Valerie Kidrick-Rohret on thu 3 jan 08
Kathryn--
As has already been noted, nearly all 2 and 4 year schools have a stated
requirement of an MFA, nearly always in the specific subdiscipline in which you
would be teaching. That having been said, however, I can speak from personal
experience, and tell you that there is a means by which a BFA could be
considered acceptable as the minimum requirement for a position at my school (a
Community College in California). We have what is called 'equivalency'--that
is, a person can claim the 'equivalent' of an advanced degree, based on
skills, experience, or a community college credential in that discipline area.
You must have that equivalency verified by the school to which you are
applying. That verification comes from the department (in my case, an Art
Department) upon review of a portfolio and CV. It is possible, though in my
experience very unlikely, for someone with a BFA to be granted the equivalency
status of an MFA. In my 8 years here, we've never done it, and we've had six new
positions in those 8 years with around 12 or 15 people requesting equivalency
(out of approximately 250 candidates). Now that may simply be due to the
specific people who were applying as 'equivalent' candidates--their skills were
not up to what we believed an MFA's should be. That doesn't mean yours
might not be. And, I will note, I have hired people (I'm chair of the
department) as adjuncts without MFAs, precisely due to this loophole--someone was
really a great artist, and had proven to be a great teacher as an assistant, so we
granted them equivalency. You might try to go the adjunct route in the
beginning, but it isn't a route I would recommend over the long haul, except in
very specific circumstances.
But I also have to note that the Community College I teach at is the only
place I've ever taught (in 21 years) that has such an 'equivalency' system. In
all other schools I have taught at (four year, other community colleges, a
small liberal arts college) the applicant had to have an advanced degree.
Maybe others could chime in on that note?
And, on one other point--you might just eliminate the "objective" part of
your CV. It's usually a given what your objective is, if you are applying for
a post-secondary job--and it eliminates the trouble your having trying to
word it properly. You might also take a look at the Chronicle of Higher
Education, especially their Careers section and the Forum section. They have a "CV
Doctor" that helps academic job applicants by reviewing your CV for strengths
and weaknesses. They are at _www.chronicle.com_ (http://www.chronicle.com) .
If you have any other questions, you can email me off-list if you'd like:
I'm at _vkrohret@aol.com_ (mailto:vkrohret@aol.com) .
Good Luck!
Dr. Valerie A. Kidrick-Rohret
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