Career Profile: Rory McFadden

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Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College

Carleton College is a Liberal Arts College.

Briefly describe your educational background and career path.

I received a BS in geology and biology from the University of Rochester. Then a MS from University of Wyoming and a PhD from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, both in structure, tectonics, and petrology. My geoscience research focused mountain building processes and emplacement of magma and partially molten crust. I worked as post-doctoral fellow with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama before I got a tenure-track job at Salem State University (MA). After five year at Salem State, I moved back to Minnesota and worked at the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) for 1 1/2 years. Then, I started another tenure-track job at Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) where I taught undergraduate courses and conducted a mix of solid earth and geoscience education research for six years. I am now a Science Education Associate at SERC where I focus full-time on leading and supporting geoscience education projects.

What were some of the challenges you faced in your early years of full-time teaching? Could you briefly describe how you overcame one of those challenges?

I found it difficult to balance teaching new courses and developing new research projects that were at the right level for undergraduate students. After a couple years of struggling, I started to incorporate my research interests and datasets into my teaching. This approach gave students opportunities to work with authentic data in research-like projects and helped me make some research progress while preparing teaching materials. A secondary result was that I worried less about covering disciplinary content and focused more on helping students develop relevant skills.

How did you make the transition from your Ph.D. research to your current research program?

I found the transition from PhD research to research as a faculty member difficult and wish I had done more thorough planning and long-term thinking. For me, moving from a PhD to a primarily undergraduate institution required a change in approach to the structure and scale of research projects. I was more successful when my research projects could be divided into small, well-defined parts that allowed undergraduate research students to achieve shareable results (within one year) and recognize how their work fits into larger research questions.

An essential component of achieving tenure is finding or making an alignment of your teaching/research goals with the goals of your institution.... How do your goals fit with those of your institution? Did you adjust your goals to achieve that fit? If so, how?

At both of the primarily undergraduate institutions I worked, excellence in teaching and research with undergraduate students were prominent goals. These goals were aligned with my professional goals, but still required adjustments. I focused on improving my teaching by participating in on-campus and national professional development events (many sponsored by NAGT and facilitated by SERC). To provide opportunities for undergraduates to conduct research with modern instrumentation, I developed collaborations with colleagues at local research institutions.

Many of the new faculty members in these workshops are interested in maintaining a modicum of balance while getting their careers off to a strong start. Please share a strategy or strategies that have helped you to balance teaching, research, and your other work responsibilities, OR balance work responsibilities with finding time for your personal life.

Try your best to treat your position as a normal job with consistent hours. This includes scheduling independent, open-ended tasks like writing, doing research, and prepping classes. Setting time limits for these tasks will help you be efficient and, if it's on your calendar, no one will schedule a meeting during your independent work time. Not working on the weekend will help you be energized and engaged for the week ahead. Some deadlines and events require extra time commitments, but keep track of that extra time and treat it like comp time.

What advice do you have for faculty beginning academic careers in geoscience? What do you know now that you wish you had known as you started your career in academia?

Saying no to some opportunities is good for you and your career. As an academic, you will be pulled in many directions, and it can be difficult to accomplish your professional goals. Keep your focus on work you want to do, work you care about, and work you need to do to succeed at your job. Look for colleagues who are supportive and you enjoy working with.