Academic CS Careers at Liberal Arts Colleges

As a graduate student, you are necessarily at a research intensive university surrounded by faculty who have pursued careers at research intensive universities. You probably won’t even meet someone who has pursued an academic career at a primarily undergraduate institution, let alone a liberal arts college. So let’s try to answer some basic questions.

I am writing this now because there are some really interesting things going on at liberal arts colleges with respect to computer science, including cluster hires and the establishment of interdisciplinary centers (Claremont McKenna’s Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, Colby’s Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence) and interdisciplinary majors/programs (for example, these interdisciplinary CS majors at Colby, this set of programs at Denison, this effort at Mount Holyoke).

I of course especially want to highlight that in the 2022–23 academic year Colby College, one of the country’s top liberal arts colleges and where I work as the founding director of the Davis Institute for AI, will be hiring:

• a tenure track faculty member in environmental studies and AI/ML
• a tenure track faculty member in philosophy of mind
• a tenure track faculty member and VAP in computer science, including in AI/ML
• a postdoc in AI/ML

This is an extraordinary opportunity, and a rare opportunity for AI/ML people with “two body problems” who are oriented towards the liberal arts.

Why on earth would I listen to you on this subject? Good question! I am a computer scientist who has worked at a research intensive university, pure and applied research labs, in industry, and now at a liberal arts college. I also attended a liberal arts college when I was an undergraduate.

Why computer science at a liberal arts college? Merriam Webster defines the liberal arts as “college or university studies (such as language, philosophy, literature, abstract science) intended to provide chiefly general knowledge and to develop general intellectual capacities (such as reason and judgment) as opposed to professional or vocational skills”. Now, we know that computer science programs can be found at all kinds of higher ed institutions, and may be placed in the arts and sciences, engineering, or in their own colleges. As a field, CS hasn’t decided what type it is! I would argue that CS has a natural home in the liberal arts for two reasons:

• A computer scientist for life — general CS skills and knowledge that will serve you throughout your career — definitely must have general intellectual capacities including analytical thinking and problem solving, to a high degree (see also https://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~cfk/cs-liberal-arts-8.pdf).
• A basic foundational understanding of computing — the basics of algorithmic thinking, say — is a “general knowledge” requirement for modern life (see also Liberal arts colleges explore interdisciplinary pathways with computer science).

CS majors at liberal arts colleges are more likely to be bachelor of arts than bachelor of science, and are more likely to be interdisciplinary or double majors. This means that the CS major will be smaller; however, strong students will develop fascinating interdisciplinary skills and knowledge and every year CS majors from liberal arts colleges go on to top graduate programs across the US and get hired by top companies in every space as software engineers, designers, product managers….

Can I be a successful academic at a liberal arts college? Let’s start by defining “successful academic”. To some degree, the definition is personal, but to a large degree it means you can get tenure, you can get promoted, you have career mobility.

• Tenure — each university will have its own tenure expectations regarding scholarship, teaching and service. These are often outlined in the faculty handbook (Colby’s, Stony Brook’s). Essential to getting tenure at any institution are: understanding the balance between scholarship, teaching and service; forming good relationships with your colleagues at the institution, both within your department and more broadly; and establishing an external track record that can be reviewed by external letter writers. At a liberal arts college, the balance is weighted more towards teaching, while at a research intensive university the balance is weighted more towards scholarship (and in CS, grants).
• Promotion — promotion beyond tenure is much more about good relationships within the institution and about leading initiatives at the institution.
• Career mobility — career mobility, whether in industry or in academia, is about establishing a public track record of scholarship and good relationships with other scholars in your discipline around the world. Often but not always, you will have to make choices about maintaining career mobility versus achieving promotability after tenure.

What are some benefits of working at a liberal arts college? At a liberal arts college, you will probably have a teaching load from 2+2 (two courses per semester) to 3+3 (three courses per semester, probably not all different preps). You can expect 20–40 students per course, and you should expect some undergraduate grader support. You should expect to teach across the curriculum, from intro CS to an upper level sequence related to your scholarship. If you are the kind of person who learns by teaching, who delights in seeing students achieve understanding, who enjoys forming deep relationships — these are things you will be rewarded for doing at a liberal arts college.

You can expect to have summers free for scholarship, and the college may offer you summer support for undergraduate RAs. You should expect to form an independent research agenda. If you are the type of person who enjoys doing research but is not excited about building a big lab, who likes collaborating with others but does not live for grant writing — then a liberal arts college might be for you.

At a liberal arts college, you may not have direct access to a large compute cluster, but you may have access through an affiliated college/university or through cloud compute resources. You can expect some travel support — enough to attend one-two conferences per year. You can also expect college funds to supply you with a computer for your work, and you can negotiate lab space and additional funds as startup support. You can expect to have the opportunity to get to know and work with faculty across the college; indeed, you can expect to be on committees with faculty across the college right away. If you are the type of person who likes to question the fundamentals, who likes to learn from others, who is inspired by reading and discussing broadly — then a liberal arts college might be for you.

