Creating partners and Networks for success

1. Creating partners and Networks for success Applications to the Community College System Dr. Sybil Burgess, Instructor, Biology and Chemistry Brunswick Community College, Supply, North Carolina 28462 (910) 755-7454 burgesss@brunswickcc.edu

2. Where We Started • NSF workshop with Dr. Kelly Mack at Robeson Community College to introduce NSF-ADVANCE • “Any takers?” • Two Brunswick Community College Science Faculty members with 9 month contracts looking for summer employment (Burgess and Sabaoun) • “Just a few surveys. Piece of cake! Why not? Need the summer money!” • Who has written an NSF proposal before? Ans. Dr. Burgess at UNCW • “But she had a strong Sponsored Programs Office there...” • We wrote the proposal and we were funded!!! The first community college that NSF-ADVANCE had funded and the first NSF grant every received by Brunswick Community College!!!!! • “Is this good?”

3. What We Learned • The North Carolina Community College System is extremely top-down in management. • Administrative approval needed for what is considered in the university system expected professional activities • “Found out about this the hard way...so different from university system” Burgess • Faculty are reluctant to discuss concerns • “Little perceived job security….no tenure…no multiple year contracts” • Business offices can make life difficult • “No Grants Manager in the Business Office = No Effective Grants Management” • Program officer intervention is sometimes needed to get local support • “You have to have be courageous and steadfast”

4. Challenges Unique to Us • Heavy Teaching Loads • “But we do love the students!” • Lack of Experience with Research • “Master’s level faculty with little research experience..” • Lack of Multiple Year Contracts • “Are you going to be around in three years to manage this project??” • Need for Multiple Job Assignments • “Chemical Hygiene Officer, Biology and Chemistry Instructor, Academic Advisor and Mentor, Continuing Education Instructor ” • “Faculty Senate President, Biology and Chemistry Instructor, Chemistry Club Advisor, Women’s Volleyball Coach” • Students with Special Academic Needs • “Open admission in community colleges”

5. Are We Really So Happy? • Salaries are lower than those at universities • We have little input in departmental decisions • We work long hours • We have little job security • “For adjuncts the above are extremely exacerbated!!” • We have time with our families! • “They don’t want us on campus late hours….work when everyone else does!!” • We love the classroom and the students! • “This is in-fact our de-facto “job security”…. Faculty turnover is not that high” • We get to teach wonderful subjects on the edge of our original knowledge base • “Protein biochemist teaching Anatomy and Physiology and Organic Chemistry!!!!

6. Empowerment and Excellence • Excellent and Empowered Community College Faculty • Generate Excellent Instruction • “New knowledge!!!” • Are Retained at the Institution • “Invested in the institution, want to stay” • Provide Excitement and Energy to the Workplace • “Check out that latest asteroid!!!!!!!” • Are Agents for Positive Change • “Can significantly change a person (many persons?) life (lives!!!)…What a gift this is!!” • Are True Role Models for Students they Instruct • “They want to be like US!!!!...WOW!!!”

7. What We Want • Employment Security • “Within a non-tenure system, multiple year contracts?” • Professional Opportunities • “Participation in our professional organizations, not just workshops on how to teach better?” • Shared Governance • “Faculty elected committees with some governing authority?” • Professional Recognition • “Titling system with faculty hearings committee for appeals?”

8. How We Can Get it • Buy-in from Community College System • “Need to see that improvement of faculty conditions has economic advantages” • NSF-ADVANCE projects that address specific community college faculty concerns • “We are happy in our jobs, but we are scared that we might lose them” • “NSF can empower those of us that will to make situations better for those that are afraid to speak out.” • “Partner with professional associations (AWIS, AACC, AAUW, Faculty Associations)” • “Partner with discipline-specific professional associations” • Targeted assistance for Sponsored Programs Offices and/or Faculty that have to be de-facto SPO at home institution • “Dual role in small institutions” • “Requirement for PI and Business Office NSF Grants Management Training”

9. Acknowledgements • Dr. Sybil Burgess, Retired Associate Professor UNCW (Chemistry), Full time Science Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Principal Investigator • Dr. Katharine Kleber, Adjunct Biology Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project Administrative Assistant • Ms. Michelle Sabaoun, Lead Instructor for Biotechnology, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Institutional Data Coordinator • Mr. Peter Hocking, Full time Mathematics Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project Statistician • Ms. Zenda Rushing, Adjunct Biology Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project Newsletter Editor • Dr. Edith Lang, Retired Vice-President for Student Services, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project Data Analysis Coordinator • Dr. Diane Levy, Professor UNCW (Sociology), NSF-ADVANCE Project Faculty Climate Survey Coordinator • Dr. Christina Lanier, Associate Professor (Sociology), NSF-ADVANCE Project Climate Survey Data Analysis Coordinator • Dr. Kimberly McDaniel, Full-time Biology Faculty, Fayetteville Technical Community College, NSF-ADVANCE local coordinator • Mr. Louis McIntyre, Full-time Biology Faculty Robeson Community College NSF-ADVANCE local coordinator • Ms. Sara Davenport, Full-time Biology Faculty Southeastern Community College NSF-ADVANCE local coordinator • Bladen Community College, James Sprunt Community College and Sampson Community College participated with the above institutions in the faculty climate survey and institutional data collection.