This article appears in the January 2001 issue (volume 1, number 21) of the MAA Focus newsletter. An expanded version of this article appears in the October 2000 issue of Concerns of Young Mathematicians.
Applying for Tenure-Track Positions at Community Colleges
Much has been written about the process of applying for jobs at universities and four-year colleges. This spring I interviewed mainly at two-year schools (community colleges), and was amazed at how different this process is from that at four-year schools. The interview process was virtually identical at all of these schools. This article summarizes my experiences and impressions.
I
found job notices by using the California Community Colleges Registry and JobBank, located at https://www.cccregistry.org/jobs/index.aspx.
This free service allows an applicant to search for full- and part-time
positions in any field at two-year colleges throughout the state, and by
registering one's name, field and contact information on the site,
you can receive in the mail job notices from individual colleges. Also there
are CCC job fairs held in northern and southern
In addition to the usual package of application materials, these schools require a school district application form. They also require several essays on topics such as teaching in a diverse population and the use of technology in the classroom. Schools contact applicants by phone or mail for a first round of interviews. The school assigns the applicant a time and date for the first on-campus interview, which lasts an hour at most. In general, there are no reschedulings: if you cannot make the appointment given to you, then you are out of luck. A doctorate degree is not required for a position at a two-year school, only a Master's degree or equivalent state credentials.
When I arrived at most of my first-round interviews, I was given one half-hour to review a sheet of paper that contained the questions that the committee would be asking me. All schools asked me what background and experiences I have that enable me to be an effective teacher of a diverse student population, and they also all asked about my use of technology in the classroom. Other questions concerned the role of public education and hypothetical classroom situations. After the reviewing the questions, I was brought before the committee, and we were all seated at a large table. They read a prepared statement, such as, "Hello, and welcome. Your credentials are impressive and we are very happy to interview you today." Apparently these schools are required to try as hard as possible to make all the interviews identical, so that no applicant is shown any preference. Then the committee members took turns reading the questions off of the paper, and I gave my responses, and they took notes. It is extremely formal. In general, committee members may nod and smile, but do not ask follow-up questions or comment on responses to the questions. At the start, I was told how long this part of the interview should last, and that I should take that into account as I gave my answers. Some committees even set a clock in front of me on the table.
After this 30- to 45-minute interview was done, I went to the board to give my previously prepared 10- or 15-minute lecture on a topic of undergraduate mathematics, such as shared work problems, the fundamental theorem of calculus, and linear independence. The topic or choice of topics is given in the packet sent with the interview offer. Usually these lectures are to be prepared as though the audience is comprised of students taking that course. At some schools, committee members may ask questions as instructors, as well as while pretending to be students. During my lecture at one school, one of the committee members asked an innocent mathematical question about something I had written, and the other members immediately yelled out his name, apparently trying to remind him that the interviews must be kept uniform.
Afterward, there often was a time for the applicant to ask any questions they may have. Questions seemed genuinely welcome, although the committees were working on tight schedules, so a couple of times I wrapped up my questions rather quickly, when I could sense that they wanted to move on.
From those interviewed, usually three finalists are chosen for a second on-campus interview, usually with the president, a vice-president and the chair of the mathematics department or division. This time there is a bit more freedom with the choice of appointment time, although again they try to have the appointments within a week or so. Community colleges can hire 30 or more tenure-track positions each year, and the president and vice-president (or dean) must interview three or so finalists for each of these positions. This second interview may be as formal as the first, or it may be much more relaxed.
Throughout the interview process
at nearly all of the schools, there was no opportunity to meet with mathematics
faculty who were not on the committee, or to chat
informally with committee members, or even to visit the department or tour the
campus in general. Clearly this is very different from the process at four-year
schools. I was one of seven finalists at one community college outside of
I recommend that anyone interested in applying for a full-time position at a community college try to get a part-time job at one first, for the experience. Though I did not have such experience, I believe that the school that hired me, Santa Monica College, was impressed by my letters of recommendation (I had asked my advisor to write a separate letter for community colleges, stressing teaching and very much reducing the amount of space dedicated to my research), and by my having attended and taught at schools with which SMC has special relationships. I think that having a Ph.D. is a double-edged sword: departments and colleges like to boast of the number of their Ph.D. recipients, and yet they automatically will have to pay someone with a doctorate at the high end of the pay scale.
Andrew Nestler
recently received his Ph.D. from the