Pros
The faculty in my program. The students. Overload classes where you can make $125 per student with a Ph.D.
Cons
I'll put it this way: I left a tenure-track position at Troy, moved across two states to take a yearly contract position because of how incredibly disgruntled I became with the administration. I'm still mystified as to what many of the administrators actually do for a living. If you are going to employed at any campus but the main Troy, AL campus, beware. This organization is very administration-heavy for no good reason. The administration in the college that my program was under was so out of touch with the needs of faculty or students at the campus where I was located. Communication was terrible. There's no transparency when it comes to anything having to do with how the program is run. The tenure and promotion process is a joke. Moving target would be an apt descriptive in this case. Depending on who you are, what campus you are at, and who you are buddies with, you may be looked upon favorably by the Dean. If you are a "go with the flow" or "don't rock the boat" or "keep your head down" or "don't make any waves" kind of person, you will do well there at Troy. The pay is a joke. With a Ph.D., the yearly salary was 48K. They say that you can make more by teaching overloads, which can really boost your take home pay IF you are allowed to teach them, but the Dean determines who gets the opportunity so if you're not in her good graces, forget it. Passive aggressive treatment of faculty and paranoia is rampant at this organization. They will try to overload you with work and waste your time with tasks that have no end result. I was on 3 search committees there, one for the entire time I was there. Every time the committee recommended candidates, the Dean vetoed our choice and picked whoever she wanted to come for the campus interview. This was after the committee members had spent considerable time and effort going through each application, conducting phone interviews, and deliberating about top choices. At my particular campus, we were severely understaffed (3 faculty for 300+ majors), yet the administration continued to drag their feet on getting the positions filled. By the time I left (I gave them approximately 6 months notice), there was ONE, yes, ONE faculty member over the program. She was expected to not only teach full load, but to also handle advising and registration for all of those students, in addition to chairing and serving on several search committees, and any other duties the Dean saw fit to drop in her lap. Another con is that if you work on one of the satellite campuses, you are actually teaching 2 9-week terms per semester. During the fall, this means there is no break between terms. I literally was entering final grades for the 1st set of term classes on Sunday, and was teaching a brand new load of classes on Monday. On the main campus, they teach the typical 16 week semester. So, the same person at main Troy works 2 full less weeks in the Fall and Spring semesters than another faculty member at one of the Troy satellite campuses. I knew something was amiss when I saw how many faculty members were tenured at the assistant professor rank. Not good enough to pay you more for your expertise, but good enough to keep. The administration has the attitude that "anyone can teach" and so they will have staff who are credentialed by a stretch of the imagination teach courses instead of the terminal degreed faculty--just to save a few dollars. There's very little opportunity for professional development and if you want to stay current in your discipline, prepare to do that largely on your own dime. Paper accepted at a conference? Awesome, until you try to secure funding from the university to help you present. Yet, research is "one of the legs on the 3 legged stool for tenure and promotion". Ask for resources to conduct research? Prepare to be given the run around until someone somewhere will finally admit that there are none (for you, because, well, the Dean decides who gets what). Like having administrators who know nothing about your discipline dictate how your program should be structured? You'll love it at Troy. Like coming to work everyday unsure of what 'surprises' the administration will throw your way? You'll feel right at home at Troy. Low pay and high stress jobs your thing? Troy is the place for you. Want to live paycheck to paycheck AND have a part-time job/side gig just to be able to make ALL the ends meet month to month? The Trojan Way is the way for you.
