DAY IN THE LIFE
What Does a Teaching
Associate Professor Do?
Pam Arroway, North Carolina State University
F
or about a decade now, the Department of Statistics at North
Carolina State University has been hiring faculty in career
path, non-tenure-track teaching positions. These positions
were first called clinical assistant professor positions, but have since
been renamed teaching assistant professors. These positions are
unusual in that they are not tenure-track, but they do have a career
track, unlike instructor, lecturer, or adjunct positions found at
many universities in the United States. Thus, a teaching assistant
professor has the opportunity to be promoted to a teaching associ-
ate professor and a teaching professor. For simplicity, I’ll refer to a
person in any of these positions as a TAP and to tenure-track or
tenured faculty as TT faculty.
What Do TAPs Do?
Currently, the department has four TAPs, all of whom began at
the assistant level and were promoted to the associate level. All
currently have five-year contracts and PhDs in statistics or math-
ematics. Their responsibilities include a nominal teaching load of
four courses per semester, though most TAPs begin with a “3+”
contract. That is, the teaching load is three courses per semes-
ter, plus some scholarly activity. That may include research, but
doesn’t have to.
The four TAPs (including me) have evolved into very differ-
ent roles within the department. The ways we contribute to the
department, university, and profession include teaching gradu-
ate and undergraduate courses for statistics majors and as service
courses; developing curricular and teaching materials to share
with colleagues and/or publish; writing research papers; serving in
administrative roles such as assistant department head, co-director
of graduate programs, and director of undergraduate programs;
recruiting, advising, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate
students, including directing dissertation research; writing grant
proposals; providing professional service by reviewing journal sub-
missions; being an associate editor or grading AP Statistics exams;
serving on committees… Sounds a lot like what a TT faculty mem-
ber might do, right?
So what does a TAP not do? In my department, there’s very little
we can’t do. We have the opportunity to achieve our full potential.
The biggest difference between a TAP and TT position is we allo-
cate our time differently to the realms of teaching, research, and
service. TAPs are not expected to publish in top statistical journals,
advise a regular stream of graduate students, or get research grants,
though we can do those things.
We are expected to do a lot of outstanding teaching, and the
flexibility of these positions has allowed us opportunities junior
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