When I left full-time employment as an engineer to complete my master's degree at The Cooper Union, I became a full-time instructor at Technical Career Institutes (TCI), the former RCA Institutes. I taught undergraduate courses in communications theory, analog circuits, digital circuits and computer architecture, BASIC and FORTRAN programming, calculus, business math and GED high-school equivalency math. TCI has an AOS program and an AAS program; I primarily taught in the AAS program, equivalent to two-year community college courses; the credits were accepted by ABET accredited four-year engineering colleges for completion towards a BE degree.
I was very popular with both the faculty and the students at TCI. The faculty elected me to be a District 65 shop steward, and I edited and wrote most of the faculty newsletter. The students asked me to serve as their IEEE Branch Counselor.
After three years at TCI, I transferred to Manhattan College, an ABET accredited four-year engineering college in Riverdale, but was unable to stay because I was not interested in becoming a Ph.D. candidate (although I had been accepted at Columbia University). At Manhattan College I taught courses in circuit analysis, laboratory, and probability and statistics.
My title at both TCI and Manhattan College was Engineering Instructor. I worked at TCI from 1985 to 1988, and from Manhattan College during the 1988-1989 academic year. TCI was primarily a vocational school with a special AAS program for the most promising students. The course load, which ran four semesters a year, was heavier than at two-year community colleges offering the same curricula and degrees. I estimate that, while at TCI and Manhattan College, I actually experienced the equivalent of ten years of college teaching experience.