Finding a Fit at Small Colleges

Like many academics, I am at a small institution that plays host to programs staffed by only a few faculty members. While at a big research university the English department, for example, may have five scholars of Renaissance literature, at small schools like mine the entire English department may comprise five scholars, period.

Graduate school generally conditions candidates to specialize and focus, whereas life at a small institution can force faculty members to generalize and diversify. Some professors thrive on this challenge, becoming wide-ranging, thoughtful instructors in an array of topics. Others do not shed their investment in specialization and thus turn out to be a poor fit at their institution.

From the hiring side, there are two main challenges in finding and hiring colleagues for a small institution. The first is attracting applicants who by temperament and training are inclined to teach in an atmosphere that encourages generalists. The other is to sort those who will not succeed in that atmosphere from those who will.

Such sorting is very difficult. Anyone engaged in hiring at a small institution can tell stories of apparently perfect candidates who flopped miserably in the job, and candidates who elicited skepticism who have become among the strongest faculty on campus.

Candidates can help themselves in this process by seriously assessing their interest in small, teaching-oriented institutions and working hard to convey their understanding of the demands of this kind of position. Despite the challenges in judging candidates in a relatively brief interview, search committees should devise questions and interview activities that elicit information helpful in understanding candidates’ interest and understanding of the work at a small institution.

On both sides, honesty about intentions and concerns can help candidates and search committees improve the odds of making the right decisions.