Author: Bruce Elgort

Students evaluate every academic quarter a tenure candidate at Clark College through anonymous surveys. My Dean also sends out an email to tenured faculty to solicit feedback. I’m thankful for both the student and faculty evaluation feedback that I receive. Typically 95% of my students elect to provide feedback. As for faculty, I had 4 of them provide feedback this quarter.

At my last tenure meeting, I asked, “what about feedback from other people at the college and within the community/world at large.” The committee stated that there was nothing wrong in soliciting it and including it in your “tenure binder.”

Given this, I put together a Google Form that I would ask you to complete. You should only submit feedback if my work at Clark College has impacted you, a family member, friend, relative, or whatever in some way.

Here’s the link to the form: https://lnkd.in/gWtUC-yZ

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the form. 

This post is not one I ever intended to write, but here goes. I’ve shared a lot about my personal and professional celebrations and challenges I’ve come across and overcome with you. Well, this post is about a professional challenge.

A year ago, when I started my tenure track appointment at Clark College, my Tenure Review Committee suggested that I consider pursuing the option for early Tenure. Early Tenure is part of our union’s contract. I was humbled to hear that my committee recognized my abilities and suggested this option. The committee and I both agreed to go through at least one year of the three-year process.

In June, my committee wrote the college’s Board of Trustees, transmitting their endorsement, my nine years of documented work at the college, and a completed Tenure Achievement Plan.

In early September, I heard back from the Board of Trustees, letting me know that they did not and would not consider my application to grant early Tenure.

Note that within the union contracts language, the Board does not have to consider applications for early Tenure. They can “pass” and not even have to consider it. This decision by the Board decided to in my case. None of my work in the Tenure Binder (portfolio) was reviewed.

I’m disappointed. Back to the tenure “process,” I go where my Tenure Review Committee and the Board of Trustees determine whether or not I’m a good fit to teach there.

This December will mark nine years of teaching Web Development at Clark College. Here’s a list of things I wanted to share with you about my journey:

• In the Fall of 2012, I was asked to temporarily fill in for a professor who needed to go on medical leave for six months. Unfortunately, the professor passed away, and I continued teaching on a full-time temporary basis from 2013 – 2020.
• In the Fall of 2021, I started as a Tenure-Track Instructor
• Taught 1,500+ students programming and web development
• Authored and received a grant to develop new course material for teaching accessibility and universal design in web development courses
• Taught students in the iTech Preparatory program on the Washington State University campus Python, JavaScript, and HTML/CSS
• Continually gratified hearing from students who get hired in the field of web development and other fields
• Developed a trusted network of college staff and faculty that I rely upon for collaboration and feedback
• Spoke at local business and technology meetups and events
• Spoke at the Washington State School for the Blind about my career journey being a visually impaired individual
• Two-time winner of the Clark College Exceptional Faculty award (2013 and 2018)
• Developed and published an Amazon Alexa skill to get the latest news from Clark College
• Helped Clark develop a campus strategy for universal access and design
• Department Chair of the Web Development program at Clark, which has a 40% BIPOC student population  
• Earned 25 industry certifications from Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, CompTIA, Techsmith, and the Python Institute
• Created over 300 instructional videos
• Teach 13 different courses, including Python, Web and Interface Design, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics
• An advocate of universal design and accessibility
• Have taught online courses since 2013
• Speaker at the 2017 VanTalks event
• Used the Harvard CS50 curriculum to deliver an intense eight-week course on computer science to students in the Technical and Professional writing graduate program at Portland State University
• Worked with members of local industry on program advisory committees
• Implemented instructional practices that promote racial and cultural equity
• Authored and recorded a course for Lynda.com
• Recognized by Amazon Web Services as a Faculty Cloud Ambassador
• Recognized as an IBM Champion for Cloud Computing
• I’m thankful that my Tenure Review Committee submitted my Tenure Binder for consideration for early tenure in Spring 2020 to the college’s Board of Trustees