Todd Porter Current Position and Institution: Director of Residence Life, The Juilliard School First Position and Institution: Residence Director, The University of Vermont The most important lesson(s) that I learned as an entry-level are how to be effective in doing your job and recognizing your own limitations and capacity. First, realizing that I was new... Continue Reading →
I wanted to share this post from my good friend and colleague, Todd Porter. Todd brings up a point that I have often thought about but never quite articulated into words… certainly not as well as he does.
There seems to be an unwritten value (bias?) that higher education professionals place on larger schools. While there are certainly benefits to large schools, the diversified landscape of higher education, is one of its greatest strengths. Something that other countries have sought to replicate as education becomes more globalized, and we would be at a disadvantage to ignore these strengths when we seek jobs and seek to hire the “best” ‘right fit” talent. Success and value comes in many forms.
Check out Todd’s original piece below.
“I always assumed that working at a small school was like scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
The moment this was stated, I knew exactly what this graduate student was saying. It was a sentiment I have heard from various graduate students that I have connected with over the course of the summer. There seemed to be a growing mentality amongst these future professionals when thinking about their first position out of graduate school. They were reluctant to consider the opportunity of working at small schools as viable, prestigious or challenging experiences. Some gravitated towards small schools, primarily because they had attended similar institutions as an undergrad. This was the exception, not the rule. There were various reasons why the grads I spoke with indicated that small schools were not on their radar, including access to resources, opportunities for advancement, professional development, and the lack of name and reputation in…
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