Transition to Teaching
The Faculty Role
There’s more to being a faculty member than teaching in the classroom.
Among other day-to-day activities, faculty also:
- Develop course materials and activities
- Review assignments and exams
- Tutor and counsel students
- Serve on inter-college committees
- Perform research and publish findings
- Assist in accreditation reviews and requirements.
PA College faculty members enjoy rich, rewarding careers preparing the next generation of health care providers. You’ll get to keep making a difference and touching lives, without the stress and strain of working at the bedside or in the clinical field.
Faculty Onboarding
If you’re coming straight from the clinical floor to the classroom, you’re a perfect fit. Most of your peers followed the same path, and it’s that clinical experience that helps make PA College a leader in health care education. Fortunately, we’re not only experts in preparing future health care professionals – we also know how to bridge the gap from hands-on care to hands-on teaching.
PA College’s in-house Center for Teaching and Learning includes a team of instructional designers who are experts in transforming clinicians to instructors. Throughout your first year, you’ll be paired with an instructional designer and explore six core competencies of teaching – theoretical knowledge, active learning, inclusive strategies, technology, communication and assessment. Your instructional designer will also conduct several classroom visits to assess your teaching style and offer feedback for improvement.
Ready to take things to the next level? PA College offers a master’s degree in nursing education, as well as a post-master’s certificate. In addition to tuition reimbursement through Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, our Academic Scholarship & Research Committee provides monetary support to faculty performing research or pursuing higher degrees.
Faculty Contracts
Full-time faculty are hired on a contract basis. Contracts may be 9, 10.5, or 12 months in duration, depending on the needs of the program and typical program schedule. Contracts are reviewed and renewed on an annual basis.
There is a one-semester probationary period for new faculty, with the option for an additional semester if necessary. Once the probationary period is complete, new faculty are incorporated into the contract schedule for the next academic year.
Based on education, teaching experience, research and publications, faculty members receive an initial rank upon hiring – assistant instructor, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor or professor. As faculty gain teaching experience and earn additional degrees, they can apply to be promoted in rank beginning with their fourth year at the College.