assistant professor

graduate assistant

associate professor

assistant director

professor

Ball State University

The University is actively reducing its tenured population. There is no incentive for retention for currently tenured or tenure track faculty. The amount of work asked a faculty is increasing on the administrative side.  Students are viewed only as a revenue stream to the point where my Dean doesn't believe that any students should fail because he wants to see 100% retention numbers.  The university is only interested in making money off of its students and if it weren't for dedicated faculty who had nowhere else to go, there would be no education happening here at all. Faculty are micromanaged by Dean's who don't understand their disciplines, aren't concerned about students except for their tuition dollars, and are only interested in their own upward mobility, generally at other institutions.  The higher education landscape in general is challenging for faculty, but Indiana and Ball State in particular are places I would not recommend anyone serious about an academic career considering. I am a pretender faculty who has no interest in actually getting tenure at this institution because of how little it means, and how few benefits there are to actually obtaining tenure here. I will be departing prior to my 7th year, and I'm sure that my position will be replaced by a contract faculty member or adjunct.

I think the best part of working within the Campus and being employed there is that scheduling is extremely flexible and works well with your class schedule. The environment is tailored to where you can work different food areas depending on your preferrences and you do not have to go to an area where you are not comfortable and you can work to the best of your abilities with helpful faculty and staff. The only downside to working on campus as a student is the lack of wages. As a dining staff, you will never be making 8.00 even if you get raises. You start at 7.40 and the highest you will ever make is $7.90/hr. As a college student with school payments and several other bills to stay on top of such as rent and utilities, this does not cover anything. As a student, you were also limited to 20 hours a week or 40 hours per paycheck whereas full time and part time adult staff would be working up to 80 hours a week and would be compensated with unions, $20/hr wages AND benefits. It was not fun as a student worker because half the time the part-time and full-time workers would not do all of their job and the students would be doing all of their tasks and sometimes even the full-time staff work that was supposed to be their responsibility. 

As a teaching assistant for history, there is much diversity among students culturally as well as intellectually. Many students despise history and all that it is worth, however there are some who whole-heartedly enjoy it. I can say that it was an extreme pleasure to work with teachers to help students of all types learn more proactively how history is not just facts. With my three semesters with one professor I learned more about history and how to teach and communicate then I did with any of the other teachers that I was a teaching assistant for. This teacher taught me that a professor needs to be flexible in their lesson plans and to pay attention to the needs of the students. Also she taught me that history does not have to be the boring facts that everyone believes it to be. This helped me have a new outlook on history and teaching, allowing me to step out of my comfort zone and help with review sessions before the test. Instead of having typical review sessions, these sessions were more engaging and conversational with the students. The most enjoyable part of this experience was the knowledge and passion I learned from the teachers I was with. They transformed how I view not only history but speaking to others about anything.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The department itself is pretty decent and everyone is cool 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
dealing with admin is a nightmare. I was injured in an (not on clock)  accident and to get an accommodation has been like pulling teeth with this life changing debilitating injury. It just feels like they try and bully you when you need an accommodation because of no fault of your own by saying things like "Well, some people just want a day off". Also, when you take FMLA or leave you still get your benefits which is nice because BSU pays for them but getting a response from HR/People and Culture is not consistent and you have to keep harping on them otherwise things won't get done and then they make you feel stupid for inquiring.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In the department I'm in specifically everyone is really cool and laid back. Willing to help you out but outside of the department it's more toxic than Tromaville New Jersey

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in, do my work, answer student and parent  questions, locate issues on the backend to send to the backend teams to fix to make the student experience seemless

A typical day at work involves coming into the office in the morning and conversing with the colleagues for a few minutes. Then after spending a few hours chasing quizzes and tests around, grading them, and submitting them on our online system, a few of us will head out together for lunch before we all return to finish up any left-over work. I will typically spend three days a week sitting in on Economics classes for various professors, to give tests, quizzes, or other materials. I also spend around two hours a week helping students study for tests and/or quizzes during my office hours.

Our supervisors here consist of the Head of the Economics Department as well as another subordinate professor. They are very easy to work for and have good attitudes about their jobs. They have also both been with the University for a substantial amount of time.

