Working in Academia: Preparing for Changing Roles

Teaching. Service. Research. These have been the three-pronged foundation of an academic career, though not necessarily in that order. But according to graduate students, faculty members, and advocates for doctoral education reform, what defines these responsibilities and what role the professorate plays in them--especially teaching--have been changing over the last few years. Teaching is moving beyond ensuring students can master the subject matter of a course. Now professors are also being asked to instruct students in skills such as oral and written communication and computer technology. And faculty are being asked to serve in more and different ways within the university as well as the nonacademic world. Doctoral education has focused on research, and still does. But more likely than not, new Ph.D.s hoping to stay in academia will not be concentrating primarily on their research interests, because the majority of higher-education institutions focus on teaching. Advocates for doctoral education reform say there is a need to make new Ph.D.s more job-ready in all three areas of academic responsibility. The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program1 is doing just that. PFF is a collaborative effort of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), both located in Washington, D.C., that works with colleges and universities to develop professional activities for students aspiring to academic careers. "What we felt was needed was more comprehensive preparation of faculty for their full range of responsibilities," says Jerry Gaff, vice president of AACU and PFF's director. "Doctoral programs typically overemphasize research and underemphasize teaching and service." An about-to-be published report that summarizes the last five years of the PFF program, entitled Building the Faculty We Need: Colleges and Universities Working Together, found that doctoral education has focused on "the socialization [of new recruits] in the discipline via research," says Gaff. But, he stresses, faculty must know how to better function within the entire realm of their institutions. One way PFF is trying to achieve this is by enlisting scientific professional societies to help faculty members embrace change. Terri Nalley, who works in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Education Division, says that ACS has chosen five schools to participate in a PFF-sponsored program. "These schools are interested in adding a faculty aspect to their doctoral preparation," explains Nalley. "In terms of graduate education, this is a cultural change. In this first year of participation, most of the programs are setting up seminars for the doctoral students that will cover such higher-education issues as new instructional methods, governance, academic freedom, adjunct and part-time teaching issues, and how to put together a teaching portfolio." Anne Pruitt-Logan However, says Anne Pruitt-Logan, a CGS scholar-in-residence and PFF's codirector, not all faculty are on board. "Graduate faculty are primarily the resisters because I think they're just not in touch with what it is their students will be expected to do after they obtain their Ph.D.s. There's a lot of enthusiasm among the graduate faculty already involved. We're trying to get the attention of those who haven't signed on yet." Many faculty members say there's a gap between what most Ph.D. students are trained to do and what they're asked and expected to do when they get a job. Kristy Csavina, a graduate student and teaching assistant (TA) in bioengineering at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe who has participated in PFF-sponsored programs at ASU, says that the mismatch in training and expectations can be seen in the preparation of students for all three areas: research, teaching, and service. "Obviously as a student you're doing research," she remarks. "What you're often not asked or expected to do is the grantwriting." And with service, she says, students will most likely be involved through their professional society, and in some rare instances, sit on academic committees. In the estimation of Csavina and others, it is in teaching that the gulf is the widest. Csavina says that TAs attend a half-day course that's offered by ASU's graduate college, but they don't have the opportunity to gain any true teaching experience, such as writing lectures, teaching in front of a large survey class, or writing a syllabus. She does add that her department supports programs such as PFF philosophically. In fact, a PFF representative from the graduate college and Csavina are scheduled to speak at her department's symposium this year. Thomas Roberts, professor and chair of the department of biological sciences at Florida State University, perceives less of a mismatch now than there was 20 years ago when he was a graduate student. "I don't know if this is nationwide, but here we have had a great deal of interest in preparing our graduate students for their teaching role," says Roberts. New grad students come in a week before classes start for a week-long workshop. Gordon E. Uno, a program director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation (who is on leave from his botany professorship at the University of Oklahoma), says that closing the gap between the way Ph.D.s are trained and what's expected is especially important because the great majority of Ph.D.s will never wind up in research institutions. "There are very few institutions where only research will count toward their being granted tenure," says Uno. "Most Ph.D.s today will find their way to liberal colleges, two-year [or] four-year institutions, and some even to high schools. And in all of those institutions, teaching is really valued. What