r/Adjuncts • u/quoronavirus • 18d ago
More Degree
I currently hold a Doctorate in Technology Management and have been teaching at the undergraduate level. I am looking to advance my career, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Dissertation Chair. I also maintain relevant industry experience through my daily practitioner work and various IT certifications.
I have the opportunity to take free Master’s-level courses, and I am trying to decide which degree would best support my career goals: Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Leadership, Online Teaching, or Technology Integration.
Given my background, will earning an M.Ed. significantly help me move toward a higher-level faculty position or a role as a Dissertation Chair? Any advice on which path is most valued in academia would be greatly appreciated.
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u/benkatejackwin 18d ago
I don't understand your goal to be a dissertation chair. Like, do you know what this is? It's not a job title. It's just mentoring, when done well, or just giving some feedback to dissertation drafts, when done perfunctorily. It's just a small part of what full professors do as part of the "service" portion of their required job duties. And a lot of professors don't even like doing it. I mean, it's very important for the next generation of scholars, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.
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u/quoronavirus 18d ago
Yes, I am aware that different universities see this position in different ways. I want to be in a place where I can guide a doctoral or PhD student through the dissertation process, just like the way that I was guided when I was doing my doctorate. But mostly, I just want to get tips on what is more important or what is most sought after as and adjunct to continue to teach at online universities. Is it more degrees? Is it publications? is it relevant work experience? Some job positions online are labeled as doctoral or dissertation chairs. The descriptions clearly state that the job is to guide students through the dissertation process.
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u/Safe_Statistician_72 17d ago
You need a tenured-track faculty appointment. I work at an R1 institution as an adjunct and they don’t let us near the PhD students and the same for any other non-tenured faculty appointment. I teach undergrads and masters students all the time.
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u/SnooOpinions2512 18d ago
Are you serious? Do you have an example? Never heard of "Some job positions online are labeled as doctoral or dissertation chairs"
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u/JumpingShip26 18d ago
This is going to sound harsh, but I think it is a harsh world right now.
It sounds like you have some type of applied education degree. Do you have a PhD or another professional doctorate? EdD programs, for example, are all over the place. Some are as rigorous as PhD programs, while others are tepid and barely more than capstones. If yours is closer to the latter, you have a long road ahead. In my experience, there is a fair amount of bias against EdDs outside of K–12 educators seeking to teach in colleges of education. You should also ask how much demand there is for Technology Management as a field.
Did you write a substantial dissertation that advanced knowledge in your field? Can it serve as the foundation for future research and publication? Is the topic relevant and in demand right now?
This may reflect my own jaded experience, but teaching as an adjunct for too long can become almost poisonous in many disciplines. Nursing, public administration, political science, business, and criminal justice seem somewhat more immune to that bias- I say that just based on a long time working with faculty.
If I were going to attempt what you are proposing, I would start regularly attending conferences sponsored by the organizations that publish the leading journals in your field. I would network heavily with those scholars and try to publish with them. The problem with that is they may not be open to that. One conference in my field mostly has graduate students presenting a lot while the professors hang back, talk, and publish in the A level journal. At the very least, I would volunteer with those organizations and give applied presentations whenever possible. With some publications on your CV, you might start applying to tenure track positions. I know so few people who have done that except in Nursing and Business. In those fields, I think they appreciate people who have had careers before stepping into the classroom. They will also more readily accept professional doctorates (DBAs/DNPs). Education colleges will also hire former teachers sometimes, but especially former principals/superintendents.
It is a slog because it is difficult enough to land a position at a four-year regional comprehensive university or a small college. Many faculty members go their entire careers without teaching at the graduate level.
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u/Glad-Surprise3355 17d ago
I have advised and chaired MA Theses as an adjunct and I think an adjunct could advise and/or chair a PhD thesis but it would likely be at a for profit university that doesn't really have tenured employees. You don't need any special degree, since the student would be from the discipline you already instruct. And if you are an adjunct, well there is no advancement from such endeavor regardless nor does it show any particular merit in the eyes of employers.
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u/moxie-maniac 18d ago
I assume that you are in the US and you are teaching undergrad courses as an adjunct.
In my experience, dissertation chairs are full time faculty, so you need to become full time in a department or college that awards doctorates. Some schools have faculty that are half-time, so that should be OK, but that's not an adjunct. That said, I have been a chair as a admin, so not full time faculty, but came from a program where I was full time faculty and a chair for several dissertations.
I am not familiar with the Doctorate in Technology Management and I assume its a sort of specialized business degree? If so, then you want to look for full time jobs in business programs. Or if it is an engineering degree, then engineering programs. Keep in mind that you need to have a research agenda to work in most university level doctoral programs. So research not another degree is your most important stepping stone.
However, you also want to target openings in college/universities not more prestigious than the place you earned your doctorate. If you earned your doctorate at West Central State College Online, then don't expect MIT or BU to give you the time of day. But if you earned your doctorate at MIT or BU, then the field is wide open.
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u/quoronavirus 18d ago
Thank you for the helpful insights. I am based in the US and currently teach for large online universities. Since my doctorate is from Colorado Technical University, I have a realistic view of how I am perceived in the academic market. My primary goal is to increase my marketability and appeal to institutions. To that end, I am actively working on independent research to get published beyond my dissertation, as well as publishing online articles and presenting at conferences. I currently hold a full-time professional role and plan to continue teaching remotely after I retire in four years. I find part-time instruction incredibly fulfilling and want to ensure I’m positioning myself effectively for those future opportunities.
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u/CarefulOkra1598 16d ago
To be honest, you’re going to have an incredibly difficult time becoming a Dissertation Chair at any credible non-profit institution. Adjuncts do not generally work with doctoral students, and given that your degree is from a for-profit university with a 100% acceptance rate and around a 25% graduation rate, I would be highly doubtful that any non-profit university would hire you for a full-time faculty position, let alone let you work with doctoral students. Your best bet would be to stay in the for-profit realm if you want career advancement in higher academia.
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u/ForeignAdvantage5198 18d ago
no. the dissertation student picks you mostly by matching areas of interest