Applying for the Fellowship

Because the FFTF application is treated as an application for teaching positions at host institutions, we asked about the resources and barriers that Fellows faced in this first step in the PFF experience. Over one-third (37%) of respondents did not seek any help on their FFTF applications. Sixty-three percent (n = 19) who used at least one source indicated that past FFTF participants were one of their sources of assistance, and 44% (n = 15) who used at least one source selected their graduate advisor as one of their resources. These resources helped applicants decipher what host institutions needed, decide what to include in their portfolios, and polish their applications. Applicants found it helpful to see previous applications and to hear directly from past Fellows “what they felt their departments looked for or needed from possible FFTFs.” These connections with previous Fellows occurred through informal peer networks. While most respondents did not recall having trouble completing the application, a couple respondents wanted more instruction on applying and guidance on what the host institutions were looking for. One respondent said, “previous participants provided all the help I needed. That labor should not fall to peers & friends, there should be more formal access to materials through FFTF.” In addition, another respondent said, “Because I didn’t know much about the regional campuses, it was hard to envision what they would need most and what kinds of students I will be teaching.” Of the application process, a couple respondents remarked that this was the first time they had applied for an academic job or that they appreciated that the application process mimicked the expectations of academic job applications.

Preparing for the Fellowship Experience

We were curious about the Fellows’ perceived value of required training experiences in preparing them for positive fellowship experiences (Table 3). Prior teaching experience, the Summer Institute and a pedagogy course are mandatory before starting the fellowship, while teaching development with the teaching center is optional. Fellows were overwhelmingly positive about the helpfulness of their previous teaching experience in preparing them for their roles, with over 90% of respondents giving that activity choice the rating of “helpful” or “somewhat helpful.” Over half found the Summer Institute helpful or somewhat helpful for their fellowship preparation, with one participant explaining, “It allowed me to network and to establish relationships with other Fellows who would be at other campuses. The most helpful sessions were the ones that explained the difference between students at [home institution] and at a ‘commuter’ campus.” Working with the teaching center was optional, as indicated by over 40% of respondents marking the teaching center as not applicable to their preparation for their teaching fellowship. Eighty-seven percent of those who sought help from the teaching center rated the interactions positively. The teaching center has historically provided coaching to graduate students about teaching statements, summaries of course evaluations, and sample syllabi, components of the FFTF application. Over half of the respondents shared that their program’s pedagogy course was helpful or somewhat helpful preparation.

Fellowship Experiences and Achievement of Program Goals

In reflecting on the program’s stated goals, respondents agreed that the program was effective academic career preparation to teach new and established courses in a different setting (Table 4). While the average responses across these questions were overall very positive, respondents gave comparatively lower marks to the program’s achievement of an immersive faculty life experience.

Researchers organized qualitative responses into five themes that captured participants’ experiences. Responses indicated myriad beneficial outcomes for Fellows’ lives. A small number indicated poor experiences stemming from lack of support from host institutions or absent faculty mentors. First, participants discussed their broader perspective, instructional skillset, and greater love of teaching that resulted from working with new student populations and in a different institutional culture (Theme 1). Respondents overwhelmingly remarked how teaching one’s own course was a clear asset to developing pedagogy from the ground up and/or helping them seek full-time academic positions (Theme 2). One commonality resided in the positive impact of mentorship at the host institution on Fellows’ experiences (Theme 3). Respondents commented on the insight gained about faculty role and power in university and departmental governance (Theme 4). Finally, Fellows stated how FFTF gave them realistic views of their role as faculty, which subsequently influenced their career choices (Theme 5). Below, we include responses to survey questions that represent each theme.

Theme 1: FFT Fellows Broadened Their Teaching Perspectives by Working With New Students and in Different Institutions. Most Fellows rated all experiences related to teaching practice at their host institution as somewhat valuable to valuable (Table 5). These experiences included teaching students at a different institution with a unique demographic makeup, the item with the highest rating in this group. An open-ended question in the survey section “Perceived Value of Experiences Related to Teaching Practice” was “What was the most important thing you gained from the FFTF experience?” More than two-thirds (68.5%, n =37) cited the impact of teaching experience on their job placement success.

On student demographics, one Fellow teaching at an institution with majority of traditional-aged students valued the experience of teaching non-traditional students. They wrote, “Their life experiences enriched the classroom encounter because it felt like most, not all, were there for discernible reasons.” Another remarked on the need to change teaching strategies due to a new institution: “You get to know the students in different ways, and because the educational culture is so different, they also approach their work differently too. [Host institution] gave me a better sense of how to operate in a private, liberal arts school compared to a giant state school.”