I try to tell Ph.D. students is that their research--their disciplinary background--will get them the job interview, but the teaching will land them the job." Teaching More than Content A few years ago Uno wrote Handbook on Teaching Undergraduate Science Courses: A Survival Training Manual. (See Resources.) "I did that because grad students focus on their research, and they're encouraged to do so even though they may be paid to be teaching assistants," he explains. "What I tried to do ... was to write about ... how students learn. I try to give some introduction to some of these ideas with practical examples." His handbook includes chapters on case studies of new faculty, teaching critical thinking skills, assessing students, developing lectures and syllabi, common problems of teaching, and dealing with students (such as the evolution/creation debate, and the role of educational technology). According to Gaff, faculty are being asked more and more not only to cover the content of a course, but also to help students cultivate such skills as critical thinking, working with computer technology, and written and oral communication. "There's more of an emphasis on learning rather than teaching," says Pruitt-Logan. "What are the outcomes, what are your students really learning? Are there ways to get people to learn other than the traditional lecture method?" One of the reasons for veering from conventional ways is that there's a more diverse student body attending college these days, explains Pruitt-Logan. A larger proportion of high-school students are going on to college, which translates into a broader array of interests, abilities, and learning styles. Also a larger number of adult learners--the so-called nontraditional student--are attending many institutions in record numbers. Says Gaff: "If you're working at a doctoral university, you don't get the broad diversity of students that you're likely to encounter at a comprehensive university or community college or most liberal arts colleges." But these are where most of the newly minted Ph.D.s will find positions in academia. Pruitt-Logan also mentions that state legislators and boards of trustees are questioning the quality of higher education in a world where some graduates can't write a paragraph. She surmises that this is because employers are clamoring for a more skilled work force. "We're saying it's not so much the kids' fault, but the methods we're using to teach them," she concludes. Service Beyond the Academic Community The service component of academic responsibility has a broader definition. For some, it could encompass sitting on search and graduate student committees; to others, it's as wide ranging as being available to the press and legislators to talk about science and its importance to society. As far as changes on campus are concerned, Pruitt-Logan says that faculty are being asked to participate more in governance. "This requires them to become involved in curriculum decisions and perhaps get involved in something like their institution's faculty senate." She says that these are not necessarily heavy responsibilities, but Ph.D. students see themselves first as researchers, because this is what they're trained to do. "They anticipate their role as primarily conducting research, maybe secondarily teaching, but certainly not all the committee work," she adds. At the University of Oklahoma, says Uno, most appointments are "40-40-20," 40 percent to research, 40 percent to teaching, and 20 percent to service. "In that 20 percent to service, I think people are beginning to understand that there is a need to reach out to the general community in which you live," he asserts. "For instance, in my department, which is botany, people call all the time, saying, 'Oh, my kid ate this plant,' and we provide information to them." What's different in the last few years is that faculty are taking a greater role in making the public at large aware of the scientific perspective on issues, notes Roberts. For example, one of his faculty recently appeared on a CNN interview to provide a scientist's perspective to the creation-evolution debate. Roberts says that faculty are criticized for not widely educating the public about science and scientific issues. "I think we've made some progress, but there's certainly a lot of room for improvement." Uno sees a parallel in the changing academic roles--especially in teaching--to the biotechnological advances with which faculty have had to keep abreast. "Today teaching faculty have to retool as well," says Uno. "They can still focus on teaching their discipline, but now they have to help students learn it in a different way. The most successful faculty might be those who can incorporate modern techniques, be they in research or pedagogy." 1. H. Black, "Teaching to teach," The Scientist, 12[21]:12-13, Oct. 26, 1998. Karen Young Kreeger (kykreeger@aol.com) is a contributing editor for The Scientist. ResourcesAmerican Chemical Society www.acs.org/edresources.htmlSearch using the keyword "professional development" American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education Inc.jchemed.chem.wisc.eduHandbook on Teaching Undergraduate Science Courses:A Survival Training Manual by Gordon E. Unowww.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/faculty/uno-book.shtmlThe handbook can also be ordered from Saunders College Publishing for a nominal fee to cover shipping and handling by calling (800) 782-4479 or by the hotlink to Saunders from the handbook's Web page. National Science Foundationwww.nsf.govSearch the Education section using the keyword "faculty development" Preparing Future Facultywww.preparing-faculty.org

Working in Academia: Preparing for Changing Roles

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