At One College, Fewer Instructors Means More Work … for Administrators

A recent post noted that many universities are using fewer part-time instructors, leaving full-time professors with higher teaching loads. Now Audrey Williams June reports on The Chronicle’s Web site that Nichols College, in Massachusetts, is asking administrators with teaching qualifications to take on extra teaching duties as part of their jobs. Those who decline will be expected to pick up the slack for their colleagues who do teach.

As June tells it:

Putting professional staff members, deans, and senior administrators in the classroom allows Nichols to shift money it would have spent paying adjunct professors’ salaries into student aid.

“We’re putting more of our own money toward financial aid next year,” said Debra M. Townsley, president of the 1,100-student private college, which specializes in business. “To do that we had to look at how we could conserve some money in our budget.”

If 30 people picked up one three-credit class, that would free up between $70,000 to $90,000 a semester, Ms. Townsley said. That money could help about 15 to 20 new students, she said, and “make the difference to upwards of 40” returning students, some of whose parents may have lost their jobs.

Ms. Townsley said officials were selecting teachers from a pool of staff members and administrators “who are professionally qualified and want to teach so that we maintain quality in the classroom.” The goal is to have them teach during the day, in the college’s evening program, or online. They will get time during their regular work day to teach, grade papers, and perform other teaching-related duties, she said.

Incidentally, President Townsley and Alan J. Reinhardt, vice president and dean of academic affairs and one of the people who hatched this money-saving idea, plan to practice what they preach, June writes. They’ll each be teaching one three-credit class during the fall and spring semester.

What do you think of this idea? How is the recession changing administrative workloads on your campus?