C O M M E N T A R Y

Rewards and Challenges of a Career in Research and Teaching at a Liberal Arts College Marc J. Tetel Neuroscience Program, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachussetts 02481

s recently as a couple of decades ago, the career goals of most PhD students in the sciences were to get a tenure-track job at a high-powered research university and maintain multiple R01s. In those days, an alternative career meant getting a job in industry. Although it is still possible to have that high-powered research job in academics, the landscape has changed and made obtaining that tenure-track research job much more competitive, and it is exceedingly difficult to maintain multiple R01s. In further support of a shifting landscape, there are now countless workshops on alternative careers in science (which did not exist two to three decades ago) that reveal a variety of opportunities for scientists. For example, since 2007 the Endocrine Society has sponsored a wonderful day-long EndoCareers Early Career Forum (formerly called the Endocrine Trainee Day) that precedes the Endocrine Society meeting and offers workshops on early career advice and alternative careers in endocrinology to graduate students and postdocs. One of the topics at this Early Career Forum has been the nontraditional path of working at a liberal arts college. This commentary will discuss how a faculty position at a liberal arts college can enable one to engage in both meaningful research and undergraduate teaching. Most liberal arts colleges are predominately private institutions, have a relatively small student body (1000 – 3000 students) and have little or no graduate program, and thus focus on undergraduate education. At liberal arts colleges, the number of courses in a major is kept relatively low so that students can take a variety of courses outside of their major. Therefore, these colleges attract students who have varied interests and produce students who can think broadly in an interdisciplinary fashion and maintain a big-picture perspective (1). Because of these traits, liberal

arts colleges produce a disproportionately high number of graduates, compared with large research universities, who go on to obtain PhDs in science (1–2). Although faculty responsibilities at some liberal arts colleges consist of 100% teaching and involve no research, at the other end of the spectrum are colleges in which faculty spend 50% of their time teaching and 50% doing research (and a wide variation in between these two ends of the spectrum). The 50/50 teaching/research split tends to be present at the highly ranked liberal arts colleges (3). This commentary will focus on these more research-oriented colleges that offer meaningful research opportunities for faculty and undergraduates.

ISSN Print 0013-7227 ISSN Online 1945-7170 Printed in U.S.A. Copyright © 2014 by the Endocrine Society Received July 28, 2014. Accepted August 5, 2014. First Published Online August 15, 2014

Abbreviations: AREA, Academic Research Enhancement Awards; MRI, Major Research Instrumentation; NIH, National Institutes of Health; NSF, National Science Foundation; RUI, Research in Undergraduate Institution.

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Teaching at a Liberal Arts College Depending on where the college is on the spectrum discussed above, the teaching load is usually between two and four courses a semester. The student-to-faculty ratio is usually low (eg, 8:1) which allows small class sizes – a defining characteristic of a liberal arts college. For example, at Wellesley College the introductory (100 level) science classes are usually capped at 32 students, intermediate level classes at 24 students, and upper-level courses max out at 12 students. This small class size, especially at the advanced level, allows faculty to focus on individual students and engage them in comprehensive and in-depth assignments. For example, in our senior capstone seminar of 12 students per section, each student writes a National Institutes of Health (NIH) -style grant on a topic of choice. Although this is a challenging assignment for an undergraduate, time is spent in class throughout the semester discussing grant-writing skills such as generating strong hypotheses and rationale, experimental design and appropriate controls, expected and alternative outcomes, and

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limitations in the interpretation of one’s data. In addition, individualized instruction is provided to each student on all aspects of this assignment outside of class during office hours. In the end, all students complete the assignment and most are successful in tackling the issues discussed above. Small class size also offers flexibility and mobility. Over the years, a number of successful and very generous colleagues have traveled to Wellesley to visit my advanced classes of 12 students to discuss their research, career life balance, and the unique challenges sometimes faced by women in science. One colleague visits my class each year to discuss dogma in science. A number of students have commented that learning about the dogma trap, and how to avoid it, is one of the most important lessons they learned while in college. Each year I take my class to the Center for Neuroendocrine Studies Symposium at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Students critically read the papers of the speakers in preparation for the symposium and then have the opportunity to meet them. Finally, we are able to take “field trips” into Boston, including a yearly visit with a physician-scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where students hear about her research, discuss medicine and being a woman in science, meet with a patient, and get a tour of the hospital. All these experiences would be difficult, if not impossible, with a large class. There is strong institutional support for faculty teaching at liberal arts colleges, including mentoring by senior faculty, on-campus teaching centers that provide pedagogy workshops, and funds to develop courses and travel to teaching conferences. However, it should be noted that because there are no graduate students, there is little to no help with grading. It has been said that one teaches for free and is paid to grade. Nevertheless, teaching at a liberal arts college can be extremely gratifying. It is “high contact– high impact” teaching. Although one spends much time preparing lectures and interacting with students outside of class, there is the opportunity to get to know one’s students and hopefully have a long-lasting affect on some of them. Research at a Liberal Arts College Funding opportunities Just as there is a spectrum from 100% to 50% teaching at liberal arts colleges, there is also a range in the research conducted at these institutions. On one end of the spectrum is mentored student projects with little intent of being published, and at the other end of the spectrum is federally-funded research published in top journals. This discussion will focus on the more research-oriented end of the spectrum that can occur at many of the nationally ranked liberal arts colleges. It is possible, but not common, to have

