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Let’s assume you’ve followed our advice throughout this series and you land a faculty position at a small, independent college — congratulations. We close our series by helping you make a successful transition and start your first semester on a strong note.
Now that you have landed the job, you should keep thinking about the needs of your new institution and how you prepare yourself to meet them. Here are four broad goals to guide you through your exciting first year.
Develop Your Teaching Identity
On your campus visit, you likely noticed the faculty you interacted with spent more time talking about their teaching than their research. While faculty at small liberal arts colleges often have active scholarly agendas, teaching remains their center of gravity.
It will serve you well, then, to begin actively reflecting on and developing your teaching identity. Your success in supporting students depends on being curious about their needs as learners and their lives outside of the classroom. For example, think about the end students have in mind — that they are coming to college to get a good job. Respect how and why they have that perspective. How will you meet them where they are? How can you use this information to make your courses and assignments relevant to them?
Most of all, developing your teaching identity may mean moving away from your identity as a disciplinary expert. You may be the only one on your campus with a specialty in a small facet of a narrow topic, but your small college needs you to discover the pleasures of being a generalist. Whether you teach core curriculum courses or introductory courses in your field, you will be teaching a lot of beginners. Students will need you to find joy in hooking them with ideas, questions, and assignments and watching their skills grow.
No one expects you to arrive, having figured all of this out on your own. Begin by accessing the colleagues who can support your development as a teacher, starting with your chairperson. Most campuses have a center for teaching and learning, a mentoring program, or other programming to support newer, early-career faculty. Connect with peers who can provide you with model syllabi and assignments well in advance of your arrival on campus. Consider these artifacts “starter dough” you will work with to develop your own materials.
The first semester will be a bit of a whirlwind, but you will feel more grounded if you develop yourself intentionally. Along with seeking out model syllabi and assignments, ask to visit a few classes taught by colleagues or your chair. Look for things you want to incorporate or adapt to your classroom.
Build Your Brand: Colleague and Citizen
Unfortunately, graduate programs don’t often prepare students to be part of a campus community. As you join a small department at a small college, it’s impossible not to work together regularly. That’s not to say that some conflicts will arise between colleagues, but do your best to begin your job with an open mind and a collaborative attitude.
Getting off on the right foot is often a matter of showing that you are there to learn from those who arrived before you and are willing to contribute to the group. This does not mean being meek or quiet in department meetings. But the same skills that help you as a scholar and a teacher — curiosity, attention to detail, respect, and a sense of humor — will serve you well here. Remind yourself that you don’t know what you don’t know, and trust that you will grow quickly when you allow yourself to learn from everyone around you.
Be gracious to these people who support you and your students daily. At a small college, you are also much more likely to work directly with the registrar, the dean of students, and staff in the counseling center, IT, and facilities. Take the time to build relationships with staff as a sign of your professionalism and your commitment to participate fully in the life of the campus.
Seek Connections Outside of Your Department
Teaching core curriculum classes can provide you with a community of practice while allowing you to hone your teaching skills and appreciate the value of liberal education. Your students’ success will depend on your understanding of the learning goals and outcomes of the core curriculum and how you will connect with those.
You’ll find that once you have your footing, your world will become much larger and richer through interdisciplinary connections. Embrace opportunities to get to know your faculty colleagues as full people — on and off campus. It’s not uncommon for people to stay at a small independent institution for most or all of their careers and forging these relationships early will help you feel settled.
It can be a powerful experience to walk both professional and personal paths with colleagues. You may experience each others’ life changes over many years — from having children to getting grey hair to supporting aging parents. So, before you offer critical feedback in a meeting or hit send on a harshly-worded email, it’s a good habit to always keep in mind that “This is someone I could spend the next 20 or 30 years of my life working with.”
Cultivate an Institutional Mindset
Developing an institutional mindset positions you for success beyond your first year. Carefully chosen service can be a good way to see “the bigger picture.” Over time, volunteer for committees where you will learn how the college works. For example, participate in curriculum development, the promotion and tenure review process, strategic planning, and other decisions that have real consequences for the institution.
Ultimately, you will enjoy this exciting and challenging transition more if you get curious about your new institution. Curiosity about this larger ecosystem — the various offices, programs, and people that exist to support you and your students — will inevitably make you a better colleague, scholar, mentor, and teacher. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and ask for help.
