1.1 Do You Know that Your College Wants You to Succeed?
Learning Objective
Learn about the administration, the faculty, and the support staff.
The administration, faculty, and support staff of your college would like you to be successful by acquiring new knowledge, enjoying your experience, and graduating on time. A college thrives when its students thrive. People who work at a college usually take great pride in their students. Additionally, colleges are seen as successful when most students who enter eventually graduate. As a result, these officials have a vested interest in your success.
Colleges have created many support services and procedures to help you achieve your goals. Just as you probably went through a lot of hassles to get to this point, the college administration put forth its share of effort to attract you, arrange your enrollment, and orient you. Now that you have begun classes, your college will continue to assist you in achieving your goals. It can be very helpful to take advantage of some of the many opportunities that a college provides.
To facilitate your success, colleges are organized into a rather complex framework that you will need to understand. Generally, this framework includes the administration, the faculty, and the support staff.
The Administration
Along with overseeing a school’s core academic mission, a college administration is also responsible for maintaining the backbone of the school, including its traditions, support services, and facilities.
At the peak of a college’s bureaucracy is typically a board of trustees, chiefly consisting of prominent citizens from a variety of fields. The president of the college reports to the board of trustees but manages the school on an everyday basis. Some large schools may also have a chancellor with special administrative powers. Additionally, there are usually several top administrators, with titles such as provost or vice president, who manage particular divisions for the president.
The academic division of the college may have one of a wide variety of organizational structures. You will usually encounter academic departments run by a chairperson. The departments may be grouped by topic, with each cluster of related departments (such as engineering departments) managed by a deanAn administrator at a college or university who manages a cluster of related academic departments or other support services. . Academic advisors, who can be very helpful to you, will ordinarily fall under the leadership of a department chairperson or academic dean.
In addition to the academic division, administrators also manage such important functions as facilities maintenance, fundraising, information technology, student services, athletics, human resources, public safety, and business services. As you can imagine, your school would not run as smoothly for students without these important behind-the-scenes administrative officers.
Student Affairs
For students, one of the most significant nonacademic administrative units is Student AffairsA nonacademic administrative unit responsible for many key areas of student life. . Usually run by a vice president or dean, this division is responsible for many key areas of student life. Student Affairs typically includes such important departments as Housing, Health and Counseling Services, Wellness Center, Dean of Students, Student Activities, and Multicultural Student Office.
The professionals who work in Student Affairs have selected a career dedicated to providing services to college students. They view their work as supporting you as you work toward your college goals. If you interact with Student Affairs staff members, you will probably find that they really care about your welfare and are willing to extend themselves to enhance your life at college
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The Faculty
People who become college faculty members usually enjoy the subjects they teach and are true experts in them. They could have had outstanding careers in the private sector in many fields, ranging from engineering to music. However, they chose to work at a college campus in large part because they enjoy sharing their knowledge with students. They very much want their students to succeed; in fact, a great thrill for many faculty members is watching former students receive their diplomas at graduation ceremonies. With these attitudes, most faculty members will be as helpful to students as possible, while simultaneously fostering independent learning.
Exercise 1: Who Teaches You?
Directions: You will find it helpful to have information available about each of the faculty members who serve as your professors. Fill in the name, office hours, office location, phone number, and email address for each of your professors in the chart below. You may want to store this information in your phone or computer.
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It may be useful for you to understand the different categories of faculty members. Most college faculty members have earned at least a master’s degree, which usually requires about two years of education past the undergraduate degree, or a doctoral degree (usually a PhDA Doctor of Philosophy degree, which is a doctoral research degree held by many professors. , doctor of philosophy, or EdDA Doctor of Education degree. , doctor of education), which requires at least four additional years of study. The PhD is a research degree, and the EdD is earned exclusively in the field of education.
Full-time faculty members are ranked according to their seniority and academic accomplishments. While these positions may or may not be correlated with enthusiasm and teaching ability, it might be helpful for you to be aware of academic ranks. Keeping in mind that not all college faculties include each of these positions, here are the major titles for college teachers and their typical criteria:
Full ProfessorsSenior faculty members who are usually very accomplished in their scholarly work. : Full Professors are the most accomplished faculty members in their scholarly work.
Associate ProfessorsExperienced faculty members who are either on the road to becoming Full Professors or who have not produced enough scholarly work to reach the rank of Full Professor.: Experienced faculty members who are either on the road to becoming full professors or who have not produced enough scholarly work to reach the rank of full professor often have the title of associate professor.
