With a bumper crop of freshmen who need teaching, the University of Iowa has increased its adjunct faculty numbers by about 300 instructors and teaching assistants, according to The Daily Iowan. The temporary employees cost less than tenure-track professors, a university spokeman told the newspaper, and their salaries will be covered by tuition from the extra freshmen.
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7 Responses to U. of Iowa Goes on Adjunct Hiring Binge
22280998 - September 8, 2010 at 12:43 pm
So much for the quality education these feshman thought they were getting and are paying for.
alice2010 - September 8, 2010 at 2:05 pm
@22280998: As opposed to faculty focused on their research agenda? When I was an undergraduate, the TAs, newly-hired professors and adjuncts were always better than the tenured professors.
washingtonwarrior - September 8, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Doesn’t matter anyway. 90% of all undergrad classes at the University of Iowa are taught by TAs. In fact, less TAs and more adjuncts might be an improvement.
jffoster - September 8, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Know the details of the Hawkeye time line I don’t, but it is unlikely that as a practicable matter there would have been enough time to have hired tenure track faculty for the enrollment surge this fall.
lotsoquestions - September 9, 2010 at 7:31 am
Please, oh please, finish the piece! Tell us how many ADMINISTRATORS they needed to hire at full salary including pension and benefits — in order to teach the extra students. Somehow, I bet they hired 300 adjuncts and several full time administrators — including a new “Vice President of Adjunct Hiring” who probably got paid more than all 300 adjuncts put together.
dank48 - September 9, 2010 at 9:52 am
I’m with Allce2010 on this one. At Indiana U., way back in the sixties, few indeed were the freshman and sophomore courses taught by professors. However, some of the best instruction I ever got was from TAs, and some of it was, quite literally, life-changing. (Where are Larry Collins and Larry Gretzki now? I wonder. Whatever happened to Frances Gayhart?) Simply put, some of these folks were much better teachers than full professors. Some of the professors were better teachers than others. And as a member of the general public, trying to get an education, I’m afraid that my priorities didn’t really make much room for anyone’s “research” in Germanic languages and literatures.
eileenqueen - September 9, 2010 at 11:08 am
I’m with lotsoquestions! You aren’t likely to find such a significant increase in employees without a similar increase in paperwork and other issues, after all. I also expect there are more administrators because the ones already there had full-time jobs before this deluge. Now – where will they find offices and computers for all those people? Parking? I hope they get health care. I’m glad there are jobs – perhaps they are not just stuffing all those students into already-full classes. I am concerned about where they are stuffing those new employees, and what are their long-term conditions of employment.