Two other Fellows credited FFTF for giving opportunities that awakened their love of teaching and developed their pedagogy. The difference in student populations raised a degree of criticality in one Fellow’s pedagogy, ultimately capturing their delight in teaching: “I discovered that I actually enjoy teaching. Prior to FFTF, I used to say that I am only in this field to do research. That was no longer how I felt afterwards.”

Theme 2: FFT Fellows Received Beneficial Experience in Teaching One’s Own Course. Respondents indicated that teaching a course of their own design was more valuable (average score of 4.8/5 among 48 respondents) than teaching an established course (average of 4.5/5 among 40 respondents) (Table 5). The qualitative responses expanded our understanding of the impact of teaching one’s own course on pedagogical development, job market preparation, and continued use of teaching skills.

Many respondents commented about their pedagogical development and subsequent success on the job market, but engagement in designing, planning, and executing a course was particularly meaningful. One Fellow wrote, “FFTF also provided me with my own courses that I taught over the course of the academic year, giving me the chance to refine my teaching.” Another participant reflected that teaching their own course was “useful when I went out into the job market to set me apart in terms of my experience.” Yet another stated that their experience teaching their own course helped them “feel comfortable shifting to a full-time faculty member.” A fourth individual shared that they still use the skills today: “[I was] given the freedom to design my own service learning course that was connected to the community where I taught. [This] was an experience that I continue to draw on.”

One of our co-authors, Aybike Tezel (FFT Fellow 2019–2020), explained the benefits of creating their own class and developing a teaching community in the following solicited narrative:

[Host Institution 3] did more than just giving me the opportunity to teach my own classes… . The supportive and collegial work environment at the Department of History and Anthropology helped me take responsibility, make independent decisions but also feel confident about appealing to more experienced colleagues for help whenever I needed it. I learnt how to deal with a cheating student, how best to be helpful for a student with disability, and how to point the students to the most suitable resources when they struggled. When we moved classes online during the pandemic, for as much as I regretted not having the ability to teach in a physical classroom, I enjoyed learning from the challenges of this new way of teaching which I had never experienced before… .

I am in the job market and finishing up my dissertation to embark upon a new chapter in my life this year. While applying for various academic jobs in the U.S. and abroad, the skills and experience that I gained during my fellowship proved to be an important asset. I use the syllabi of the courses that I taught at [Host Institution 3] as my signature classes in my portfolio. Student evaluations I gathered at [Host Institution 3] are the most important testimonies to my strengths as a teacher and I rely on them to reflect on my teaching. My mentor’s recommendation letters speak to a part of my professional personality that neither of my dissertation advisors can really talk about. All in all, my applications are now stronger and diversified than ever thanks to the year I spent at [Host Institution 3] as a future faculty teaching fellow.

One Fellow found immense value in the mentorship experience, writing “working alongside full-time faculty in your field who are anywhere from 10–30+ years ahead of you career-wise and getting their perspective, their mentoring, and wisdom over your teaching and research/anything else is priceless.” Another Fellow noted, “I learned a lot about how important the maintenance of positive faculty/administrative communication could be. Most importantly, I learned the importance of a strong, supportive, involved, congenial department that *enjoy* working together.” A third Fellow wrote how mentors helped them to “speak intelligently to search committees about how I could participate in faculty life on campus.”

Most negative mentorship experiences pertain to absent faculty, contributing to low engagement from Fellows. Some felt that they could not participate in faculty experiences without invitation; others were unaware of faculty experiences due to lack of mentorship. One participant wrote that they did not participate in faculty life much, wishing that they “had been encouraged and invited to engage in faculty experiences more.” Some Fellows found positive outcomes from absent mentors. One of these Fellows wrote that “the sense of needing to find my own way was for me good preparation” for faculty life.

While it is necessary to give attention to the challenges and/or lack of mentorship from this fellowship, we also want to highlight how at its best, this mentorship can serve as a teaching community. In the following solicited narrative, Matthew G. Stanard (FFT Fellow 2005–2006), explains their role in asking for guidance:

During the year I was a Fellow in the FFTF program, I landed a tenure-track job at a small, liberal arts-plus college. Not only had I never heard of the school before, I’d never taught at or attended a college of its kind or size, meaning I was embarking on unfamiliar terrain. But my experience as a fellow at [Host Institution 4] gave me important tools to successfully navigate my new environment, including a key lesson: the importance of reaching out to more experienced colleagues for guidance and listening when they offered it. The experience of asking questions, leaning on veteran colleagues for their expertise, and—perhaps most importantly—listening to their guidance has served me well ever since… . These colleagues were a treasure trove of knowledge and good advice, in particular my mentors, who had tremendous teaching experience. Their differing approaches toward the classroom and their views about and mindsets toward teaching goals and methods were enlightening. Students at [Host Institution 4] spanned a spectrum from those who were truly exceptional to others who struggled to produce satisfactory university-level work. My mentors reminded me that it was a perennial challenge in larger courses to strike a balance between pushing the most capable students to do their best while not losing others who were less interested in or less prepared for college work. My mentors rightly advised me of the frequent family, work, health, and other “life” issues that interfered with students’ studies at [Host Institution 4], and months of on-site experience taught me to have more empathy for students’ lives outside of their university studies… .

