I used to teach at a local college and found a pure love for it. I moved half way across the country and have not seen one opportunity pop up locally. I am at a point professionally that I want to shift gears from profession to education. Nothing inspires me more than teaching others. However I feel as if you need to be “in” with someone already working at one of these schools.as a teacher. I did have that “in” previously and that helped me land the job... Problem is now I do not have any connections as I am a stranger in this land. Any advice?
JCArchi
Mar 8, 18 8:27 am
If you don't have any connections with faculty at a school, I would suggest reaching out to someone from a school you're interested in and see what kind of resource you may be able to become for them. Setting up a visit to see what the program is like or making yourself available as a guest critic for reviews could be a way to get your foot in the door. I would guess that most places would be happy to have a professional with experience contributing to their program somehow. I went to a community college for my first two years and the majority of our professors were practicing professionals from the area.
Flatfish
Mar 8, 18 12:40 pm
Do you still have contact with faculty where you went to architecture school? I initially got teaching jobs by making it known to my former professors that I wanted to teach. At that time I was living in another state from where I'd attended grad school, but one of my former profs connected me to another of his former students who was then the chair of the architecture department at a nearby university. Once you've got a few semesters of experience anywhere well respected it's much easier to find interest from other schools. I'd caution that if you start by teaching at a community college you may get yourself stuck there. Right or wrong there's rampant academic elitism that makes that more of a black mark on your CV than a help. Same with teaching at a for-profit.
Marc Miller
Mar 8, 18 2:10 pm
++ 5839
I'd also add that this also depends on how the program uses critics, adjuncts, lecturers and visiting f/t faculty. If they treat this as an opportunity, having common contacts can be beneficial. If they treat these people as the "pool" it can be more difficult to get into teaching (and do you want to be in that situation?).
I used to teach at a local college and found a pure love for it. I moved half way across the country and have not seen one opportunity pop up locally. I am at a point professionally that I want to shift gears from profession to education. Nothing inspires me more than teaching others. However I feel as if you need to be “in” with someone already working at one of these schools.as a teacher. I did have that “in” previously and that helped me land the job... Problem is now I do not have any connections as I am a stranger in this land. Any advice?
If you don't have any connections with faculty at a school, I would suggest reaching out to someone from a school you're interested in and see what kind of resource you may be able to become for them. Setting up a visit to see what the program is like or making yourself available as a guest critic for reviews could be a way to get your foot in the door. I would guess that most places would be happy to have a professional with experience contributing to their program somehow. I went to a community college for my first two years and the majority of our professors were practicing professionals from the area.
Do you still have contact with faculty where you went to architecture school? I initially got teaching jobs by making it known to my former professors that I wanted to teach. At that time I was living in another state from where I'd attended grad school, but one of my former profs connected me to another of his former students who was then the chair of the architecture department at a nearby university. Once you've got a few semesters of experience anywhere well respected it's much easier to find interest from other schools. I'd caution that if you start by teaching at a community college you may get yourself stuck there. Right or wrong there's rampant academic elitism that makes that more of a black mark on your CV than a help. Same with teaching at a for-profit.
++ 5839
I'd also add that this also depends on how the program uses critics, adjuncts, lecturers and visiting f/t faculty. If they treat this as an opportunity, having common contacts can be beneficial. If they treat these people as the "pool" it can be more difficult to get into teaching (and do you want to be in that situation?).