CREATING PARTNERS
AND NETWORKS FOR
SUCCESS
Applications to the Community
College System
Dr. Sybil Burgess,
Instructor, Biology and Chemistry
Brunswick Community College,
Supply, North Carolina 28462
(910) 755-7454
burgesss@brunswickcc.edu
Where We Started
• NSF workshop with Dr. Kelly Mack at Robeson Community College
to introduce NSF-ADVANCE
• “Any takers?”
• Two Brunswick Community College Science Faculty members with 9
month contracts looking for summer employment (Burgess and
Sabaoun)
• “Just a few surveys. Piece of cake! Why not? Need the summer money!”
• Who has written an NSF proposal before? Ans. Dr. Burgess at UNCW
• “But she had a strong Sponsored Programs Office there...”
• We wrote the proposal and we were funded!!! The first community
college that NSF-ADVANCE had funded and the first NSF grant every
received by Brunswick Community College!!!!!
• “Is this good?”
What We Learned
• The North Carolina Community College System is extremely topdown in management.
• Administrative approval needed for what is considered in the university system
expected professional activities
• “Found out about this the hard way...so different from university system” Burgess
• Faculty are reluctant to discuss concerns
• “Little perceived job security….no tenure…no multiple year contracts”
• Business offices can make life difficult
• “No Grants Manager in the Business Office = No Effective Grants Management”
• Program officer intervention is sometimes needed to get local
support
• “You have to have be courageous and steadfast”
Challenges Unique to Us
• Heavy Teaching Loads
• “But we do love the students!”
• Lack of Experience with Research
• “Master’s level faculty with little research experience..”
• Lack of Multiple Year Contracts
• “Are you going to be around in three years to manage this project??”
• Need for Multiple Job Assignments
• “Chemical Hygiene Officer, Biology and Chemistry Instructor, Academic Advisor and Mentor,
Continuing Education Instructor ”
• “Faculty Senate President, Biology and Chemistry Instructor, Chemistry Club Advisor,
Women’s Volleyball Coach”
• Students with Special Academic Needs
• “Open admission in community colleges”
Are We Really So Happy?
• Salaries are lower than those at universities
• We have little input in departmental decisions
• We work long hours
• We have little job security
• “For adjuncts the above are extremely exacerbated!!”
• We have time with our families!
• “They don’t want us on campus late hours….work when everyone else does!!”
• We love the classroom and the students!
• “This is in-fact our de-facto “job security”…. Faculty turnover is not that high”
• We get to teach wonderful subjects on the edge of our original
knowledge base
• “Protein biochemist teaching Anatomy and Physiology and Organic Chemistry!!!!
Empowerment and Excellence
• Excellent and Empowered Community College Faculty
• Generate Excellent Instruction
• “New knowledge!!!”
• Are Retained at the Institution
• “Invested in the institution, want to stay”
• Provide Excitement and Energy to the Workplace
• “Check out that latest asteroid!!!!!!!”
• Are Agents for Positive Change
• “Can significantly change a person (many persons?) life (lives!!!)…What a gift this is!!”
• Are True Role Models for Students they Instruct
• “They want to be like US!!!!...WOW!!!”
What We Want
• Employment Security
• “Within a non-tenure system, multiple year contracts?”
• Professional Opportunities
• “Participation in our professional organizations, not just workshops on how
to teach better?”
• Shared Governance
• “Faculty elected committees with some governing authority?”
• Professional Recognition
• “Titling system with faculty hearings committee for appeals?”
How We Can Get it
• Buy-in from Community College System
• “Need to see that improvement of faculty conditions has economic advantages”
• NSF-ADVANCE projects that address specific community college
faculty concerns
• “We are happy in our jobs, but we are scared that we might lose them”
• “NSF can empower those of us that will to make situations better for those that are
afraid to speak out.”
• “Partner with professional associations (AWIS, AACC, AAUW, Faculty Associations)”
• “Partner with discipline-specific professional associations”
• Targeted assistance for Sponsored Programs Offices and/or Faculty
that have to be de-facto SPO at home institution
• “Dual role in small institutions”
• “Requirement for PI and Business Office NSF Grants Management Training”
Acknowledgements
• Dr. Sybil Burgess, Retired Associate Professor UNCW (Chemistry), Full time Science Instructor,
Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Principal Investigator
• Dr. Katharine Kleber, Adjunct Biology Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project
Administrative Assistant
• Ms. Michelle Sabaoun, Lead Instructor for Biotechnology, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE
Institutional Data Coordinator
• Mr. Peter Hocking, Full time Mathematics Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE
Project Statistician
• Ms. Zenda Rushing, Adjunct Biology Instructor, Brunswick Community College, NSF-ADVANCE Project
Newsletter Editor
• Dr. Edith Lang, Retired Vice-President for Student Services, Brunswick Community College, NSFADVANCE Project Data Analysis Coordinator
• Dr. Diane Levy, Professor UNCW (Sociology), NSF-ADVANCE Project Faculty Climate Survey Coordinator
• Dr. Christina Lanier, Associate Professor (Sociology), NSF-ADVANCE Project Climate Survey Data Analysis
Coordinator
• Dr. Kimberly McDaniel, Full-time Biology Faculty, Fayetteville Technical Community College, NSFADVANCE local coordinator
• Mr. Louis McIntyre, Full-time Biology Faculty Robeson Community College NSF-ADVANCE local
coordinator
• Ms. Sara Davenport, Full-time Biology Faculty Southeastern Community College NSF-ADVANCE local
coordinator
• Bladen Community College, James Sprunt Community College and Sampson Community College
participated with the above institutions in the faculty climate survey and institutional data collection .