Tag: Topics in Higher Education

Benefits of Teaching at a Community College

This post continues our series Confessions of a Full-Time Adjunct.

In anticipation of the spring job-market season, I thought I’d make my pitch for why teaching at Community Colleges should not be overlooked as an option for those seeking a tenure-track job.

Let’s start with the practical details.

A tenure-track job with a Masters

The most straight-forward advantage of working for a Community College (CC) is that you can get a full-time, tenure-track job, with all the benefits therein, with just a Master’s degree. That means: sabbatical, lengthy holiday and summer breaks, almost total control over what you teach and how you teach it, and a lot of control over your day-to-day schedule.  It’s a pretty sweet deal for those lucky enough to land those jobs.  

In addition, based on my quick comparison of salary schedules of a four-year California State University and a nearby Community College (both of which are in the San Francisco Bay Area), salaries for full-time faculty max at about 130k at both colleges. Of course, salary and the in’s and out’s of benefits will vary, but a Community College tenure track job looks pretty good in comparison, especially considering that PhD is unnecessary.

I will say that you’ll be teaching a lot more at a Community College. Full-time faculty teach about 16 units per semester, with college and departmental responsibilities as well. This is because CC faculty are not required to publish, though many do. Which leads me to my second point… 

No pressure to publish for tenure / Focus on teaching

Community Colleges are an excellent choice if you want to focus on teaching. People do publish—especially as a result of projects they’ve worked on during sabbatical. But the tenure requirements emphasize teaching quality, with additional attention to college service and professional development.

However, as a result of this, the funding for conference attendance is much more limited, and probably non-existent in some places. This aspect of working for a CC might be an upside or a downside, depending on your preferences. I knew many people in graduate school who actively hated teaching, and I know some professors at four-year schools who avoid teaching freshman at all costs.  

Adult students are awesome / Community college students will blow you away

Have you ever taught an adult? It’s amazing. I know, of course, that most college students are 18 years old, and thus technically adults, but they tend to have very limited experience of the world. CC students are roughly split age-wise, with a little over 50% of students falling into the “traditional” 18-24 age range, and just under 50% in the 25-59 range. Most who fall into the latter category are returning to school after a few years of working full-time, but you will also frequently see older adults who have completed careers already, raised children, served tours in the military, and so on. Basically, they’ve lived a life, and they bring that life-experience to your classroom.  

For example, at the CCs I’ve worked for I’ve had the great pleasure of working with the following students: a young latina woman, with 2-year-old twin boys at home, whose goal was to become a doctor; a middle-aged  man who immigrated with his young family as refugees from Afghanistan, and who took his five children with him to the library to complete his homework; an older African American woman who eventually went on to complete her degree in Early Childhood Education at a prestigious private University, and eventually opened her own pre-school. 

My point here is not really about the racial or ethnic diversity of the students (though I think that’s important too), it’s more about the varied life experiences. You just don’t see that at most four-year colleges, at least not with the same frequency.

And let me tell you, adult students are on it. They might be rusty, they might be a bit insecure about being surrounded by the young-uns, but they are willing to work hard, they see the importance of content that can sometimes be lost on younger students, and they have actually had to apply critical thinking skills in real life.

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate those shiney-new 18-year-olds as well. But there are different strengths in different age-groups and backgrounds, which makes the CC classroom a much richer, more interesting place in my opinion. 

So that’s my case for teaching at a Community College. In California there is a separate job posting site for the CC’s, cccregistry.org. I’m sure other state’s Community College systems have similar sites, but you may have to search area by area. Happy job hunting!

Author bio: Dr. Lauren Nahas has a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin.  She is a full-time adjunct in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Navigating the academic job market

This post continues our series, The Smart Scholar, on navigating the academic job market.

With the academic year in full swing, I am certain you have begun to see job openings across various universities. Whether you are currently in a position and looking to move to another institution or are finishing up graduate school and looking for your first job, I believe there are some aspects of the job search that are of particular importance for your success this job season. As you prepare to apply for and (hopefully) land your next job, below are a few areas to consider when looking for your next position.