When you are looking for academic jobs, I recommend making a table that has columns for responsibilities (teaching load, class size, advising load, service load, grants, publications) and for benefits (salary, health insurance, pension, travel support, sabbaticals, etc.). Then, fill it in using data about current faculty in the department at the institution, which may involve going over the department’s and faculty members’ websites. If this seems like a lot of work, remember that if you go to the university you will be there for at least five years. Is it too much to take five hours and set yourself up for success over five years? Here I fill out this table for Colby:

Responsibilities:

• Teaching load: 2+3 or 2+2
• Class size: 25–40
• Advising load: ~20 students / year, ~1 independent study / honors project / year
• Service load (pre-tenure): ~2 committees / year
• Grants: not required; however, a track record of independent scholarship is required for tenure and in some areas of CS that may entail grant writing. The College has a grants office that can help identify grant opportunities. In the future, the College may provide support for grant writing.
• Publications: a track record of independent scholarship is required for tenure. Faculty are expected to publish regularly in high quality venues, and it is expected that these publications will be cited.

Benefits:

• Salary: no specific Colby details here, but check out CRA Taulbee Survey — CRA; New ACM Study Gives Most Detailed Picture to Date of US Bachelor’s Programs in Computing.
• Benefits: Benefits | Human Resources.
• To help facilitate the development of an independent scholarly program, pre-tenure faculty get a one year sabbatical, typically in their third year. (Post-tenure faculty are also eligible for regular sabbaticals!)
• In addition, faculty are provided a computer and cell phone; faculty are offered travel support; and faculty have support for up to two RAs each summer.
• Some benefits are less visible. All the faculty meet each month together (you don’t get that at a big university!); the Center for Teaching and Learning offers seminars, reading groups and other support for professional development; the College offers mortgage support and child care.

A note about salary: higher ed salaries in CS in no way are competitive with industry salaries. It’s just a fact. However, if you are motivated by autonomy, then academia can and does offer more of that. Also:

• the cost of living is typically lower in college towns than in locations where there are big tech companies.
• you can negotiate with a university to allow you to consult (1 day a week, typically).

A note about time off: as a faculty member, your tendency may be to work nights, weekends and all through the summer. It’s important to schedule and take real time off, and by “real time off” I don’t mean grading!

Frankly, when I compare the responsibilities and benefits at Colby to those at the big research intensive university where I started my career, I think Colby wins hands-down.

What does a liberal arts college look for when hiring faculty? A typical faculty search committee will look for candidates to provide a teaching statement, a research statement and a list of representative publications, a diversity statement, and a list of referees. You should plan your extra-curricular activities as a graduate student so that you end up with a good portfolio to address all these areas when you go on the job market.

A liberal arts college will want to see clear and convincing evidence that you care about teaching — that you have creative ideas about pedagogy and that you care about students. At an interview, you may be asked to teach a sample class — and there will be real students in the class, and they will provide feedback to the hiring committee.

A liberal arts college will also want to see clear evidence that you can succeed as a scholar — that you have a track record of publishing, and of collaborating. Don’t think that undergraduate focused institutions are for people who “can’t do research”! I recently heard someone say that we want to hire the type of person who could go to a top research university but cares about the liberal arts.

A liberal arts college will want to know why you are interested in the liberal arts and in them. You must do your pre-work so that you know the college and the faculty, both to help you make the best presentation of yourself and so that you know what you want to ask during the interview process.

Perhaps you are coming right out of graduate school and don’t have much teaching experience. Or perhaps you don’t know what should go into a diversity statement.

• There is good guidance from the University of Indiana on writing teaching statements and diversity statements. Other universities may offer guidance. Bear in mind you will want to tailor these statements for each position to which you apply.
• Think about people in your area who have recently been on the job market. Often, they have posted their search materials on their websites, and you can read them to get an idea of how these statements should look.

(BTW, there’s a lot more great advice about career prep here and here.)

Aren’t liberal arts colleges only for children of privilege? For me, it’s important to work for greater equity and inclusiveness in all I do. That’s what led me to a state university early in my career (and that state university does a lot for greater equity!), and that’s one of the great things about where I work now. Obviously, you’d have to check any potential employer out for yourself. Here’s some information about me and about Colby:

• I attended a liberal arts college on scholarship. I am in many ways a child of privilege (for example, my parents are well educated, I traveled the world growing up) but my family was the opposite of wealthy.
• Colby College, over the past five years, has achieved something very difficult and rare: an increase in student applications (leading to an 8% acceptance rate for 2022), an increase in student qualifications (top 6% ACT/SAT), and an increase in Pell Grant recipients. Colby admits students needs-blind and meets 100% of demonstrated need without loans. Over the past ten years, the College has become more diverse in every way. There is always more work to do; under the excellent leadership of Dr. Karlene Burrell-McRae, the office of diversity, equity and inclusion works with faculty, staff and students across the College.

Any other comments? Yes! You should always feel free to contact people who are at any potential employer and have an informal conversation with them as you start the search process.

• You can get first word of any upcoming openings, or they may create an opening just for you!
• You can get valuable information about how to prepare. They may even be willing to give you feedback on your application materials!
• So you want to find jobs at liberal arts colleges? Check out CS Jobs at Undergrad Institutions (PUIs) and Computing Job Announcements.