Pros
I have been teaching at Baker for about a year, and I have yet to encounter a coworker or member of management who was anything less than personable and warm to me. I can't speak highly enough about the director of my campus. She makes a genuine effort to get to know each student and staff member on a personal level. The process of showing this attention to each individual takes time and a wonderful memory, and I imagine the effort it takes to dedicate herself to doing this on top of all her other duties would cripple an average person! She is absolutely outstanding. Additionally, I feel the college have found a balance between ensuring course consistency between campus locations and empowering instructors to do their jobs quite well. They set standard projects and rubrics that account for a percent of the overall possible grade for the course, so there is consistency between campuses and different instructors/instructional styles, while giving instructors the freedom to make the bulk of decisions regarding testing, assignments, styles, etc. Finally, I see opportunities to advance from or expand my current position. I believe that management wants to retain and work with employees who show interest, quality work, and flexibility.
Cons
That said, the assignments that deans wish to have common among campuses are not well communicated. The class I was originally hired to teach began less than a week after my date of hire, and thankfully, I located a lot of class materials in the shared files, or I would have never known these shared assignments even existed. I also learned how to enter final grades and document attendance on their electronic system on my own. Thankfully, I am familiar with many of these tools, but I can see where this would be a major problem for someone who is a bit out of touch with newer methods of record keeping and file sharing. I have also come to realize that it is rare to know exactly what classes/days I will be teaching until the week before the classes start, which leaves little time for curriculum development for classes that are new to me. Additionally, I have had multiple issues receiving payment for training and raises. I always receive my normal salary just fine, but there have been times where 2+ months go between the time I take a required training course and the time I am compensated for it. Currently, I am still in limbo on the raise I was due to receive this quarter. When my contract was issued, I called and emailed my dean multiple times with no reply, and then I called HR to inquire about it and have yet to receive a reply from that office, either. It is extremely frustrating given the fact that the salary I am earning is low for my field, and I receive little in terms of benefits (no paid time off, no health benefits, etc.).
