Background
Mesa Community College (MCC) is the largest of the ten colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD). There are approximately 320 residential faculty members and 27,000 students which may make a new faculty member feel overwhelmed with the institution. The focus on learning is at the center of all that encompasses MCC; it influences instruction, access, service to students, diversity, technology, communication, civic responsibility, employee professional development, workforce development, financial management/development, physical environment, and institutional effectiveness. This focus has led to the development of the New Faculty Experience (NFE), a program for first year faculty appointed at MCC.
Creating and maintaining a culture that focuses on learning has been central to the New Faculty Experience. NFE has been an opportunity for faculty to engage in organizational, professional, and personal learning while establishing an academic and purposeful community of learners for Mesa College. In addition, the New Faculty Experience has been a way for new faculty to form cross-disciplinary relationships which has influenced teaching and learning pedagogy.
We start with the basic assumption that we hire good faculty who teach well. Thus, NFE builds upon the notion that our new faculty, much like our students, come to us not as empty vessels. They bring diverse and powerful skills, knowledge, and experiences. The program exposes our new faculty to the MCC culture and values. The new faculty dialogue with each other and with MCC preceptors (seasoned faculty or managers) allowing for continual learning. We thus foster learning and change as an institutional culture.
The development of NFE was guided by five fundamental principles: a) new faculty are part of the college community from the very first day, b) faculty are valued professionals, c) learning for faculty cannot be episodic or disconnected from their everyday lives as teaching professionals, d) as adult learners, faculty require just-in-time and relevant learning experiences, and e) faculty learning is driven by a commitment to building and sustaining community. The work by Astin and Astin (2000) suggests "The way faculty personally or collectively view scholarship has implications for how they deal with each other and their students" (p. 38).
Program Design
The NFE program is a year-long program that focuses on meaningful and relevant topics such as working with diverse learners, teaching methods, classroom assessment, and faculty governance. Faculty are exposed to the college culture including the mission and vision statements, survival tips, and college expectations. Faculty are encouraged to reflect upon their own teaching in an effort to improve student learning. Discussions have centered around a "scholarship of teaching" and "excellent teaching." A focus is placed on investigating "...not only teacher practice but the character and depth of student learning that results (or does not) from that practice" (Hutchings and Shulman, 1999).
Faculty engage in their learning through problem-based learning activities, real-life content, and just-in-time learning. For example, during the first week of accountability, faculty are given scenarios that outline situations that have been encountered by previous faculty members. Faculty are then put into groups and asked to discuss how they would approach the situation. This allows for the opportunity for faculty to become fully engaged in their learning and provides the chance for faculty to hear how other colleagues would approach the same situation. In addition, just-in-time learning opportunities allow new faculty members to present current situations they are facing in the classroom. Many times this has refocused the group to think about how they could solve the situation when confronted with similar circumstances.
The late Ernest Boyer challenged all professional schools to "...confront the ethical implications of their chosen professions. In law, business, economics, and medicine, as well as in the sciences and arts, ethical issues arise every day" (Boyer and Mitgang, 1996, p. 140). It is important to expose new faculty to ethical dilemmas that they may face both in and outside the classroom; therefore a discussion book was adopted entitled The Ethics of Teaching: A Casebook. A faculty led case discussion occurs during the first 20 minutes of each seminar. Faculty engage in a critical analysis of each case and describe ethical dilemmas that could be faced.
NFE Structure
Each month a seminar is scheduled for 2.5 hours to focus on a selected topic. Each session is led and facilitated by one or more preceptors who is a local expert on the topic. Preceptors are expected to present information, provide real life examples or context, include interactive participation, engage in group work, and provide reflection activities. For example, when the Faculty Evaluation Plan (FEP) was presented, faculty were given presentations from department chairs and faculty colleagues regarding expectations and examples of the FEP. Later, participants were involved in a working session to discuss their progress and approach to their FEPs.
Every session includes review and reflections which allow for deeper and more meaningful learning to occur. Relevant changes or modifications for following sessions can be planned or integrated. Often, individual new faculty, will follow-up with preceptors on specific needs or issues.
Faculty Comments
Faculty have enjoyed the New Faculty Experience because it not only allows them to become fully integrated as a faculty member, they are also able to form relationships with other faculty across disciplines. In the past, with a one day orientation, new faculty were not given the opportunity to engage in active learning about the institution, teaching pedagogy, and reflection upon their own teaching practice.
The New Faculty Experience has been full of information, the essentials really, that are helpful to fulfilling the faculty role at all levels.
Carolyn St. Peter, Psychology Faculty
For me one of the best parts of the New Faculty Experience was the forum where you could meet other faculty in other disciplines. We run the risk of being quite insular and you settle into your own department without really spreading out. This was a way to meet people that were new to a large institution.
Dennis Wilson, Life Sciences
I thought about what life at Mesa Community College would have been like without the New Faculty Experience and I realized that my faculty evaluation plan would not have been nearly as complete-both in terms of understanding the process and also the actual content.
Janice Jennings, Design, Family, and Consumer Sciences
It was very beneficial to me. I got to meet lots of other faculty and learned lots of practical things and how things run around here.
Adam Avilez, Mathematics Department
Results
The New Faculty Experience has been a wonderful way to immerse new faculty into the academic culture at Mesa Community College. New faculty have taken on challenges and leadership roles sooner and with new vision. Second and third year cohorts are energized to participate on college committees and inititiaves earlier in their tenure. For example, Nicole Cerveney (Geology) is a co-chair of an NCA Self-Study Sub-Committee. Susan Miller and Shelley Rodrigo (English) have led curricular and development committees at the department and college levels. In addition, Derek Borman (Psychology) and Mark Brenaman (Math) are actively involved in providing new directions for the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) as members of the CTL Advisory Committee. In summary, the NFE has been mutually beneficial for new faculty and the college.
References
Astin, A.W., and Astin, H.S. (Eds.). (2000). Leadership reconsidered: Engaging higher education in social change. Battle Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Boyer, E.L. and Mitgang, L.D. (1996). Building community. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Hutchings, P. and Shulman, L. (1999). The scholarship of teaching: New elaborations, new developments. Change. September/October.
Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, B.E., Jr., Ware Balogh, D., Perkins, D.V., Wittig, A.F. (2002). The ethics of teaching: A casebook (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Palmer, P.J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life. California: Jossey-Bass.
 Maria R. Chavira, Ph.D. and Naomi Story, Ph.D.
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