Head of the class p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

David W. Kinsman makes his living teaching college courses in strategic management. Just as significant, he earns his keep by keeping students riveted.

To teach at the postsecondary level, “you have to ... show them you can bring a class to life,” said Kinsman, a retired Army chief warrant officer who now teaches business administration online and in the classroom for TUI University and Park University.

Beyond mere credentials, “you need to be able to sell yourself as a teacher” in order to become a college professor, he said. “The university makes money by filling chairs, and you want to show that you can do that.”

Of course, you won’t go too far without credentials of some kind. The bar to teach full-time at a four-year college is high — most expect a doctoral degree for tenure-track positions. But if you haven’t pushed on to your Ph.D. yet, community colleges and technical schools are a more flexible point of entry. Eighteen percent of all full-time faculty at community colleges have a doctorate, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. The majority — 62 percent — have a master’s degree; 12 percent have a bachelor’s degree.

Colleges are bursting at the seams with students these days, but budgets are tight and hiring is not necessarily spiking with enrollment. Here’s how to make sure you’re a competitive candidate:

Build your experience now

If you can get them, military training or instruction posts will prepare you well for civilian academia, according to Dr. John C. Griffith, associate dean of academic affairs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

“The way the military trains their instructors to teach students is excellent ... because they teach the fundamentals: getting the correct course content, making sure you stay close to the objectives, making sure you properly address student understanding,” Griffith said.

Former Senior Chief aviation electronics technician Thomas Stout, 48, started his teaching career before his Navy career ended in 2004 with stints at the Naval Air Station Training Center in Millington, Tenn., and at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.

“When somebody says they have been a Navy instructor, that is something that people recognize. The civilian world recognizes that as a sign of quality,” said Stout, now a professor of electromechanical systems at Tidewater Community College in Hampton Roads, Va. “It shows ... they have some skills and abilities.”

The most important skill he developed was one of the most basic. “I used to be a little intimidated by standing up in front of people and speaking. Probably the biggest thing it did was to give me that confidence to stand up. That has been of great importance in everything I have done in teaching since,” he said.

If you have teaching experience, you’ll need to put together a teaching portfolio in addition to the traditional résumé that includes some comments about your teaching philosophy, your ideas about how to develop a syllabus, an outline of courses you have taught and an explanation of your grading system. Washington State University gives a good explanation with examples at www.wsu.edu/provost/teaching.htm.

Don’t leave without a degree

It can take an average of six years of full-time study to earn a doctorate, and that’s after the bachelor’s degree. Any credits you can rack up before you get out will speed the process down the road.

Kinsman served for 23 years, winding up a chief warrant officer 4 and chief of the maintenance training division at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He earned his master’s degree while in uniform, taking classes nights and weekends at University of Phoenix, and is now completing his Ph.D. through TUI.

Griffith, who retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2005, said earning his Ph.D. in while in uniform was key to launching his academic career.

“If you are in the military, at least have that bachelor’s degree done when you walk out,” he said. “If you have the bachelor’s degree and you have two or three years left in the military, get that master’s.”

Get your foot in the door

Griffith’s other ace in the hole: Adjunct teaching.

Adjunct professors are called in to teach part-time to supplement existing staff or because they have some special expertise. It’s a great way to get a foot in the door, and it often can be done right where you stand.

“Bases always have several different colleges or universities offering courses, so you can literally walk into one of those offices and offer to teach,” Griffith said. “If you do it before you get out, it will let you know if you like it.” A master’s degree is often sufficient to teach in an adjunct capacity.

“Adjunct is huge. It teaches you how to do the job effectively, and you also make contacts with people. Once your name starts getting around, people will be saying, ‘Hey, can you teach for us?’”

Most postsecondary teachers will never be rich, but they can make a good living. And there are other forms of compensation: “The reward is in seeing people improve, seeing them grow and develop,” Kinsman said. “I get a real sense of satisfaction helping people. That’s probably the biggest reward.”