Building your job resource list

First and foremost, it is important to know where you can find job postings. I have provided a list of higher education job databases below that may be of interest to you on your search. While this list does not capture every discipline represented in higher education, it can serve as a starting point. Also, in addition to using the resources below, consider looking at the human resource website of the university in which you are interested in applying. I provide this added suggestion as there have been several instances where a position is posted on the university’s website and for whatever reason may not make it on to the national job search engines.

Understanding the language of the job posting

Once you find a job listing you’re interested in, it is important to have a complete understanding of the job qualifications. With this understanding, you can evaluate your career to see if you are qualified before you apply. This approach saves you the time of preparing materials for a job that you are not a fit for, and it helps the search committee get applicants who have experiences that are directly tied to the open position. 

Also, as you begin looking at job postings, my advice is to read the article How to Read A Faculty Job Ad by Dr. Manya Whitaker. While this piece is focused on faculty job advertisements,many aspects can be helpful for other positions.

Advice from the field

My advice is presented from experience as a position-seeker, but I also think it is important to share perspectives of other individuals in academia, specifically advice, resources, and tips to succeed on the job market from individuals with different types of positions and who are at different points in their career.

“Learn as much as possible about the university, college/school, department along with co-workers, policies and practices that you can while applying to determine if the institution is a fit for you.” 

-Julius Davis, USM Wilson H. Elkins Associate Professor, Director of The Center for Research and Mentoring of Black Male Students and Teachers, Bowie State University

“Keep a spreadsheet of every job with all the details: title, school, location, link to application, date applied, application materials needed and any other pertinent information. Highlight spreadsheet by where one is in the process. No color is no update. Red was deny. Yellow was in progress. Green was offer!”

-Christopher Sewell, Ed.D., Associate Dean of the College, Williams College

“It’s important that candidates prioritize what it is important. Frequently, job seekers focus on the size of the institution without asking if the culture is healthy.”

-Larry J. Walker, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership,University of Central Florida

“I would recommend keeping your Resume/CV updated so that when you begin searching, you search roles that fit your skills, your potential, and your personal trajectory. In addition, research the market to find out who you can reach out to as a mentor or gatekeeper (get into the door for the interview), and to see if the job is a fit for you. Often we are trying to fit in with a place or job that does not fit us personally, professionally, or from a healthy place.”

– Aaron J. Griffen, Ph.D., Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at DSST Public Schools

“Market yourself. Let your references and network know about your search and your interests. Share your recent accomplishments and CV with trusted colleagues for feedback and advocacy.”

–Ceceilia Parnther, PhD Assistant Professor, St. John’s University

“[For faculty], do a “mock” campus visit with a local university. From meeting faculty of interest and asking questions, to giving a research talk to meeting doc students. I prepared like it was the real thing and learned so much. In addition to a “mock” campus visit, I practiced my job and chalk talk with tenured faculty to gain their perspectives. In addition, I attended Job talks that were being hosted on campus to see how folks prepared and presented their ideas.

-L. Trenton Marsh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Learning Science and Educational Research, University of Central Florida

What other tips, resources, or suggestions would you add? Please connect with me on Twitter as I’d love to share your thoughts and perspectives. 

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Author Bio: Dr. Ramon B. Goings is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University Maryland. His research examines gifted/high-achieving Black male academic success PreK-PhD, diversifying the teacher and school leader workforce, and the student experience and contributions of historically Black colleges and universities to the higher education landscape. Dr. Goings is also the founder of The Done Dissertation Coaching Program which provides individual and group dissertation coaching for doctoral students. For more information about Dr. Goings’ research please visit his website www.ramongoings.com and follow him on Twitter (@ramongoings) and for more information about The Done Dissertation Coaching Program visit www.thedonedissertation.com.

Connect with Interfolio at conferences this fall

Interfolio will be attending a number of national and international conferences this fall. We value the opportunity to connect with current and prospective partners at these events. Are you or your colleagues attending these events and conferences? If so, we invite you to connect with us to set up a 1:1 meeting where we can discuss your institution’s challenges and how Interfolio’s faculty-centric technology can help.

Are you a current client? We’d love to say hello and hear more about how your campus uses Interfolio. Connect with your account manager to arrange an in-person meeting with Interfolio representatives at the conference.

Join us at these US conferences:

Visit with us at these international conferences:

Top resources for academic job-seekers

This post continues our series by a onetime academic job seeker, now academic-at-large, on places to look for and find your next academic job.

