Teaching and Learning History

Two-Year Faculty:  Are you a teacher, a scholar, or a historian?

I’m seeking participants for a round table at next year’s AHA in Washington to address this question.  The session would include four brief commentaries followed by discussion.  We need one or two more members. 

There has much discussion at my institution and elsewhere about whether two-year faculty are teachers or scholars or historians, or some combination thereof.  I received comments recently from faculty around the country who raised a number of questions along these lines leading to some themes we might address in a round table. 

Among the topics might be:

Are history faculty at your institution seen as historians--practitioners of their discipline?

Does your institution provide support for faculty research, scholarship, or other disciplinary activities?

Should historical scholarship and disciplinary activity play any role in hiring, tenure, or post-tenure review?

The scholar-teacher debate has been raised before, but I’d like to see a round table that addresses the issue again and proposes some prescriptive measures.  How, and to what extent, should we address these matters at our institutions?

Please contact me by email if you’d like to join the round table with a brief presentation along these lines, or something similar. 

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Mark Smith
Valencia Coll.
Orlando FL
msmith01@mail.valenciacollege.edu
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Hi Mark,

I would like to participate in the community college Round Table session at AHA 2018 in Washington, D.C.

The issue of teacher versus historian vs scholar is complicated at Metropolitan Community College. I love teaching at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. We operate on the quarter system, include 4 Nebraska counties, have eight campuses, and with a student population of 20,000 - 25,000 per year, we are the largest community college in Nebraska. And yet, our administration and unbelievably some of our faculty, feel that our current across the board generic title of "Instructor" is appropriate. We don't have tenure per se at MCC but it's understood that if you don't do something really outlandish, you will receive a contract each year to sign for the following year. As for scholarly research, we are not encouraged or discouraged. Our salary raises are decided by the union and not what we do in or outside of the classroom, although we do have excellent monthly faculty development opportunities.

Like I first stated, it's complicated, but it would be great to discuss with colleagues.

Thank you for your consideration. My cv is attached as well.

Amy Forss, PhD
History Program Chair
Metropolitan Community College
Omaha, Nebraska
531.622.1273 (office)

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Amy Forss
Metropolitan Comm. Coll.
Omaha NE
aforss@mccneb.edu
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