Maintaining an Active Research Agenda While Teaching Full Time at a Community College: Institutional Support for Course Release is Key

Abstract

Maintaining an active research agenda while teaching full-time at a community college can be daunting, but with institutional support for scholarly research by way of course release it is possible. This personal reflection offers up evidence of institutional support from a variety of sources within the public university system of New York City, the City University of New York (CUNY), including that from LaGuardia Community College itself, senior colleges, NEH Grants, and contractually mandated course release by the faculty and staff union, PSC-CUNY. This reflection does not offer a comprehensive account of the working conditions of community colleges across the United States in general. I close my reflection with a brief description of how teaching at LaGuardia Community College has transformed by teaching and research from disciplinary to interdisciplinary. I also thank APSA’s Committee on the Status of Community Colleges in the Profession for including and highlighting community college political science professors' contributions as an important part of the national organization.