As the fall creeps ever closer, academic job-seekers are a few months into the Web-combing part of the cycle, hoping to see new postings pop up that fit their profile. A few years ago, we shared a brief list of job-board websites, meant to serve as an intro to those new to the market who might need more sites to haunt. Here are a few others to add to the pile. Because when it comes to the job market, more options are definitely merrier! 

  • California’s community colleges maintain a job board that lists open positions across the state. You can search these opportunities by job types or counties; the listings include staff positions as well as instructorships. This board is particularly robust, but what if you’re not trying to get a job in California? Try Googling your target state and “community colleges jobs” to find a job board that fits you better. 
  • If you’re open to jobs outside of the United States, AcademicJobsOnline.org is a portal built by the Department of Mathematics at Duke, that aggregates jobs in the United States and beyond. Departments from 45 countries have put up ads on the site in the past year, so if you would jump at the chance to teach in Rome, Botswana, or Tokyo, you should check it out.  
  • Also for the globetrotters, Times Higher Ed’s jobs board is heavy with jobs in the UK, but also offers positions across all continents. (Well, not Antartica; sorry to the penguins.) The site also offers career advice, including a series of posts, aimed at those on the global market, that explain the structure of academic careers in places like Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia. 
  • Minority Postdoc’s job listings include ads for academic jobs, as well as for positions in government, non-profits, and industry. This site is targeted to current minority students in postdoctoral positions in STEM, and the job ads come from employers who have diversity action plans in place and would welcome minority applicants. 
  • Academic Keys is a recruitment site that puts adjunct jobs in a separate category from other job ads. This may give you the ability to exclude these from your search, if you wish to do so—or, if you need to find short-term work in a specific place, to search only for adjunct work. 
  • Finally, if you are Christian (or, enough of a believer to teach at a Christian school!), there is a job site run by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities that puts those positions together in one place for you to search. At last count, there were 169 jobs on the site; if this is a fit for you, adding this slightly-more-off-the-beaten-track option could pad your list of “good leads” considerably. 

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Interfolio’s Dossier enables scholars to collect, curate, polish and send out their materials at all stages throughout their academic professional path. Learn more about Dossier here.

The most visited Dossier blog posts and other insider tips from Scholar Services

It’s “busy season” for those on the academic job market—a stressful time that lives up to its name. This blog post is a round-up of essential tips and practical posts to help you be successful using Dossier.

Interfolio’s Dossier is the solution for more than 500,000 individuals actively engaged in managing their career materials, whether on the academic job market, pursuing their PhD, or even taking an alternative academic professional path.

There are two Dossier options: you choose depending on where you are in your career. 

The free version of Dossier enables you to collect, curate, and organize collections of career materials, including requesting and indefinitely storing letters of recommendation. You can also search through thousands of Interfolio-hosted grants, fellowships, and jobs, and apply for free using the materials in your Dossier!

For an annual subscription fee of $48, you receive Dossier Deliver, which includes all of the free Dossier benefits plus the ability to share your materials and receive feedback on them with anyone, anywhere. You also receive 50 delivery credits, enabling you to send your career materials to apply to jobs, grants, fellowships, internships, and even graduate schools that are not hosted by Interfolio.

Both Dossier options are totally private to you and not visible to a current employer or institution, although you can transfer documents to a college or university’s Interfolio account if you wish.

As a Dossier user, your private account is a lifelong, digital repository for your career. 

Here, we’ve included our most-visited blog posts on Dossier, including frequently asked questions, best practices, and insider tips from our Scholar Services support team. 

What other topics would you like to hear about? Or do you have a question? Reach out to us! We’re people that thrive on serving our customers.

Support hours: 9am – 8pm EDT

Email: help@interfolio.com

Phone: (877) 997-8807

Technology for community college faculty

Community college faculty are no strangers to technology. The vast array of technological resources at most community colleges is actually pretty impressive. But how are faculty using technology on campuses today? Can faculty have a greater impact on student success if the technology focus evolves from aiding students to aiding faculty members’ work?

Current technology landscape

When asked what kinds of technology community college faculty use to be more effective at their job, the top two answers (in Family Feud terms) are usually the LMS and/or educational technology. In fact, there are a plethora of articles and studies focused on the impact of technology on learning. 