There really is no hard part to this job compared to some of the other jobs I have been employed to do. It has actually been a great opportunity for me to be employed by the University, as it has helped with networking and not to mention it pays for my graduate tuition.

Working as a Peer Victim Advocate included the following duties: organizing on-campus events to raise awareness of dating violence and assault and being on-call for hospital advocacy. Some events I helped organize/participated was one about how to not be a perpetrator of  assault and another event was a role play in front of a class about consent. Hospital advocacy meant that I was to be available if a student had been assaulted and was in the Ball Memorial Emergency room; from there, I would give support to the victim and give them information on what steps to take if they wanted to take legal action against their perpetrator. 

My co-workers all had the same goal of helping students who had been victims of relationship violence or assault and to raise awareness to the campus about how to stop it. The hardest part of the job was to work with victims and to not let your emotions get in the way of supporting a victim. The most enjoyable part was teaching students about consent and assault, so that they could be aware of their own circumstances. My supervisor allowed my co-workers and I to come up with our own ides on how to spread awareness and encouraged us to put our ideas in action.

My day begins with processing new materials for input into the database that we use to sort our collections. I handle all damages and lost items through billing, and I am also responsible for updating our unit's webpages. Some of the most valuable lessons I have learned in this position relate to customer service. It is easy to go above and beyond the expectations of a patron in regards to service. Many students do not know what to expect when it comes to academic research and the help that they can get when they walk into our library. I try my best to show students, faculty and staff every available research tool. My coworkers are a cohesive team, and we handle the responsibilities of the unit evenly. The hardest part of my job is the schedule, which places a lot of emphasis on evenings and weekends. The highlights of my job are the opportunities I am granted that allow me to use my skills as a designer to better the unit. I have designed graphic material for display on the floor and the web on multiple occasions.

The management team is poor, insecure and political in a bad way. Employees in the VP Office were appointment instead of the required standard state hiring process. Senior members in the VP’s Office aren’t even expected to have a master’s degree like most universities. It appears the requirement is to always agree with the VP and do whatever he asks. Unfortunately those that the VP does not personally care for or intimated by are never given opportunities, or salary advancement. The VP’s office has increased their salary by what appears as almost exponential even during difficult times at the university while others do not.  When funds are available for salary increases the VP’s office takes a percentage off the top and then decides who they deem as worthy to receive a higher percentage. Of course a higher percentage on their already growing salary seems inappropriate. Stipends and extra benefits are given to those they choose.  It is a sad and disappointing environment, especially since their is a great deal of talent in Information Technology.  

I come to work and am responsible for up to 10 patrol officers that are assigned to afternoon shift (3P-11P). I have to answer administrative and 911 calls on campus and surrounding neighborhoods. I am responsible for monitoring all fire, security, panic and temperature alarms on campus through out Metasys computer system. I have to create calls for service details and dispatch them as promptly as possible. I have to make sure and monitor Muncie City Police to make sure any critical calls near campus are not going to interfere with campus activities or student life. Co-workers in the Telecommunications Room seem tat times to think that others are out to get them. I have done this job so long that I just want to make sure to come in and do my job and go home. I put 100% into my work because I like it. But I do feel like I am ready for a change. I am not too thrilled about the management here because they seem to only work for the Administration Building where no prior police experience is represented.

As the administrator of a computer lab, I was free to create my own routine.  This allowed me to research software, hardware, and best practices that gave me an advantage in managing my lab.
I learned that while I liked the freedom to create my own schedule, I missed having some goals to strive for.   I enjoyed the two other coworkers that I worked with.  We shared technical knowledge and helped each other when we could.  I learned how to manage my time, how to set personal goals, how to problem solve and relate to both students and teachers.

The hardest part of this job was prioritizing my schedule so I had time to learn new information.  

The best part of my job was teaching students and teachers how to use the computer and software.  I also enjoyed teaching myself technical information about computer networking, server software,  and automated services.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant professor 4 salaries reported	$67,500 per year
Graduate assistant 3 salaries reported	$24,667 per year
Associate professor 3 salaries reported	$73,743 per year
Assistant director 2 salaries reported	$47,500 per year
Professor 3 salaries reported	$76,667 per year

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