Pioneer

Issue date: 6/4/09 Section: Campus

Media Credit: Stacy Wagoner English Professor Mike Darcher led college in changing the titles of instructors to what he believed to be more prestigious name. After having next to no opposition against the push for the more prestigious title, instructors at Pierce are now professors.

It's always been a question as to why the faculty at Pierce are labeled as instructors, versus professor. Most students would probably agree that they automatically refer to their teacher as professor and it may feel forced to remember to refer to them as an instructor.

For English professor, Mike Darcher, this was the very reason why he pushed to change the titling of teachers at Pierce from instructor to professor.

"It was probably when I was attending the national conferences where I sensed that I wasn't being considered or my presence didn't matter that much because of the presumed ranking of an instructor," Darcher said.

Darcher said the more he thought about it the more it made sense to him and he couldn't think of a time where he was actually called instructor by students.

He continued saying that there was some back and forth at first concerning the wording of the particular rankings and how that would apply. A ranking system had to be figured out for specially funded and part time faculty.

Fortunately, for Darcher, when it came time to propose the change in title, he did not meet much resistance from the PCTF or executive board.

"I approached members of the E-team, primarily, Jan Bucholz and Carol Green as well as the PCFT executive board about establishing a protocol that would be agreeable to everyone. Everyone was supportive from the beginning," said Darcher.

Darcher believes there are many benefits that come along with the new title of professor, such as Ted Wood's notion that the title professor would carry more weight when students receive letters of recommendation.

"It raises the esteem of the educators which in turn makes the entire college look good," Darcher said. "It probably gives students a heightened sense of a collegian life."

Continued...

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