In addition to impacting learning objectives, these resources also serve to decrease the workload of the faculty member. They allow for easier course management. Faculty can assign auto-graded homework that provides just-in-time remediation and immediate feedback. Also, they can provide additional practice to students with the goal of increasing their ability to conceptualize and master the content. In Campus Technology‘s third annual Teaching with Technology Survey in 2018, they reported that 73% of faculty surveyed said that educational technology made their life “easier” or “much easier.”

Who are these technologies serving?

They are all focused, first and foremost, on the learner. While faculty experience is certainly important and considered in the development of such products, students are the central focus of these resources. Student success is priority number one—and this mirrors the institutions’ priorities as well. If you asked a faculty member about technology that 100% supports them, it’s likely they would draw a blank (hint, the answer is definitely not ratemyprofessor.com).

When looking broadly on campus, there certainly are a range of technologies, such as the ERP/HR System, SIS, etc., that community college faculty may interact with, but not consider as part of their daily workflow. And, of course, there is email, Word, and Excel (plus many other tools) for data collection and reporting. The majority of community college faculty are fluent in multiple technology systems. 

As institutional and state-wide pressures increase for faculty to improve student success, retention, and completion, many are turning to educational technology as a means to measure success. It is difficult to prove that you are meeting the desired learning outcomes without a way to quantify it. However, using multiple internal platforms creates disaggregated systems that make it difficult or nearly impossible to compile the necessary data and report. Community college faculty complain that required reporting data lives in many different systems and thus, can be difficult to pull together. They are often frustrated with duplicate requests for the same set of information that does not live anywhere digitally, and in perpetuity.  

Engaging faculty with technology

While the most commonly used technologies do help faculty succeed in their role, they were not created with faculty in mind. Because faculty are directly related to every aspect of student success, particularly via instruction in the classroom, you must first invest in their success and engagement. 

In a June 2019 article from Gallup, Stephanie Marken and Tom Matson state: “Engaged faculty and staff members are critical to student success—they are emotionally and psychologically committed to their work. These faculty and staff members practice intrusive advising. They identify the challenge a student is facing and help them find the required support services. Importantly to the mission of higher education, Gallup finds that faculty and staff who are engaged at work produce better student outcomes than their less-engaged peers.” They also find that only 34% of faculty and staff in higher education are engaged at work, which is lower than other benchmarked industries. If we can correlate faculty engagement and student success, we must then ask: what is leading to low engagement and how can we affect change?

Faculty engagement

A 2016 report from Cornerstone OnDemand and Ellucian found that some of the leading causes of disengagement in higher education are workload, governance processes, and the review/promotion process. By using technology to improve these inefficient and nuanced workflows, institutions can decrease workload (and frustration). Faculty will then have more time to focus on their students and teaching. In the same Gallup article, they found that increased faculty engagement also leads to increased longevity at an institution and greater investment in the brand. These outcomes contribute to student success and lower costs to the institution. 

Interfolio’s Faculty Information System helps institutions better manage faculty data and workflows, resulting in a more efficient, equitable, and consistent processes across campus. It transforms an institution’s ability to understand, manage, and support their entire faculty body (full-time and part-time faculty) at every stage of their career. Given faculty’s immense importance to student success and the overall mission of the institution, institutions must invest in faculty’s success and engagement—and thus continue to drive student outcomes. 

Author bio: Laura has spent the last decade in the higher education technology space establishing partnerships with two-year and four-year institutions to address affordability, employability, and retention. A graduate of Texas Tech University (Wreck “Em!), Laura lives in Lubbock, Texas.

Tips for adjuncting long-term

This post continues our series Confessions of a Full-Time Adjunct. Read Lauren’s previous post about interviewing for a full-time job at a community college.

This post is all about tips for those of you who might be thinking of adjunct work as a long-term career. It can totally be a career; I’ve been doing it full-time for almost eleven years now. Here are my top four recommendations  for objectives to keep in mind if you’re considering adjunct work for the long haul.

