What You Can Do to Support VITAL Faculty
By Rebecca Swanson
Rebecca Swanson
After two years in a tenure track position at a small liberal arts college, I moved into a VITAL* faculty position at the Colorado School of Mines, where I have been a Teaching Professor since 2012. While there are many aspects of my job that I love, I have experienced and heard stories from other VITAL faculty members about situations that made them feel “less than,” unwelcome, or unvalued at their institutions. Instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of these, I want to focus on what we can do to make our VITAL department members feel valued.
If improving the experiences of our VITAL colleagues isn’t sufficient motivation, I also want to highlight the recent Boyer Report, commissioned by the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities. The 2030 Boyer Commission states: “Institutions that align their educational mission and increase their support for VITAL faculty can expect to see increases in positive student outcomes.” Many of the report’s recommendations are aimed at university administration, but members of mathematics departments can still take action. The following list was generated by ideas based upon my own experiences and those of other VITAL faculty with whom I have spoken. Perhaps the best part is that these ideas are easy to implement!
Include us in the conversations!
This statement has a number of meanings. When others are making decisions about courses that VITAL faculty teach, they need to realize that our perspective is important and valuable. On quite a few occasions, I have been told of scenarios in which tenure-line faculty, who do not teach a certain course, make decisions about it without consulting the VITAL faculty who teach the bulk of that course. Similarly, decision makers should make use of our expertise in non-teaching roles, such as coordination and student advising.
In this same direction, VITAL faculty should be included and encouraged to fully participate in department meetings. To quote from Hamilton, we should “be in the room where it happened.” As faculty members with a vested interest in the students and the department, we care deeply about decisions made in these meetings. Finally, as conversations are two-sided, ask us what we need to successfully do our jobs. An adjunct faculty member shared with me an anecdote in which she stepped in to teach post-pandemic with no support concerning the use of technology that others had become used to using during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Include us in the social aspects, too.
Who doesn’t like to have fun? More importantly, department social activities build a sense of community and those who take part in those activities get to be a part of that community.
Be thoughtful about the messages sent to graduate students and others about what is valued.
I don’t recall the exact messaging I heard as a graduate student, but I walked away feeling that my goal of obtaining a teaching-oriented position upon graduation was less important and less valuable than those of my classmates who were seeking research-oriented positions. Of course, we should celebrate excellence in research, but the mathematics community benefits greatly from passionate educators, and we need to celebrate their career paths too.
Lend your tenured voice to affect positive change.
There are so many aspects of their position over which VITAL faculty may not have control, such as contracts, salaries, benefits, travel support, voting rights, and governance. Can you help make positive changes that benefit them and strengthen the foundational aspects of their role at your institution? One idea might be to gather and share data that highlight the value of VITAL faculty.
Finally, treat us with respect.
This one really encompasses most of the above ideas. I wish I didn’t have to include this on the list, but I’ve heard too many stories to omit it. Though I find most people that I encounter in the mathematics community are respectful, from time to time I still notice cultural undertones that too often dismiss the role of VITAL faculty. In the case of adjunct faculty, respectfulness also means being considerate of their time. While many adjunct faculty would love to assume a larger role in their department, they are usually not compensated for non-teaching duties. But you won’t know the level to which they want to be involved without asking!
The long and short of it is this: we are all part of this community because there’s something about mathematics that we love. The way we express that love may be different, and our interests and opportunities may also differ, but we are all in this together. So, let’s do everything we can to make our math departments more welcoming to all varieties of faculty.
*The acronym VITAL refers to faculty who are visitors, instructors, teaching assistants, adjuncts, and lecturers. These are faculty who are typically not on the tenure-track. But instead of defining them by who they are not (as non-tenure-track faculty), let’s define them by who they are.
I’d like to thank Erica Winterer and select members of the Math Mamas Facebook group for sharing additional advice for this post!
Rebecca Swanson is a Teaching Professor at the Colorado School of Mines where she teaches a variety of courses, implements flipped learning, and serves her department and institution in multiple ways, one of her favorites being as co-advisor to the Society for Women in Mathematics. Additionally, she is involved in a variety of roles in the MAA, including membership on the editorial board for Math Values.