by Chris Cumo

The glossy cover of the brochure invites readers to “Teach at the leading university for working professionals.” Inside the brochure, the University of Phoenix promises potential faculty that they can tuck teaching into their busy careers while gaining greater expertise through their interaction with students. This interaction gives classes “the feel of a professional retreat,” promises the brochure.

Twelve thousand faculty have answered the call. All but 250 of them teach part-time, says Craig Swenson, the University’s Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. Among the University’s part-time faculty is Anthony Trippe, who has more than 30 years work experience at chemical and pharmaceutical companies, as well as experience as a senior manager of technology firms in California. Now an assistant professor of computer engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, he moonlights at Phoenix Online, where he teaches operating systems and other computer courses. The job keeps him sharp in a field where technology advances at an exponential rate, and where his students, all of whom are at least 23 and work full-time, pay for the most current knowledge. Forget theory. They want to apply what they learn on the job, and Trippe delivers. He takes pride in bringing “a real-world element to the classroom.” Trippe believes “U of P faculty provide lessons on how to survive in the American business environment.”

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