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NIH R01–funded research programs at a liberal arts college. There are smaller, more traditional routes of funding available for faculty who engage undergraduates in research. NIH offers Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) that provide $300 000 over 3 years (4). Faculty members are eligible for AREA grants if they are at an institution that receives less than $6 million per year in NIH support. Therefore, faculty applying for NIH AREA are not competing with colleagues at major research universities or medical schools. The National Science Foundation (NSF) offers Research in Undergraduate Institution (RUI) funding opportunities to support research by faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions (5). NSF also offers Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) awards (ranging from $100 000 to $4 million) to fund the acquisition or development of a major piece of research equipment to be used in research and teaching (6), such as a confocal microscope or mass spectrometer. A major goal of these AREA, RUI, and MRI awards is to engage undergraduates in publishable research. College support for research Although research-supportive liberal arts colleges provide start-up funds, the amount does not come close to that offered by research universities and medical schools. Start-up packages in the lab sciences at a liberal arts college can be up to approximately $175 000. As one colleague put it, one must be patient in growing and developing one’s research program. Research-supportive colleges acknowledge that considerable time is put into teaching and invest in facilitating faculty-student research. It is important to note that although the NIH AREA and NSF RUI awards discussed above are significantly smaller than an R01, grant dollars can go much further at a research-oriented liberal arts college. Many colleges support and maintain the basic research equipment that is shared by labs, including equipment obtained by MRI awards. Moreover, there are no user charges for any shared equipment, including confocal microscopes. In addition, the animal care facility is often maintained by the college to support both research and teaching. However, it should be noted that there are no large core facilities (eg, facility for production of transgenic animals, proteomic cores, etc.,). Therefore, work that requires these core facilities is done through collaborations with colleagues at research institutions. Depending on the college, there can be internal support for faculty research ranging from small ($1000-$3000/yr) to larger ($10 000 –$50 000 over 1–2 years) grants. Many colleges have summer research programs that provide funds for students (stipend and housing) to work in labs full-time over the summer. Given that the goal of a liberal arts college is to provide breadth in its teaching, there is

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usually little overlap in faculty research interests at a college. Therefore, if there is an endocrinologist at the college, he/she will most likely be the only one. This limitation can be overcome by establishing collaborations with colleagues at other institutions and emphasizes the need to travel to conferences, which is often supported by the college. Finally, given that junior faculty devote substantial time to teaching in the first couple of years, many research supportive colleges provide a pretenure sabbatical in the fourth year for one or two semesters at full pay, which are then offered every seventh year thereafter. Research with undergraduates There is no doubt that undergraduates, compared with graduate students, require more up-front training and have less time to devote to research during the school year due to taking classes simultaneously with their lab work. However, a bright, well-trained, and motivated undergraduate can make substantial contributions to a serious research program and are often coauthors on published work. Some students arrive at college knowing they want to participate in research and work in the same laboratory for four years, including summers, to become very skilled, independent, and productive. I have found that if one gives a motivated undergraduate the proper guidance and ownership of his/her research project, he/she can demonstrate tremendous commitment and drive in that project. I have known students to work entire weekends, postpone flights home, and work till the morning of their graduation to complete their projects. It is a joy to bring these students to the Endocrine Society and other international meetings to present their research at the poster sessions and have colleagues ask me if they are graduate students. For a true example of a liberal arts student, a student from my laboratory (who was a double major in French) presented her entire poster in French to a Belgian colleague, who was thoroughly impressed. A wonderful benefit of this job is watching these undergraduates develop into confident scientists who can think critically. Requirements of a Strong Candidate for a Faculty Position at a Research-Oriented Liberal Arts College Although the application process for similar types of jobs has been written about in detail (7– 8), this section will discuss the requirements for a strong application to a research-oriented liberal arts college. For these colleges, a traditional postdoctoral research fellowship is usually a requirement. A productive postdoctoral fellowship allows one to gain experience conducting research more independently than as a graduate student and can provide valuable training in grant writing when applying for NRSAs and