Assistant ProfessorsLess experienced or accomplished faculty members. : As less-experienced or less-accomplished faculty members, assistant professors often have recently obtained graduate degrees.
LecturersA full-time or part-time faculty member who specializes in teaching. , InstructorsA full-time or part-time faculty member who specializes in teaching. , and AdjunctsA part-time faculty member in an academic department who may have another full-time job related to his or her teaching specialty. : This group includes full-time faculty members who specialize exclusively in teaching and part-time faculty members who often have other full-time jobs related to their teaching specialties.
Teaching AssistantsA graduate student who acquires teaching experience and financial support for assisting a faculty member with a class. : Graduate students who acquire teaching experience and financial support for their teaching are usually referred to as teaching assistants (TAs). TAs are resources for students who are confused about a class topic or who need help preparing for an exam.
You may hear the term tenured applied to some associate professors and professors. TenuredA lifetime status awarded to faculty members based on their achievements. faculty members essentially have lifetime contracts with the school based on their achievements.
Secrets for Success with Professors
Interacting with professors can be different from dealing with high school teachers. While each professor will be unique in his or her preferences, here are some general tips to help you get along with faculty members:
Carefully study each course syllabus. A syllabusA guide to a class’s schedule of assignments and exams as well as a professor’s rules. features the schedule of assignments and exams as well as that professor’s particular rules. You should receive the syllabus when your course begins, either in print, online, or both. As soon as you receive the syllabus, you can write exam dates and assignment due dates into your planner. That will help you arrange your “to do” schedule. Also, you will get a feeling for the professor’s specific expectations from the syllabus.
Even if the syllabus does not mandate attendance, most professors assume students will come to every class and arrive on time. If you need to miss a class, follow any required guidelines to notify the professor.
Avoid making excuses, except when they are really authentic. Most professors are experienced and skilled at spotting false excuses.
Find out how to refer to each of your instructors and teaching assistants according to their preferences. Many PhD and EdD faculty members favor “Dr.__________,” while other faculty members may ask to be addressed as “Professor,” “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” “Ms.,” or even by their first name.
Participate in class, when appropriate, and act in a respectful manner.
Be aware of your professor’s policy about electronic devices. Some professors do not permit laptops or PDAs in the classroom because of the potential for student distractibility.
When in the classroom, turn off and put away cell phones and other mobile communication devices.
Complete assignments as scheduled on the syllabus. A good idea is to maintain a calendar on the computer or use an academic planner and fill in the important dates for all assignment due dates, exams, and quizzes.
You might be surprised that many professors enjoy getting to know their students. You can meet with your teachers during their office hours or make a separate appointment. It might be a good idea to meet with each of your teachers during the first month of class; at the minimum, they will probably learn your name. If you do well in class, a professor who knows you can provide a recommendation for you or even become your mentor. Remember, many faculty members teach in part because they enjoy being helpful and imparting their knowledge to the next generation.
Many college teachers are willing to answer questions by email. If you send emails to your professors, you can benefit by writing in a much more formal style than you use with your friends. Think of an email to a professor as being like a business letter and be sure to take into consideration the teacher’s point of view.
Selecting Professors for a Class
You were probably assigned teachers for your initial college classes. However, you may have some choices when you register in the future. You may be able to select not only your classes but your professors. Consider which qualities, such as teaching style, personality, or type of assignments you are looking for. Friends, especially more experienced students, can provide valuable advice about professors. Additionally, you can learn about the qualities of college teachers from formal teacher evaluations, which may be posted on your college’s website. Sometimes faculty members are so popular that a waiting list occurs for their classes.
Getting to Know You: Meeting with your professors gives them the opportunity to get to know you.
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The Support Staff
A college campus is similar to a small city focused on the welfare of its citizens. For a college, though, the citizens are its students. Thus, for any college to operate effectively, a large number of support staff employees indirectly or directly provide services to students. A college support staff usually includes a wide variety of employees including secretaries, receptionists, purchasing agents, technicians, record clerks, cooks, cashiers, and groundskeepers. Reflecting back on their college years, alumni often remember a support staff member, such as a special cafeteria worker or an administrative assistant, who was particularly kind and friendly to them. As with faculty members, such personnel usually choose to work at a college because they enjoy interacting with students or providing indirect support to their educational development. Members of the support staff can often provide you with the most help in managing the everyday details and complications you encounter. When you need their help during your journey through college, you will find that these employees will respond best when you treat them with respect and appreciation.