Anyone ever been employed by the Art Institutes?

December 8, 2007 9:34 AM

Does anyone out there have any insight about the Art Institutes as an employer? Having worked mostly in the public sector, I am curious to what this private college's reputation is as far as job security, salaries, etc. is, and I haven't been able to find much online that was not generated by the Art Institutes themselves. Any information at all would be helpful, as I am not in a position where I can just go there and start asking current employees questions. Thank you.
posted by waywardgirl to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

Are you interested in a teaching or staff position? I know someone who graduated from an Art Institute. She may have some insight on how the teachers are treated. I won't see her until Monday though.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 10:05 AM on December 8, 2007

Response by poster: SuperSquirrel - I am looking at an administrative faculty position, which may require a little bit of teaching, but that will not be the main role. The position would be the head of a department. Ask your friend how she liked it as an institution; any information is more than I have!
posted by waywardgirl at 10:11 AM on December 8, 2007

wayward girl, my brother-in-law currently works for AI (he is also a graduate of same). I will forward your question to him since your email is in your profile. but you might be better off talking to him as he tends to type in all caps. he's a larger-than-life kind of guy. :-)
posted by killy willy at 10:24 AM on December 8, 2007

A friend of mine works in admissions at one -- she likes it, and they let her work at home a certain number of days per week. (A lot of her job is "sales," though, which I wouldn't like -- I know way too many AI alumni who are still paying off their student loans.)
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 10:24 AM on December 8, 2007

My sister works at one too. I've dropped her an e-mail to see if she has any info to share.
posted by kindall at 10:34 AM on December 8, 2007

I am a graduate of AI and never worked at one, but I had a teacher tell me that the teachers first priority is to make sure the shareholders are happy. They are owned by Education Management Corporation so their first priority is keeping them happy. If you want to be there for the people taking classes then just know that they come second. If your just looking for a job he said it was a good salary, but many are not like traditional colleges and go year round so if your looking for the summer off your probably not going to get it. Hope that helps.
posted by lilkeith07 at 2:17 PM on December 8, 2007

I'm also an AI graduate. I think as a department director, you will really have to fight for what you think is right for your department (see lilkeith07 re: EDMC). Lots of red tape there.

The dept directors I've known seem happy with what they're doing, as most of them love their department and genuinely want to help educate students. I know a couple dept directors who started in a teaching position and then moved up, and really missed the classroom environment. There were others who started the same way but used the opportunity to change their department for the better once they had the voice to do so.

I am not sure about faculty, but I believe for staff (tech support, etc.) there was some sort of deal in which you were able to take a couple of classes a term if you wanted. I always thought that was kind of neat; I knew a couple of people that were slowly working their way through a degree using that program.

Personally, I really liked the AI environment. Feel free to chat me up if you'd like more info.
posted by meggan at 5:51 PM on December 8, 2007

My gf used to teach at an AI, a little less than a year ago, and still badmouths the place just about every opportunity she gets, mainly on the basis that the school/company doesn't care at all about whether its students actually get properly educated or not--as long as they're making money. She applied to the school to teach one subject but was hired to teach a subject she had no experience in, just because they liked her charisma. Her opinion is that the degrees they offer are generally worthless, other than for employment with a couple of companies that have deals with the schools. As far as actually working there and pay and all that, it doesn't sound like it was all that bad, but for someone who actually wants to educate people, it sounds like it could be a bit soul-crushing. Different locations may provide different experiences, however.
posted by LionIndex at 2:25 PM on December 10, 2007