the tenure track. Department head, assistant or associate department head, director of undergraduate studies, and even associate dean positions are now sometimes being filled by faculty colleagues that are members of a class of faculty known by many titles: instructional faculty, teaching faculty, in-residence faculty, teaching-track faculty, and the like. The names may be different, but the job descriptions are generally the same: we don’t do “technical” research in our primary discipline (though we increasingly are getting involved in educational scholarship!), and we do a much larger share of teaching (and potentially service) than our counterparts on the tenure track.

In this presentation, I hope to present some of my observations (and best practices) that I’ve seen as a tenure track faculty member (2003-2008) as a non-tenure-track faculty member (2009-Present), and as an academic administrator: associate department head (2011-2013) and Associate Dean (2013-Present). NTT faculty can encounter a broad range of experiences in their departments based on both the micro-scale (departmental) and macro-scale (university-wide) culture, and this can lead to both some fantastic opportunities as well as feelings of isolation and overwork. Taking advantage of certain opportunities without the protection or stature that tenure grants can be daunting, but also incredibly liberating. It can also be frustrating when certain advancement paths seem closed to us because the position “requires” a tenured faculty member (for no reason that anyone can seem to clearly articulate). In academia, tenure is an obvious marker of quality and success, and one that has been collectively defined. For those of us not on that path, recognition and advancement can be more nebulous, and often more defined by our personal relationships than by anything else. I hope to share with you some of the ways that I have been successful in navigating the NTT world, and that some of those lessons are transferable to your circumstances and institutions.