Graduate School Course Offerings

GRDSCH 630A

Exploring Faculty Careers in Higher Education
 

Spring Quarter 2003,  Wednesdays, 3:30-5:20,  Loew 106  -  2 credits (C/NC)  SLN:  3976

Tentative Syllabus

Overview:

This course is intended for graduate students in any discipline who are considering careers as faculty members.  Through a series of speakers, readings, and other activities, students will develop an understanding of some of the basic attributes, values, and traditions of American higher education and the ways in which they take shape at different kinds of educational institutions.

Goals:

As a result of taking this course, graduate students will be able to identify the following factors which will help them to make informed decisions about their future careers:

• The characteristics of higher educational institutions in the U.S., with inferences about the culture of various kinds of institutions;

• Some of the areas in which the academy is experiencing change;

• The ways in which teaching, research, and service are carried out at various kinds of educational institutions;

• The rationale behind values of the academy, such as tenure, diversity, collegiality, and academic freedom;

• Some of the choices the academic job market has to offer;

• Their own interests concerning an academic career.
   

Required textbooks (available at the University Bookstore):

The Art and Politics of College Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Professor, second edition, Karl D. Hostetler, R. McLaran Sawyer, and Keith W. Prichard, eds., Peter Lang, 2001.

Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate,  Boyer, Ernest L., Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, New Jersey, 1990.

Course activities to receive credit:

In addition to attending class sessions, participants will be expected to do the preparatory reading for each session and to produce several brief pieces of reflective writing.

Course Outline

Specific information about the speakers, topics, and assignments will be distributed before each class meeting.  Please complete the reading(s) and/or assignments before the date of the class session. 

- Week 1        Course Introduction
- Week 2        Overview: US Higher Education
- Week 3        Issues of Diversity
- Week 4        The First Years:  Observations of new faculty
- Week 5        A Consideration of Scholarship Reconsidered
- Week 6        Non-Research I Institutions
- Week 7        Some Academic Traditions and Values
- Week 8        An Institution with a Visible Mission—Seattle University
- Week 9        Professionalism and Collegiality
- Week 10       Looking to the Future