*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 3, Issue 24 August 16, 1995 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. Please direct submissions and questions to Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu , editor for the months of July and August. Next issue: Wednesday, 30 August. June Editor: Emil Volcheck Emil.Volcheck@risc.uni-linz.ac.at July/August Editor: Kevin Madigan madigan@aol.com To subscribe: Contact Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. Or connect to the YMN homepage on the WWW, the URL: http://math34.gatech.edu:8080/YMN/ymn.html The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the administrative board or membership of the Young Mathematicians' Network. The editorial policy of this newsletter is to encourage discussion of issues, and facilitate the dissemination of information, relevant to the concerns of young mathematicians. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 Comments on Community College Teaching 3 It's Time to Start the Job Search... 4 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: IT IS HOT IN CHICAGO! This issue contains two interesting articles about community colleges and good advice from Mark Winstead for those of you looking for work. Try to stay cool. Kevin _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 Comments on Community College Teaching I worked part time for Northern Virginia Community College this summer teaching linear algebra. Here are a few of my observations. 1) The clientele are quite different from a university's. They can be any one of the following: (a) people going back to school for their masters or ba and who need to take some courses before starting. For instance, I had a large number of people who were going to start grad school in economics in the fall. (b) people who are enrolled in a degree program and who are taking summer courses. (c) people taking courses in order to get teacher certification. In other words, your teaching will have to satisfy a large number of needs. 2) The courses taught at a comm college vary widely. At NVCC, they teaching everything from math for auto mechanics to a two semester course in differential equations. The lower level courses are taught by _all_ the staff. 3) In 1) I forgot to include that there are a large n umber of recent immigrants who, for whatever reason, haven't been able to get into a degree program at a degree-granting institution, and are taking courses in their major until they can get into a program. A _lot_ of them are asian students who are still learning english. You have to keep this in mind when ggrading writing assignments and cut people a little slack. Again, an instructor at NVCC works with a very diverse group of students. 4) They were conducting a job search while I was there. It was for someone to primarily teach remdial math courses. Things that mattered a lot: (a) previous teahcing experience at a comm college, even part time. (b) student evaluations. (c) experience with technology in the classroom (d) in general, you have to convince them that you are dedicated to teaching mathematics at all levels. I don't know how they handled the interviewing process. 5) The purpose of a commmunity college is to 'serve the community'. They were started to help pepople who, for whatever reason, needed to beef up their academic background before entering a dgree program elsewhere. They now serve a wide variety of other needs as 1-4 illustrate. As many 4year institutions are now cutting back on their remdial programs, you can expect comm colleges to pick up the slack. Thus, I think that ability to teach remdial math courses, and things such as math for auto mechanics, will be _very_ important in the selection process. 6) Finally, let me share my point of view on the complaints about travel expenses and the interivewing process some people have encountered. Again, nothing matters more than ability in the classroom. They have to make sure they have somebody who can deal with the wide variety of students they get and who can handle all levels of mathematical ability. On the other hand, these schools don't have a lot of money (with the exception of Nassau Community College in NJ, the highest paying college in the country!). This is why people having been encountering the expensive and annoying interview process some of these places use. Because of this, unfortunately, comm collge jobs will probably go to those who are local. Rather than inveigh against comm colleges that use such practices, it would be better to find alternatives to their inter- viewing process and try to tactfully suggest them (don't appear to be telling them how to run their school). For instance, maybe they would accept a video tape of someone teahcing a class as a substitute for the first interview. Hope this has been helpful. -Tim McNicholl _____________________________ I had a tenure-track job at a small CC in upstate NY for two years before I went back to graduate school. The standard load of contact hours was 15. The most advanced class was "Calculus 4." The pace of almost all classes was slow, and the amount of material covered was noticably less than that of a comparable class at a decent 4-year college. Most of the students were somewhat dim, with a few excellent exceptions. The basic dutes were teaching, "service," "community involvement," and "professional development." Obviously, by far and away the most important of these was teaching, which was evaluated both by student evaluations and by the Chair. "Service" involved advising, participating on committees, etc. The "community involvement" component, which increased in importance with the number of years you had been there, involved stuff like giving talks in local