Objective #1: Stabilize local employment (To the extent possible, of course)

If you’re committed to teaching at the college level, and the downsides of adjunct life don’t deter you, your first objective is to find local employment. You should think strategically about the locations of community colleges and 4-year schools in your area, and focus on two that will make your commute(s) reasonable.  Then, use the advice in my Adjuncting 101 post to get yourself started working there—focus on getting a fall class, when there is usually the most need. 

Once you’ve been hired, make sure to pay attention to adjunct orientations and any union workshops that will educate you on how unit entitlement works at that college.  Unit entitlement is basically an employment protection for adjuncts: if you’ve taught a certain number of units in the previous academic year, the college is obligated to offer you the same number of units if the work is available.   

The policies on entitlement vary from college to college.  Once you understand how it works, your goal is to maximize your entitlement at two schools and then stay. The longer you’re there, the more seniority you have, and the less likely you are to lose classes when enrollment drops or funding becomes an issue. Some colleges will eventually give you a three-year contract.  This three-year contract has some limitations, but does give you better employment stability.

Objective #2: Make a health benefits game-plan

I advise that you investigate how benefits work for adjuncts at your target  schools before seeking employment. I’ve found that benefits vary widely—at one of my current schools (a California State University), I have free medical coverage for my family if I teach at least 6 units per semester. That’s the best-case scenario. At most community colleges, you will not be eligible for health benefits for a couple of years, and even then the monthly payments can be very high. For example, at one of my current schools, it would cost me around $800 a month to get coverage for my family.  

Do your research on the front-end so you can have a plan. The benefits issue can be a major barrier to working as an adjunct, but if you can get work with a school with solid health-care coverage, that can free you up to do other things in addition to teaching part-time. 

Objective #3: Consider finding paid opportunities for college service

Service to the college is part of the job for full-time professors. It’s not for adjuncts. And some adjuncts really enjoy the fact that they walk on campus, teach their classes, hold office hours, and leave. They have zero stress around the campus politics. However, if you intend to stick around for a while, it might make more sense to get involved. If that’s the case, you can seek out paid opportunities for college service. In my experience there are frequent opportunities for committee-work of various types, and often those committees welcome and are actively looking to add an adjunct perspective. I’ve also found that these committee experiences help me feel more connected to the campus in a job that can feel quite isolating.  And an extra few hundred dollars a month never hurts!

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Objective #4: Diversify your courses

Early on in my adjunct career, I jumped at the chance to teach a new class. I knew that down the road that would enable me to say to the chair at a new school I was looking to teach at, “Yes, I’ve taught that; I’m ready; I’ve got a syllabus right here; put me in.” That’s a pretty valuable thing to be able to say when those chairs are looking to staff a specific class quickly.  

So, I advise that from the beginning you take opportunities to teach new classes. (Even though that’s an enormous amount of work. Let’s be real here.)

These are the key things you should be thinking about if you’re going to adjunct long-term. But I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts as well. Tweet Interfolio to continue the conversation with me!

Author bio: Dr. Lauren Nahas has a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin.  She is a full-time adjunct in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Navigating the adjunct hiring process

This post continues our series Confessions of a Full-Time Adjunct.

If you read my last post, Adjuncting 101, and you still want to be an adjunct at community colleges, below I’m offering my best advice for getting adjunct work after 16 years in the business.

But first of all, let’s be clear. I am an adjunct. I’ve never been on a hiring committee for adjunct positions (or any hiring committee for that matter), so what you’re getting here is an outsider’s view—or rather, a candidate’s view. I don’t know the reasons why community college department chairs do what they do—although it sure is fun to speculate! What I’m presenting below is my understanding of the process and what has worked for me. This is the advice I give to new adjuncts (in our super-fun, shared offices) who are looking for more work.

Adjuncts are often hired at the last minute (when the department is under stress to staff sections due to unexpected changes in staffing or to increase enrollment). The hiring process can be somewhat ad hoc at times, but it depends on the college (whether it’s a community college, state college, private university, or major research university), and the situation the department is facing in terms of staffing.   

The basic process of adjunct hiring is that you apply to an adjunct “pool” because departments need a range of people to call when a course needs staffing last minute.  Some schools are constantly taking applications for their adjunct pool, others—usually more selective schools in my experience—only open their adjunct pool for new applications when necessary. In the latter case, you have to be watching their employment website. When I wanted to get work with a particular school, I would bookmark their employment website and check it periodically for the adjunct pool openings. 

