Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2002
This article provides additional information on community college tenure-track opportunities for job candidates in political science who might be considering expanding their searches to include posts at two-year colleges. I write from the perspective of the successful community college job-search candidate, and provide reflections and advice relating to three areas of the community college job search and teaching environment. In the first section I discuss my decision to seek a position at a two-year college and I address the dilemmas of professional self-image that may face new Ph.D.s considering community college employment. The second section recounts key strategies and practices that I found successful as a candidate on the community college market. In the final section I describe what I have learned during my first year as a community college instructor, focusing on the specific adaptations I have made in creating a classroom environment that is academically challenging for advanced students yet not rigidly inaccessible to students with limited basic skills.