Foreign MA Bias?

Greetings to the mighty DL forum:

Does anyone know if an instructor is more or less likely to get hired teaching at a junior college if he/she holds a foreign MA?

This thread's discussion, overall, seems to suggest that there would probably be no strong bias: See here

One of the career options I'm considering is to gain an MA degree in english or history for teaching at a junior college. Would an MA in "Modern History" at Maquarie U. mean less than an MA in "History" at CSU~Bakersfield? Would an MA in English at Deakin University mean less than an MA in English somewhere nearby?


Chris

 

I will state unequivocally, "it depends!"

If you mean BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE, I would suspect that CSU-Bakersfield or even Domingues Hills would carry more weight.

If on the other hand you mean Polk Junior College in Polk County FL, it probably doen't matter as much.

 

Mike,

I'm more concerned that someone who hires for a junior college instructor would say, "hey, this was earned outside the US... they don't teach the same stuff over there probably, so I would rather hire someone with a US degree."

How likely is that?

There are tons of options, especially if I wanted to customize a degree, but I want to find someone with a program already in place. Unfortunately, those are all foreign.

Chris

 

Christopher,

YES, it depends--however, because American teaching historians are better known to others who teach history, a US degree is quite likely to mean more here. (And contrariwise, an Austrailian degree will leverage more attention in Austrailia.)

In other words, it's simply that people trust the opinions of people they either know, or else know of. (It's simply the nature of the recommendation process.)

Now, there are offsetting factors: have you published? Did you do your overseas degree with someone famous (i.e., known in America, known in your field or specialty), who can recommend you?

Another way that "foreigness" matters less is a masters from abroad before getting a US PhD...It shows versatility.

And a masters from Cal-State Anywhere will mean more in California and adjacent states than a master's from New Mexico Highlands University would mean in the same places--again, simply because it's a known product with local and regional ties.

I infer you're doing the cost-benefit calculation on where to get your masters for CC teaching purposes. Thus, your ability to market it matters. The bottom line: ask at community colleges (both teaching staff and administrators), where you'd like to teach--then go where they would find the most desirable and unequivocable hires.

That's how to measure or weigh this issue.

Unfortunately, for people who favor distance learning, this leaves few if any, cheap options. The only one I know of is Syracuse University's Master of Social Science, that nonetheless requires one or two residencies. Hence, very expensive. The only upside with this is that one could market oneself to teach BOTH history and poli sci at a community college.

--Orson

PS The last word I had on the market for history hiring is that in a tough market, roughly half of all doctorates are expected to receive offers for tenure track posts. But, of course, this level of specialty is too arcane to gain a bead on the market your seeking opps for....

 

I can't say for sure, but my instinct tell me that the CSU Bakersfield degree might be a better masters for community college history teaching in California.

Why? Check out the history courses offered by City College of San Francisco. About half their offerings have specifically American content. That rises to two thirds if you include Latin America and the overseas Chinese (who have been prominent in California since the gold rush).

This isn't meant to insult Maquarie in any way. I'm sure that if you were seeking an Australian oriented position, things would be completely reversed.

HIST 1. The United States Since 1900
HIST 3A-3B. The People's Century
HIST 4A-4B. Western Civilization
HIST 5. Europe Since 1900
HIST 9. Immigrants in American History
HIST 12A-12B. Women in American History
HIST 15A-15B. The Indian in North America
HIST 17A-17B. The United States
HIST 18A-18B. History of Latin America
HIST 20. History of Mexico
HIST 21. History of the Mexican-American/Chicano
HIST 31. Introduction to the History of England
HIST 32. History of Russia
HIST 33. History of South Asia
HIST 34. History of Japan
HIST 35A-35B. History of China
HIST 36. History of Southeast Asia
HIST 37. History of the Philippines
HIST 38. The Antebellum South in American History
HIST 39. The US Presence in the Pacific Rim
HIST 40. California
HIST 41A-41B. The African American in the United States
HIST 44. Comparative History of Overseas Chinese
HIST 45. Lesbian and Gay American History
HIST 46. Independent Studies in History
HIST 47A-47B-47C-47D. Discussions in History
HIST 48. African History
HIST 49. History of San Francisco
HIST 50. United States Railroad History
HIST 51-52-53. Selected Topics in History

 

Another Angle...

Christopher,

Last spring or summer (ot else April-May-June from 2001), I recall reading in The Chronicle of Higher Education about a Dean (asst Dean?) who tought at Cal State-Los Angeles, who also tought a course elsewhere (local Free University? Adult Ed? UCLA? local cummunity college?) on how to get hired at a community college...Perhaps you have a friend of a friend in SoCal to track this person down...Perhaps the author of the piece could be queried? (The Chronicle can be computer searched if a library has a subscription). I say chase the guy down...(All I did was check out the Cal-State-LA web site to see if this character was identifiable--no luck!)

The original article concerned higher ed job market for Ph.Ds in Enlgish/History, etcetera--how much more optimistic things have become, how the long-predicted wave off retirements are finally upon academe....

--Orson

 

sounds good

Somehow, I might be able to track this guy down. This may take some time, however, since I'm up to my ears in silly credentialing classes. But you are right, I do have friends in the junior colleges around here. Maybe they can help.

(yawn)...

We'll see. Thanks for thie tip!

Chris