Once you’ve submitted your application—which can range from very simple (just a CV and cover letter) to more traditional for academic positions (CV, cover letter, teaching philosophy, sample syllabus and so forth)—there are two general interview scenarios that you might encounter.

Scenario #1

Sometimes the department knows in advance that they need multiple new instructors.  In that case they do a pretty traditional interview situation with a hiring committee, and in the case of community colleges, the interview might include a writing sample or a teaching demonstration. The specifics of the interview will depend a lot on the field.  For example, it’s pretty common for English Departments to ask candidates to grade a sample student essay and then explain the rationale for their comments and grade as part of the interview.

Scenario #2

If the department is caught with last-minute unstaffed sections, the interview can be much more informal. Several times, I’ve gotten jobs after nothing more than a very brief meeting with the chair.

Because of the latter interview scenario, my number one piece of advice for getting adjunct work is to make yourself visible at key times.    

After your CV is part of that adjunct pool, there are key times of the year when you want to remind the department chair of your target community college of your existence.  The sweet spots, in my opinion, are in the middle of the summer for fall work, and October or November for spring hiring. Those are the times when I advise you email the chair something very short and sweet, like, “I just wanted to let you know that I am still available to teach classes this fall if you have any unstaffed sections. I have already submitted my materials to HR, but attached is my CV for your reference.”  

I was advised to take this approach by the chair in a department that I worked for early in my career.  It’s gotten me a new job on several occasions. It’s all about maintaining contact, but not being annoying.

To conclude, my other general piece of advice is: Go do something else!  I’m only half-kidding. I love teaching where I teach, but honestly, I wish I’d made different choices early on, or at least had a better sense of how you can get sort of sucked into the cycle of adjunct work. My advice is that if you want to teach, teach a class on the side while you pursue other things that can provide you with more stable employment.  Have an exit plan and make sure that it doesn’t involve getting a full-time faculty position.

Author bio: Dr. Lauren Nahas has a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin.  She is a full-time adjunct in the San Francisco Bay Area.

How to work with journal editors to get published

This post continues our series, The Smart Scholar, on advice for getting published in an academic publication, like a peer-review venue-specific journal.

With the semester in full swing, I (like you) have been actively engaged in writing for publication. There’s an increased emphasis in higher education on publishing in well-respected peer-review venue-specific journals, so journals have seen a continuous increase of submitted manuscripts. 

While I, and many others before me, have talked about the technical aspect of writing for publication venues, I believe it is valuable to give you some insight from the editor’s perspective on the publishing process. Thus, as the current editor of the Journal of African American Males in Education—a journal devoted to advancing scholarship and practice on African American males in education—I would like to put my editor’s hat on for this piece and provide some insights for you on how to work with editors in getting your research published.

Review the aims and scope of journal before submission

Since most journals have an online submission process, information about each journal is readily available to you as an author. Thus, before you submit your paper to a journal, I would advise you to read the aims and scope of the journal to make sure your paper is a fit. This may seem like simple and self-explanatory advice, but given my experience as an editor of a journal that specifically focuses on Black males in education, you would be surprised at how many submissions we receive that do not exclusively focus on that topic. 

My advice here is that when in doubt, ask a trusted colleague in your discipline, and if for some reason you do not have that network, reach out to the editor to make sure your paper is the right topic for the journal. There is no need to waste your time or the time of the editor on a manuscript that is not the right fit. 

Put together a high-quality paper to limit desk rejects

At this point in time, you have reviewed the aims and scope of the journals and you’ve found one that is a fit. Now, it is critical that you put together a high-quality paper. To speed up the process for papers that are on-topic, journal editors will look to “desk reject” articles quickly that are not high quality (even though they will not tell you this). My goal is for you to never experience this!

I have received many papers over the years, in particular from graduate students, who in many cases were told by their professors that they should submit their paper for publication. However, in many of these instances, papers written for the class were not assigned with the intention to be published. If possible, I would advise graduate students to consult with their professor about ways to ensure their paper is ready for publication in a specific venue. 

Speaking as an editor, journals can get inundated with these types of “class written” papers and with papers from established writers who quickly threw together an article. Rushed papers or those written for the wrong reasons can cause a bottleneck during the review process. 