schools. "Professional development" had a very loose interpretation. When I interviewed, I was flown in from CA, all expenses paid. The interview was sometime in April. The year I left, they instituted a rule on reimbursement of interviewees' expenses, which stated that full compensation for travel expenses was not given if you were offered the job and you turned it down. I *think* that NO reimbursement was given in this case, but I am not sure. This was in the late 80's, and it was *very* rare for PhD's to apply then. I have no idea if this is still the policy there. If there is anything else you want to know, feel free to write. Len VanWyk -- | Leonard VanWyk | ------------------------ __() | Mathematics, Hope College | -- vanwyk@cs.hope.edu -- _`\ ,_ _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 It's Time to Start the Job Search... Preview: I am working on an outline of suggested schedule of action for job seekers looking for positions to start following the current academic year. I will not claim it to be complete, and some will disagree with some of my choices of timing of certain events. And no one can make a schedule that will guarantee you a position if you follow it. I would like you to consider it a starting point for getting yourself organized. The planned release is for the issue following the U.S. Labor Day. I would like feed back on it throughout the year, and perhaps next spring I will revise it and prepare a Tex version of it for distribution through either one of the professional societies or the Joint Committee on Employment Opportunities. As a preview, I now release the suggested job search activities for the month of August or early September. I. Evaluate yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What part of the job market are you best suited for ("academic" is too broad: be more specific)? Solidify your career plans and options, then take aim. II. Job searching is mostly networking, or at least you can at least triple your odds by networking. Plan out what conferences you will attend this year. Don't forget those regional MAA meetings. Plan potential topics for talks. Talk to your chair and/or advisor about travel funds for you. III. Job hunting can be very expensive. With trips to conferences that you will attend in part due to your job search activity, four figure total expenses should not surprise you. Find out now what funding is available to you from your department. (One trick to cut expenses- many departments will pay postage on job applications up to a certain limit. Have letters of references mailed separately, on your advisor's budget (of course, check with her/him first).) IV. Make tentative lists of people you want to ask for letters of recommendation. Make arrangements for those at your school to observe you in the classroom again. V. Interested in industry? It isn't too early to start networking. Talk to former classmates in industry, and check the Combined Membership Listings for those in your area in industry with mathematics degrees. VI. Get NSF postdoc applications if you hope to do mathematical research in the future, even if you have no intention of applying (see next month's schedule for what to do in that case). VII. Subscribe to the e-math job listings. If you post a resume on e-math, all new job postings will automatically be e-mailed to you. VIII. Establish the habit of checking the government job listings. One location for this is available by telnet at fedworld.gov. Your school's undergraduate career resource center will also have listings. No list I have ever seen is comprehensive, so check at least two different ones. Mathematical jobs are under GS-15** e.g. GS-1530. IX. If you intend to apply for jobs in industry or government that require a security clearance, apply now. X. Your college's undergraduate career resource center will have material on companies that at least occasionally hire mathematics PhDs. Start spending a few hours a month for the next several months there. (Look for a publication called "Job Choices in Science & Engineering"). XI. Gather appropriate back issues of "Concerns of Young Mathematicians" and download the job search articles from e-math. XII. Get copies of your undergraduate and graduate transcripts. Double check them for accuracy. Have official copies available, and be ready to send photocopies with your applications. XIII. Start lobbying for teaching assignments for the spring different from what you have taught in the past. XIV. Submit any prepared papers and check monthly on your submissions. Explaining that you are on the job market may help and shouldn't hurt speed the review processes. Closing remark: It is a myth that the best qualified applicants will always get the jobs. Much more often than not, the best qualified applicant will be beaten out by a well qualified and better prepared applicant. Mark W Winstead Dallas, TX mwwinst@pic.net _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 Closing Credits Charles Yeomans cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead mwwinst@pic.net Nancy Wilson nwilson@stmarys-ca.edu Emil Volcheck Emil.Volcheck@risc.uni-linz.ac.at Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Vic Perera vicum@math.ohio-state.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kevin Madigan madigan@aol.com Leigh Lunsford lunsford@math.uah.edu Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu Silvia Heubach silvi@cinenet.net Greg Dresden dresden@fireant.ma.utexas.edu Bob Dobrow dobrow@cam.nist.gov Lyle Cochran lcochran@fresno.edu Kevin Charlwood kec1@bradley.bradley.edu Wendy Brunzie brunzie@mathfs.math.montana.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@gvsu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues