curry
New member
Posts: 16
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« on: November 18, 2009, 12:30:13 PM » |
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To what extent, if at all, is the 2/2 teaching load at Wellesley College outweighed by expectations that faculty regularly design new courses or spend a good deal of time mentoring students? In other words, is an SLAC 2/2 actually more demanding than my 3/2 at an RU/H where I'm on campus two days a week, I have TAs for large courses, my mentoring responsibilities are minor, and I'm not required to introduce new courses?
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tandem
Junior member
Posts: 68
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« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2009, 06:11:18 PM » |
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I am not at Wellesley, but another top SLAC. I'm currently teaching a 3/2. Developing new courses regularly seems to be the norm here (often 1-2 new per year depending on your field), and mentoring and advising students is incredibly time consuming. I don't know from experience how to compare it to a 3/2 at an RU/H, but I am definitely expected by students as well as colleagues to be accessible to students on a regular, more or less daily, basis. I have around 10 advisees, advise thesis projects, am asked to supervise independent studies (no teaching credit for this, though I could refuse)...by this point in the semester (teaching 3), I end up with approximately 15-20 individual, scheduled meetings with students each week. I receive at least 10 student emails per day that require substantive responses (comments on outlines/drafts, advice about research methods, etc.). This weekend I will write four letters of recommendation. Plus the regular teaching prep, grading, etc... Grading is perhaps lighter at a SLAC since there are fewer students, but my students expect a lot of comments and justification for any grade lower than a B+.
It's very demanding. Ultimately teaching here feels like a totally different job than teaching at the top R1 at which I lectured before this... Three is truly too much. I love the 2-class semesters and the particular research culture here, but even so -- a job like this is a teaching job that still somehow maintains very high expectations for publication (at least top SLACs like Wellesley surely will). Maybe the culture of Wellesley is particular, though -- hopefully someone in the know will weigh in.
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mended_drum
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« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2009, 06:32:27 PM » |
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By way of comparison, I teach at a very good, though not top, SLAC with a 3-3 load. I average about 30 advisees at a time, and I too am expected to have daily office hours and be in my office more than that. Never having taught full time at an R1 or R2, I don't know how it compares, but I was doing exactly the same thing when we were 4-4, except with more advisees. I enjoy it, frankly.
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spork
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« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2009, 08:08:27 PM » |
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Wellesley. Bwahahaha.
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a.k.a. gum-chewing monkey in a Tufts University jacket
"Please do not force people who are exhausted to take medication for hallucinations." -- Memo from the Chair, Department of White Privilege Studies, Fiork University
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svenc
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« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2009, 08:16:11 PM » |
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The teaching comparison is not the only relevant one. Frankly, many of the SLACs that have 2/2 loads have very high research expectations, often higher than at many RU/Hs. (I can't speak to how Wellesley compares to your current school and in your discipline, but the folks in my discipline at Williams and Amherst outperform the folks at most RU/Hs on the research front.)
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In foris veritas.
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verbena
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« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2009, 08:40:24 PM » |
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Wellesley. Bwahahaha.
What does this mean, beyond the usual spork misogyny? |
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"My kind of paper, into lots of fiber."
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spork
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« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2009, 07:09:23 AM » |
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Wellesley. Bwahahaha.
What does this mean, beyond the usual spork misogyny? I'm just remembering the classes that I took there, the coddling, and the percentage of students who wore pearls, sweaters, and make-up to class. It was a bizarre environment. |
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a.k.a. gum-chewing monkey in a Tufts University jacket
"Please do not force people who are exhausted to take medication for hallucinations." -- Memo from the Chair, Department of White Privilege Studies, Fiork University
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msparticularity
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« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2009, 12:14:32 PM » |
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In terms of load and expectations, I believe that Wellesley has a substantial focus upon undergrad research--which of course requires faculty mentoring.
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"Once admit that the sole verifiable or fruitful object of knowledge is the particular set of changes that generate the object of study...and no intelligible question can be asked about what, by assumption, lies outside." John Dewey
"Be particular." Jill Conner Browne
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