As I tell writers who I work with via my Done Dissertation Coaching Program, the goal when submitting your journal article is to put together a high-quality paper that can at least survive the review process (even if eventually rejected). Having feedback on your work gets you one step closer to your paper getting published.

The imbalance of submissions versus reviewers with niche expertise

While browsing Twitter, I have seen several threads that have shared unfortunate horror stories of a journal review process taking 2 years. I have experienced this first hand in my career. As an editor, the wait time between submission and publication is somewhat complicated. 

In particular, there can often be an imbalance of submissions versus reviewers, especially those with the time and expertise (content and methodological) to review papers. There have been several instances where I could not find a reviewer who had expertise on a particular methodology to review a paper, which dramatically slows down the publishing process. Additionally, editors can get reviews back that are not helpful to the author, and so we may send the paper back out for another review, which can slow things down again. 

I hope that editors are upfront about with you about this process if you send an email asking on your article status. If they are not forthcoming, know that the delay in the process is not a personal issue with you, but an unfortunate reality of the publication process, relying on the free labor of reviewers. 

Getting angry with the editor never works

Editors, like authors, want to have successful and smooth publication processes. Given the issues that impact the publication process noted above, we certainly understand your frustration when an article you need published in this venue for tenure and promotion is significantly delayed. However, there is a diplomatic way to go about inquiring about the status of your manuscript. And more importantly, if you want your piece to be published, it is in your best interest to be polite to an editor. 

So what should you do? I suggest that after you send an inquiry to the editor about your manuscript and receive a response, you can then determine if you would like to continue the submission process with the journal. If you decide to remove your manuscript from consideration, send a cordial email to the editor letting them know you have decided to move your paper to another publication. Again, this is certainly not personal against an editor and they will certainly understand your decision.

For the readers that are journal editors, what other advice would you have for authors who submit their work to your journal? For the readers who have written for publication, what advice would you give to authors on working with editors? Feel free to share your thoughts with me via Twitter!

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Author Bio: Dr. Ramon B. Goings is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University Maryland. His research examines gifted/high-achieving Black male academic success PreK-PhD, diversifying the teacher and school leader workforce, and the student experience and contributions of historically Black colleges and universities to the higher education landscape. Dr. Goings is also the founder of The Done Dissertation Coaching Program which provides individual and group dissertation coaching for doctoral students. For more information about Dr. Goings’ research please visit his website www.ramongoings.com and follow him on Twitter (@ramongoings) and for more information about The Done Dissertation Coaching Program visit www.thedonedissertation.com.

Day 3: Success stories, a look under the hood, and a 6-month roadmap

On the final day of the 2019 Interfolio Summit, we turned to some of the event’s most technical and groundbreaking content. 

Successes in the southwest: Texas and Utah

The University of Texas at Austin team broke down how they have strategically integrated actions and data from the Interfolio Faculty Search module—and carefully enforced how fields are configured in the system—to inform their academic recruitment efforts with a new level of marketing analytics data.

Meanwhile, administrators for the Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure module got a concrete lesson in how exactly 2019 PAC member institution University of Utah has brought their faculty review logistics to the successful place they are today. 

“The life of a [software] bug”

In a conversation at once amiable and frank, a sampling of the Interfolio software engineering team and an inquisitive audience had a productive exchange—discussing the step-by-step process by which Interfolio responds to customers’ technical requests for improvements and changes to the products. 

We were even joined by a larger-than-life bug:

The Interfolio product roadmap: 6 months out

The 2019 Interfolio Summit audience got a special glimpse into the specific areas of focus and challenges that Interfolio has on the horizon for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. 

This session and the engineering team’s session (mentioned above), in particular, drew out the extent to which Interfolio’s offerings are both reactive and proactive, and could not be successful without an ongoing dialogue with those who use them in their day-to-day work. 

We hope you join us next year at our second annual Summit for even more conversation, networking, and cultural exploration. 

For more information on the 2019 Interfolio Summit, check out the other two posts: Recap + Day 1: The (Inaugural) 2019 Interfolio Summit and Day 2: Keynote, client presentations, and a birthday party.

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If your institution currently uses Interfolio, please keep an eye out for news about the 2020 Interfolio Summit. Have questions? Contact us at events@interfolio.com.