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Query: publishing in community college jobs

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, '1st time on the market' writes:

Does anybody have examples of folks who teach philosophy full-time at a community college and still manage to publish decent work? I plan to receive a PhD this spring from an unranked program and have wondered whether I would be able to continue publishing (I've got one published paper right now) if I had to "settle" for a cc job.

While I recognize that some people may regard a community college job as "settling", I've heard from a number of people that they can be great jobs–jobs they are happy with, and which may be better in some respects than jobs at R1's or SLACs (I've heard the stresses of tenure at R1's–not to mention tenure denials–can be absolutely brutal; and the overall workload at SLACs–spanning research, teaching, and service, etc.–can be crushing too!). I'm also not sure how I feel about parsing out examples of people who (or do not) "publish decent work." That being said, answering this reader's general query may be helpful: is it feasible to publish consistently in good places while working full time at a community college? I think it might be good to hear from readers, including people who work at community colleges themselves–as it might give grad students and job-candidates a better picture of what such jobs are actually like.

For my part, I personally know a number of people who work at CCs who do good work and are very research-productive. One friend of mine, Gregg Caruso, has worked at Corning Community College for years. He's published a number of books and articles in places like Phil Studies, Ergo, and Erkenntnis; has made a name for himself in his field; earned tenure as a full Professor, and gained honorary and visiting appointments at four-year universities–all with a heavy teaching load. Gregg's productivity is astonishing–and he's far from the only person I know who is a successful community college researcher!

Anyone else have any insight or experience they'd like to share here?

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6 responses to “Query: publishing in community college jobs”

  1. Peter Furlong

    I work at Valencia College, which is primarily a two-year degree granting institution. (They changed the name from Valencia Community College when they began offering some four-year degrees–which was before I joined the faculty–but in most respects it retains the character of a two-year institution.)
    My load is 5-5-2, but most people teach more than this (I have taught 14 courses each of the last two years). I still try to write, but it is harder to find time to do so. I have recently finished a draft of a monograph, which is currently under contract. With any luck things will proceed smoothly to final publication, but I will refrain from saying more until the process is further along. In any case, it was possible for me to write the entire book while teaching this much, but I had no time for working on other writing projects. In fact, I have an R&R that has been sitting around for more than six months, simply because I have not had time to revise it. The number of research projects I can juggle at once is certainly limited.
    One difficulty to keep in mind is that you are likely to have few if any colleagues who work in the same area as you do. Because of this, it may be harder to receive feedback on your work than it would be at some other institutions (although you will likely encounter the same issue at many four-year institutions).
    Another thing that might be a difficulty for some people is that there is likely to be little or no incentive to publish at two-year institutions. At my institution, for example, raises are not based upon publications, and although publications might not hurt a tenure case, they are not expected. On the other hand, this lack of pressure frees me up to write on issues that interest me, even if they might not be particularly “hot.”
    I tend to think that whether one can publish extensively from any given position largely depends upon one’s work habits and motivation. Although there might be some editorial bias that keeps excellent work from getting published, I tend to think that the bigger hurdles are finding time (even if one has to piece together many little chunks of it here and there) and internal motivation to write.
    I do find time to write, but I also make deliberate decisions not to let my work take over my life. I have a wife and children and want to make sure I am a part of their life. I rarely take any days off, even in the summer, but I also try not to work nights or weekends. Different people will find different work/life balances, and yours might allow for much more time to write.

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  2. Trevor Hedberg

    I know one person who might fit the bill: my old grad school comrade Roger Turner teaches at Walter State Community College and has published several articles in metaphysics (in venues like Phil Studies and Pacific Philosophical Quarterly) since taking that post. Here’s his website: http://prturner.weebly.com/

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  3. Paul

    One thougt: is there rally any difference between a CC job and being a lecturer at a regional 4 year state school? I have three friends that I am thinking of, only one teaches at a TT job, but the other two are lecturers who teach 4-5 classes a semester, so basically the same in terms of load, research expectations, and opportunities for teaching electives. All three publish regularly. I will say that most of the publications are in smaller journals and edited collections, but they also present at regional conferences and so keep connected. This allows them to stay intellectually engaged, and I think they could move “up” (if it really is moving up) to a teaching institution that is a better fit for them, whatever that means for the individual.
    I think that one major barrier is the lack of opportunity to “write what you teach and teach what you write” at a CC. These schools are often part of a larger system, and th syllabi are standardized across campuses. So, you cannot tailor the intro courses to better fit your research interests. Whereas you often can do this at the four year regional college. And as Marcus pointed out in a different post, even an intro course can be good fodder for research if you are creative.

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  4. Amanda

    Some lecture jobs are likely a lot like CC jobs. I do think that in most cases having tenure at a CC job is more secure. And you might have a lower teaching load as a lecturer, and more chances to teach upper division. On the other hand, at the CC you are much more a part of the department when it comes to making decisions and serving on boards etc. For instance I think lecturers are almost never involved in hiring searches. How involved they are varies from place to place, but I get the impression some places offer little involvement and leave it up to tenure-track faculty.

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  5. Seen

    The best indicator of whether you can and will publish in a community college job is whether you published before. If you haven’t yet published, it is unlikely things will turn around, given the demands of the job. But if you have figured out how to publish, then the job will just affect the rate at which you publish. This is my experience, having watched a number of people at Community College jobs, and at so-called teaching 4-year colleges.

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  6. 1st time on market

    Thanks, all. Very helpful glimpse into some of the responsibilities at cc jobs and how they may affect one’s ability to publish. Also, nice examples (thanks for sharing your own case, Peter). I’m glad to hear of so many who’ve done it.

    Reply

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