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other grants. The more complicated issue is what type of teaching experience is required for a competitive application. Although some type of teaching experience (eg, having served as a teaching assistant, given lectures, or taught an entire course) is usually expected, it will vary from college to college and even between departments at a given institution. It can be very difficult to teach an entire course as a postdoc. Even if the opportunity to teach an entire course arises, this may not be a good career choice given that teaching takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, the course may not go well the first time around and research will most likely suffer. However, teaching a part of a course or giving guest lectures may be a more feasible and productive alternative to teaching an entire course. It is important not to seek out major teaching responsibilities (eg, an entire course) at the expense of losing research momentum. In the application, it is critical to convey an understanding of what a liberal arts college is, provide a clear vision for research that can be done at a liberal arts college and incorporates undergraduates, and express a passion for teaching. Although letters of recommendation should address the applicant’s success as a researcher, it is important that at least one letter, in addition to addressing research, discusses the applicant’s abilities as a teacher or desire and potential to be an effective teacher. Tenure at a Liberal Arts College Given that there are different requirements for tenure depending on where a liberal arts college falls on the teaching/research spectrum, as well as different requirements at individual institutions, this discussion will focus on the tenure requirements at the more research-oriented colleges. Although very challenging, faculty must demonstrate excellence in both teaching and research for tenure. Thus, exceptional performance in one category cannot make up for less than excellence in the other. Although the department writes a letter in support (or not) of tenure, the decision is usually made by an all-college committee consisting of faculty from the sciences, social sciences and humanities, deans, and the president of the college. One is expected to have taught a variety of courses, usually at multiple levels (eg, 100-, 200-, and 300-level courses). The quality of teaching is assessed by student evaluations and visits by colleagues to the classroom. Research is evaluated by the department and the college-wide committee, but relies heavily on the opinions of outside experts who are solicited by the college. Although there is no requirement to have federally funded grant support, it is common that the tenure candidate show good effort in applying for external support (eg, NIH AREA and/or NSF RUI). Finally, service to the department and on college-wide committees is required.

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Summary Working at a liberal arts college can be a wonderfully rewarding career. It is important to note that applying to a liberal arts college should not be the default decision for one who does not want to work at a research institution or lacks the qualifications to get a job at a research institution. Teaching effectively is not easy and requires tremendous effort and commitment. For someone who does not enjoy teaching, it would be a miserable career. Being a science faculty member at a liberal arts college is for those who have a passion for teaching, want to engage students in research in the laboratory, enjoy mentoring college students, appreciate crossing disciplinary boundaries and interacting with colleagues in other nonscience departments, and enjoy a sense of college community.

Acknowledgments I thank Barbara Beltz, Don Elmore and Adele Wolfson for helpful discussions on this topic. Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Marc J. Tetel, PhD, Neuroscience Program, Wellesley Col-

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lege, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. E-mail: [email protected]. Disclosure Summary: The author has nothing to disclose.

References 1. Cech TR. Science at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Better Education? Daedalus. 1999;128:195–216. 2. Burrelli J, Rapoport A, Lehming R. Baccalaureate origins of science and engineering doctorate recipients. National Science Foundation InfoBrief Science Resources Statistics. 2008;311:1– 8. 3. US News, World Report College Rankings: http://colleges.usnews. rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberalarts-colleges. Accessed October 6, 2014. 4. NIH Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA): http:// grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/area.htm. Accessed October 6, 2014. 5. NSF Research in Undergraduate Institution (RUI) awards: http:// www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id⫽5518. Accessed October 6, 2014. 6. NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) awards: http:// www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id⫽5260. Accessed October 6, 2014. 7. Campbell AM, Quintero OA, Frederick J. 2012. How to get a teaching job at a primarily undergraduate institution. http://www. ascb.org/files/careerpubs/how-to-get-a-teaching-job.pdf. Accessed October 6, 2014. 8. Vick JM, Furlong JS. 2008. The academic job search handbook. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press; 1–287.

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Rewards and challenges of a career in research and teaching at a liberal arts college.

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