Virginia Tech, Northern Virginia Community College collaborate on new teaching fellows program

Two Virginia Tech doctoral students are teaching virtual courses at Northern Virginia Community College this semester, gaining experience while helping the community college address faculty shortages.

Diana Shiller, a student in the Pamplin College of Business Executive Ph.D. program, teaches applied business math. Olayemi “Yemi” Awotayo, a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Science’s rhetoric and writing doctoral program, teaches English. They are adjunct assistant professors and the first participants in the Virginia Tech Teaching Fellows program, a new collaboration between Virginia Tech Graduate School and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA).

Solving faculty shortages

Graduate School Associate Dean Barbara Hoopes and NOVA Associate Dean Cathleen Cogdill began working on the concept of the program a year ago. The two have known each other for years, after Hoopes taught Cogdill in the MBA program at Virginia Tech.

Their discussions about the community college system’s shortage of qualified faculty and graduate students’ need to find places where they could teach and be faculty of record were the impetus for the new program, which launched this fall. It provides qualified graduate students an opportunity to be adjunct professors for undergraduate classes, addressing the needs of both institutions.

“It’s a chance for interested students to be adjuncts and to have teaching experience when they go out on the job market. Our goal is for community colleges around the state to participate,” Hoopes said. “Right now, it’s just Northern Virginia Community College.”

'I always wanted to teach'

Shiller, who has worked for government agencies for the past 14 years, said the opportunity to teach aligns with her future goals. “I always wanted to teach,” she said. “That is one of the things I told myself I would do one day.”

She teaches an evening synchronous virtual course and said the experience has been great. She praised the mentorship and support she receives from Cogdill and NOVA, and enjoys her students, noting they are motivated to succeed.

Some are first-year and some are second-year students, and some work full time before class. Some are running businesses with their families, and some plan to transfer to a four-year institution after earning their associate’s degrees. “So, there are many reasons why students are taking the class,” she said.

She hopes to teach again. “If the opportunity presents itself, I definitely would do it again.”

Being patient, attentive, and supportive

Awotayo is no stranger to teaching. He’s been a graduate teaching assistant for several years and plans to teach after earning his degree, and he said the chance to teach at a community college was intriguing. “I felt like I could use my experience in a different context,” he said.

He teaches more than 40 students in two evening virtual courses. The first thing he noticed was that, unlike his undergraduate students who live on campus and attend school full-time, his evening students are in different places.

Some students work full-time and sometimes have to attend his class from work. Some students are caring for children while they take class, he said.

“The key thing is being patient enough to understand the various circumstances under which these students take the class, being attentive to the diverse experiences that I encounter with them, and being supportive as they navigate work and school,” he said, adding that the overall experience thus far has been excellent.

Like Shiller, Awotayo said he would like to teach NOVA students again in the spring. 

'A great match'

Hoopes and Cogdill note the teaching fellows are not graduate assistants and do not receive tuition stipends or other benefits associated with assistantships. They are hired as adjunct professors, are the faculty of record for their classes, and are paid at NOVA’s faculty rate.

Teaching fellows can be master’s or doctoral degree students. They need 18 credit hours in the discipline they would teach to be credentialed. Potential adjunct professors can apply prior to the fall and spring semesters. If NOVA decides to hire them, they receive an offer letter, and once on board, they are mentored during the semester.The aim is a workload of 10 hours per week.

International students also may be adjunct professors, as this opportunity qualifies as Curricular Practical Training, known as CPT.

“Adjunct faculty are not easy to find to teach students with so many competing priorities,” Cogdill said. “Our students are mostly part-time, and dedicate themselves to completing an education while working and/or raising families. Having access to graduate students with interest and dedication to meeting our students where they are is a great match.”