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[polly_mer]

OP,

Take heart.  Things could be worse.  Adjuncts frequently get paid for their work.

I have a full-time job at a nonacademic institution that will not allow me to accept money for my services at the university, but I can arrange my work schedule to suit myself as long as I work at least 40 hours a week at the nonacademic job.

I supervise students' research and have agreed to teach a much needed class for the spring simply because I love to do it.

If you feel you are being treated badly, you are free to choose another path.

[nardo]

Thanks Angel. I see that by "done this before" I actually meant "had huge train wreck of a thread that served no use at all." My bad.

That would be the aforementioned esteem train of which I wrote . . .

[tenured_feminist]

Don't know if this came up before, train wreck or no, but the term adjunct used to refer to people who taught the occasional class for their own pleasure as a sideline to another full career. The successful architect who did a grad seminar once a term, the rabbi or minister who taught a biblical exegesis class, or the former big-time pol who added luster to the public policy or government faculty.

The academy never got around to inventing a new word that meant "low-wage contingent teachers who are produced by the tight labor market and oversupply of Ph.D.s we have created by running large grad programs, who handle the courses we can't get other folks to cover, and whom we maintain in part to keep the low-paid liberal arts faculty happy with their lot."

[nardo]

The academy never got around to inventing a new word that meant "low-wage contingent teachers who are produced by the tight labor market and oversupply of Ph.D.s we have created by running large grad programs, who handle the courses we can't get other folks to cover, and whom we maintain in part to keep the low-paid liberal arts faculty happy with their lot."

Sharecropper comes as close as I can figure.  No joke. 

[zuzu_]

If you feel you are being treated badly, you are free to choose another path.

OP here.

I am no longer an adjunct instructor. I now have a permanent FT position (equivalent of TT but institution does not have official "tenure.") But I really think five years of "full-time" adjunct work f'ed me up.

And yes, it was my choice, but my point is that there are small things, that don't cost anything, that full-timers can do hlep make the experience more humane to their colleagues. Being respectful with language is one of them.

[nardo]

Congratulations.

I suspect you'll discover, as time passes, that semantics will start to get on your nerves.

Adjunct.  It isn't a dirty word, merely a dirty job.

[larryc]

Don't know if this came up before, train wreck or no, but the term adjunct used to refer to people who taught the occasional class for their own pleasure as a sideline to another full career. The successful architect who did a grad seminar once a term, the rabbi or minister who taught a biblical exegesis class, or the former big-time pol who added luster to the public policy or government faculty.

The academy never got around to inventing a new word that meant "low-wage contingent teachers who are produced by the tight labor market and oversupply of Ph.D.s we have created by running large grad programs, who handle the courses we can't get other folks to cover, and whom we maintain in part to keep the low-paid liberal arts faculty happy with their lot."

This is exactly correct. And back when adjunct labor was properly used, in the fashion described by TF, the term had a certain sparkle.  "The Reverend Smith is also an adjunct professor at Bucolic University." This was almost an extra accreditation for Smith and increased his social and professional cachet.

Adjunct only acquired the taint that Zuzu seems to detect (And though I think she is overstating the case, I do understand where she is coming from) after decades of abuse of the position as a low wage dead-end job, a cheap way of getting the intros taught.

And as long as we keep using adjuncts as we do know, it hardly matters what they are called. We can rename them "Honored and Important Associate Faculty Without Whom the University Would Collapse." But over time the term would experience the exact same change in meaning as the word adjunct.

[mathguy]

"Titles" do matter. Even though they may not alter things in a practical way, titles have social implications.

Would you call the President by his first name, if he made a visit to your university? What if all of your students in your classes decided to call you Mr. larryc, and refused to call you Prof. larryc or Dr. larryc?

Don't know if this came up before, train wreck or no, but the term adjunct used to refer to people who taught the occasional class for their own pleasure as a sideline to another full career. The successful architect who did a grad seminar once a term, the rabbi or minister who taught a biblical exegesis class, or the former big-time pol who added luster to the public policy or government faculty.

The academy never got around to inventing a new word that meant "low-wage contingent teachers who are produced by the tight labor market and oversupply of Ph.D.s we have created by running large grad programs, who handle the courses we can't get other folks to cover, and whom we maintain in part to keep the low-paid liberal arts faculty happy with their lot."

This is exactly correct. And back when adjunct labor was properly used, in the fashion described by TF, the term had a certain sparkle.  "The Reverend Smith is also an adjunct professor at Bucolic University." This was almost an extra accreditation for Smith and increased his social and professional cachet.

Adjunct only acquired the taint that Zuzu seems to detect (And though I think she is overstating the case, I do understand where she is coming from) after decades of abuse of the position as a low wage dead-end job, a cheap way of getting the intros taught.

And as long as we keep using adjuncts as we do know, it hardly matters what they are called. We can rename them "Honored and Important Associate Faculty Without Whom the University Would Collapse." But over time the term would experience the exact same change in meaning as the word adjunct.

[nardo]

If you are all wrapped in titles, I am so sorry.

My students often call me by my first name.  As long as it is done with respect, that is not an issue for me.

And even tho I am both "Herr Professor" und "Herr Doktor," I don;t get all bent out of shape being called "Mr."

I suppose I could use my other titles ("Colonel" and "Sir") but those wouldn't matter a bit either . . . Colonel Sir Nardo, Professor and Doctor (Damn! I'm Idi Amin Dada!)

[mickeymantle]

I fully understand the frustration the original threader possessed with the term "adjunct."  To me, it always sounded as if part-time instructors were pieces of furniture.

On the other hand, it just reflects the pettiness of the academic world.  Full-time professors are now becoming rarer and rarer, as are full-time workers overall in our society.  In some colleges and universities part-timers now make up 50-80 percent of the faculty.  At the cc where I teach, for example, there are under thirty percent full-time faculty members (including myself). 

Finally, I used to reflect that I accomplished more as an adjunct that some of my full-time associates.  They used to whine about not having enough time for researching and writing.  I published five peer-reviewed articles in as many years and won a major association award while they were still picking their noses. 

[starfleet_grad]

Just another linguistic bit of trivia: Danish universities often use the term "adjunkt" to refer to what we call "assistant professor."

[nardo]

Just another linguistic bit of trivia: Danish universities often use the term "adjunkt" to refer to what we call "assistant professor."

A. I love your moniker

B. Given the higher-ed/ starfleet parallels, imagine a starship outfitted primarily with adjuncts:

Riker: Crewman, this will not look good on your fitness evaluation.

Crewman: What do I care? I don't have any replicator privileges and next month I start working on a Klingon barge until you guys come through the sector again.