Motivational Factors Influencing Engineering Faculty's Pursuit of Instructional Faculty Positions at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Cerros, Yamile A. Urquidi; Kayyali, Mais; Kendall, Meagan R.; Strong, Alexandra Coso

doi:10.1109/fie49875.2021.9637320

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…In our previous work with the same population of EIF, one of the central motivators EIF reported for pursuing professional development is to better support their students [2]. In the current findings, the EIF's passion for their job and their desire to support their students were again central to their decision to add more to their roles and responsibilities.…”

Section: Altering the Scope/process Of Work Due To Passion Or The Des...supporting

confidence: 54%

“…This work is part of a larger multiple case study [2], [4] exploring the experiences and amplifying the voices of EIF at HSIs. Each participant was treated as a case.…”

Section: Methodology a Research Project Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EIF are full-time, professional-track faculty who are evaluated primarily on their teaching [2]. At four-year institutions, these individuals are typically in non-tenure-line roles, while at two-year colleges they may have tenure-line roles.…”

Section: B Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Faculty are at the center of these and similar initiatives, with many engaging in new educational innovation efforts. EIF at these institutions, in particular, teach high percentages of lower-level engineering courses, which are critical courses for supporting persistence within engineering [2], [4]. In addition, prior research has shown that EIF want to develop and implement learner-centered, culturally responsive instructional designs, but lack the support given to their tenure-line counterparts at four-year institutions [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the recent growth in these positions, researchers have called for universities to address departmental and university-wide culture and policies around hiring, developing, and promoting instructional faculty [34], [35], [36], [26]. We know that a very important factor EIF consider in choosing their current role is the need to balance work and other non-work-related roles to maintain their general well-being [2]. Yet, in many cases, instructional faculty in engineering have reported a lack of support, challenges of inclusion in departmental decision-making, and a lack of respect and recognition by their peers and upper administrators [26], [29], [38], [35], [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

What does an Engineering Instructional Faculty do? Voices of Engineering Instructional Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Dansu,

Strong,

Kendall

2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD) Proceedings

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This paper shares results from an exploratory study of how engineering instructional faculty (EIFs) at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) define their roles and responsibilities. HSIs are known are for providing a student-centered education, enrolling more than 60% of Hispanic students in higher education. EIF are full-time, professional-track faculty who are evaluated primarily on their teaching. EIF are often not on a tenure-track but may be on a promotion track, depending on their department and institution. The career trajectory toward EIF positions is varied, and those varied academic and career experiences of EIF can enrich students' classroom experiences. Over the last twenty years, there has been an increase in the number of professionaltrack faculty in higher education. This increase is attributed to the need for subject-matter specialists who can bring extensive content knowledge and, in some cases, industry experience to the classroom. With the rise in the number of faculty in these roles and the number of posted positions for instructional faculty in engineering, there is a need to better understand what it means to take on an EIF position and what differences may exist across departments and institutions. Further, our current description of the roles of EIF is insufficient to understand all of the assets they bring to the engineering education system. This study aims to amplify the work of EIF by addressing the following research question: How do EIF at HSIs describe their roles and responsibilities as instructional faculty? To answer this research question, seventeen participants were recruited from six HSIs across two regions of the United States for virtual semi-structured interviews. The interviews lasted around 45-60 minutes each and included questions about the participants' pathway to an EIF position, their engagement with students inside and outside the classroom, their general responsibilities, and their experience, if applicable, with promotion and re-contracting. The interviews were transcribed and coded using data analysis software (NVivo). Data were analyzed using a deductive data analysis approach. The final codebook was based on three thematic areas and multiple iterations of coding and engaging in critical reviews of the codes by peer debriefers. Leveraging the job crafting framework, findings show that EIF craft their roles either by altering the scope/process of their work due to passion and the desire to support their students, or by building helpful relationships to support their students or by seeing their duties from a new perspective and changing students' perception about engineering. The need to support student learning is a motivating factor for job crafting by EIF. Faculty and administrators in engineering education could leverage the findings from this paper in providing support for students in Hispanic serving institutions.

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Section: Altering the Scope/process Of Work Due To Passion Or The Des...supporting

confidence: 54%

“…This work is part of a larger multiple case study [2], [4] exploring the experiences and amplifying the voices of EIF at HSIs. Each participant was treated as a case.…”

Section: Methodology a Research Project Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%