Now a full professor at [profession institution], I continue to draw on my colleagues’ varied experience to navigate each academic year. Last year, in the era of covid and Canvas—when so much was shifted to the college’s online learning system—I had to deal with a couple cases of plagiarism unlike anything I’d seen before. Pausing before acting and asking experienced colleagues for their input helped me figure out how to proceed. Considering that students are individuals, that technology is ever changing, and that no two courses are ever the same, I plan to continue to benefit from the lessons I learned as a FFTF as my teaching career unfolds.

One participant said it was “revelatory” to get a peek behind closed doors: “Department faculty meetings were wonderful; the full-faculty meetings (while not required for me to attend) were awful” because of interpersonal dynamics. Another wrote, “FFTF taught me how to be a savvy navigator of conflict among faculty, about how the administration and faculty might wield power in different ways, which paid off in future settings.” A third participant noted the job market advantage of knowing how power works in different departmental makeups: “It was also really important for me to see the differences in how programs work when they’re composed of multiple affiliate faculty rather than a department with several lines. There are lots of insights in relation to this point that were crucial in my job search.” Central to this theme were comments on how glimpses into the less-visible aspects of faculty life were especially useful to understanding demands on faculty time, since administrative skillsets are often external to many graduate assistantships.

Theme 5: Realistic Glimpses Into Faculty Life Prepared FFT Fellows for Careers. FFTF continued to have an impact on participants after their fellowship, particularly while on the job market and as junior faculty. Survey responses indicate that the strengths of the FFTF experience reside in the active roles that Fellows take at their host institutions pertaining to faculty life (average score of 4.5/5 among 22 respondents) and governance (average score of 4.4/5 among 18 respondents) (Table 6). However, more than half of our survey participants either did not respond or marked “not applicable” to these two items, presumably because they did not participate in faculty meetings or faculty governance, a key goal of the FFTF program. Mentorship (average score of 3.7/5 among 44 respondents) and peer interactions (average score of 3.8/5 among 38 respondents) appear to be the weakest among all items related to career preparation shown by mixed experiences. Since immersion in faculty life is a major goal of the program and an explicit function of host mentors is to encourage or enable, these activities need further consideration in our program design and expectation setting.

Sub-themes included (1) how experiences during the program helped participants mentally and emotionally prepare for faculty life and (2) how experience as “faculty” gave Fellows an advantage on the job market. One individual discussed how FFTF helped them gain confidence as a faculty member “rather than as a graduate student whose contributions were typically overlooked.” Another participant noted how “faculty responsibilities … were extremely helpful as I applied for future jobs.” Participating in faculty life can provide greater insight not only into the life of an academic but also into hiring practices. In the following narrative, Julie Eyink (FFT Fellow 2018–2019) explains how their fellowship helped them understand and tailor their future job presentations:

One of the most formative experiences during my fellowship was seeing the “other side” of a liberal arts search committee before I went on the market! … Specifically, at [home institution], we often would have interviewees give talks to audiences of PhD students and faculty members. These talks would be VERY fast paced and contain multiple sets of studies. Even as a 5th-year student, I remember getting lost easily—and the pace really didn’t allow time for questions until the end, at which point I was completely checked out! In contrast, successful applicants at [Host Institution 2] knew to tailor their talks to an undergrad audience instead of the faculty. In conversations with my mentor and the search committee later, we discussed how the department wouldn’t want to hire someone who couldn’t communicate well with undergrads and who the undergrads didn’t have an interest in working with—since they would be the ones working in the lab!

Because of these experiences, I made sure to treat my research talk as almost another teaching demonstration and to actively involve activities and ask questions to keep the students engaged with my research. Without this fellowship, I would have played to the faculty during my talk instead of focusing on the students—and this very well might have prevented me from getting a job! By spending a year at an institution vastly different than [home institution], I was able to gain first-hand knowledge of what teaching-focused institutions look for during interviews and this gave me an invaluable leg-up on the job market the next year.