What is it like to be a community college professor?

Question

What is your schedule like? How many hours do you work per week? How many hours are you actually at work? thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It would depend if you're tenured or not. Tenured staff get to pick their courses (to certain extents) and what times they want.  Unions usually limit their courseload to 4 or 5 classes per semester. This is as they are paid on salary.  Profs may be able to teach additional courses but on a compensation basis (paid extra).  In addition to class time, one hour per week minimum of office hours per class. Most tenured prof's do school service such as being on the faculty senate and working with programs dealing with high school programs in the community or something similar (community outreach).

Non-tenured salaried instructors will be paid on salary too, but they have lower status in the system.  Those attempting to achieve tenure who are on a tenure-track will need to do substantial school service to build themselves up for promotion.  More time spent doing things rather than teaching, basically.  Non-tenured so your employment may not be renewed each year.

Finally, a bulk of teaching comes from lecturers.  These are contracted positions where the instructor is hired and paid on a per class basis.  The load and times are offered and they either take it or not.  Needless to say, the scheduling may not be ideal if you want to teach many courses.  No guarantee you'll be offered classes each semester. Often no benefits paid.  In my school system, the minimum contract for a 3 credit regular class is about $3300.  You get more if you have proven experience and higher educational credentials, but not substantially more.

Answer 2

depends if you are part time or full time