2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

National Trends and Models for Teaching-Track Faculty in Chemical Engineering

Presented at Chemical Engineering Division (ChED) Technical Session 2: Community Retrospectives

Most chemical engineering departments in the United States have at least one faculty member who is not on tenure track. These faculty serve important roles that can include advising AICHE student groups, academic advising, an increased teaching load, administrative roles, and/or focusing on engineering pedagogy. In March 2022, the Education Division of AICHE created a new group for Chemical Engineering teaching-track faculty, with 60 members by November 2022. The group has met monthly online since then and discussed professional development topics such as how to get promoted, how to get involved in AICHE and ASEE, how to publish research, and how to improve inclusive teaching. In addition, this group has provided support for faculty who might be the only one or one of a few faculty in their position in their department. Through this group, we have found that there is much variation in the support, guidance, and promotion pathways for faculty depending on their individual institutions and departments. The purpose of this paper is to explore these differences and provide examples of policies and procedures at a number of institutions to be used as a model.

This paper has two specific objectives: 1. Discuss the results of a survey given to the faculty in this group. This survey asks questions about the length of their service and contract, their title and opportunities for promotion, support given to them for professional development, their journey to take a teaching-track position and the level of support and belonging that they feel in their departments and institutions. 2. Provide examples of teaching-track policies at three or four institutions that will serve as potential models for other departments and/or institutions.

Authors

Dr. Stephanie Butler Velegol Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Stephanie Butler Velegol is a Teaching Professor in Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. She pioneered the use of Flipped classes to increase active leaning in the classroom and works on water treatment.
Dr. Lisa G. Bullard P.E. North Carolina State University, Raleigh [biography]

Dr. Lisa Bullard is an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. She obtained her BS in Chemical Engineering at NC State in 1986 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1991. A faculty member at NC State since 2000, Dr. Bullard’s research interests lie in the area of educational scholarship, including teaching and advising effectiveness, academic integrity, chemical engineering instruction, and organizational culture.
Taryn Melkus Bayles University of Pittsburgh [biography]

Taryn Bayles, Ph.D., is a Teaching Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department at the University of Pittsburgh, where she incorporates her industrial experience by bringing practical examples and interactive learning
Dr. Katie Cadwell Syracuse University [biography]

Katie Cadwell is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University, where she has taught Chemical Engineering core courses since 2011. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science & Technology) and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also was a postdoctoral fellow in Engineering Education & Outreach. She has previously taught at Madison College.

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