What should you do when asked to teach students in mass? I will not
presume to tell anyone how to do it because I am not convinced that it
can be done well especially when you are trying to develop students'
analytical and other higher order skills.
What I can do is describe my odyssey of 20 years in academe. Twenty
years ago I was hired by a college of business in a large state
university. Then all faculty taught three courses a semester with an
average of approximately 30 students per class. We were also expected
to do research and service. By the standards of the time, I was
successful and made tenure and promotion. Before making tenure, I was
asked to teach graduate courses. Simultaneously, the university began
to stress that it was a research one university. Class loads were
decreased to two courses per semester, but all the required
undergraduate core business courses were now taught in sections of
350 to 450. I was offered the opportunity to team teach a course in that
format. That would have meant that I would have only taught/presented
for five weeks per semester and had a doctoral student to construct,
proctor, score and record a multiple choice test. Also, the graduate
assistant would have held office hours for me. I choose to continue to
teach my graduate classes. At beginning of my 14th year, my colleagues
and I were shocked to learn that our graduate classes had been raised
to 55. That was one reason among others to look elsewhere.
I went on the job market and found my current position. Here I teach
three courses per semester with an average of about 25 students per
class. I have received nominations and been selected as an outstanding
teacher since I arrived here. In addition, my research productivity has
also gone up especially in quality during the last six years. I have
received an award from the Academy of Management and two from the
Center for Creative Leadership during the last three years for my
research on management development.
There are some special properties to this university. The first is the
legacy left by the late president who turned it around. All four schools ---
business, education, liberal arts and science --- on campus are
endowed. The second is the student body. The incoming freshmen are
comparable to those who go to major state universities, but, in my
experience, they have a better work ethic. The third property is my
colleagues. We have recruited some lead faculty from places like the
University of Michigan and recruited some junior faculty from places like
the Florida State University and the University of South Carolina.
The university has begun to receive national recognition for the quality of
education it offers. For the last two years it has been named as one of
the 101 best values in higher education.
Unfortunately, for most readers on this list server, I do not anticipate any
openings in the next few years in management. You may, however,
want to past this along to your colleagues in finance and economics
because I do anticipate openings in those areas next year.
So what is this place? It is the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at
Salisbury State University in Salisbury, MD 21801
Frank Shipper Phone: (410) 543-6333
Perdue School of Business Fax: (410) 548-2908
Salisbury State University E-mail:
fmshipper@ssu.edu
Salisbury, MD 21801