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wilbrish
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« on: August 06, 2008, 09:35:25 PM » |
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I got hired recently as an adjunct. No classes yet, and I don't know if I will have any. Group orientation has been scheduled and it is at a REALLY bad time for me. How much of a bridge will I burn by making my excuses and not going to orientation?
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oldadjunct
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« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2008, 09:48:30 PM » |
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As an adjunct, you really haven't been hired until a course has been assigned. You don't have a job, yet.
Until you have a course, neither show up nor explain. Well, unless there is really good and plentiful free food.
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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Fiction is baseball; Rhetoric is football.
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jacaranda_
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« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2008, 09:54:18 PM » |
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Is there any possibility you could attend even part of the orientation? Or is the entire day out for you?
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_touchedbyanoodle_
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« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2008, 09:56:42 PM » |
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I'll summarize everything you would learn at the adjunct orientation:
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"Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist." -George Carlin
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iomhaigh
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« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2008, 10:00:14 PM » |
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I'm jealous. I tried to get the movers to show up on orientation day once, but that didn't work.
;)
(And yes, you don't have to even think about this until they give you a class.)
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I am the very model of a modern major general.
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jacaranda_
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« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2008, 10:01:40 PM » |
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I'll summarize everything you would learn at the adjunct orientation:
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Possibly, but this may be more a matter of establishing a rep as a good citizen at a new job where you could lose your position any semester. And if something controversial happens with a student during the semester that was addressed during orientation, you won't get much sympathy from admin. |
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aneumey
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« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2008, 10:39:07 PM » |
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That is true. I got an earful about not attending and the things that I should have learned but didn't (due to non-attendance). The kicker is the reason. I applied for the position and never heard back. Then I was hired one day before the semester started and four days AFTER the orientation...I should add that I was never informed of the orientation until I was rebuked for missing it.
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jacaranda_
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« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2008, 10:41:47 PM » |
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That is true. I got an earful about not attending and the things that I should have learned but didn't (due to non-attendance). The kicker is the reason. I applied for the position and never heard back. Then I was hired one day before the semester started and four days AFTER the orientation...I should add that I was never informed of the orientation until I was rebuked for missing it.
I think if you check the fine print of the job description, you will notice that "time travel skills" were listed as a requirement for the job. ;) |
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aneumey
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« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2008, 10:44:22 PM » |
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Well, I hadn't received an actual contract yet the first time I was scolded, so I was unaware of the time travel issue.
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2008, 10:59:49 PM » |
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I don't think that adjuncts should be asked to do jack outside of teaching their courses. The system is abusive enough as it is. Just don't go. You have a good chance that no one will notice. If someone does, apologize profusely.
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wilbrish
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« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2008, 11:12:46 PM » |
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Your stellar advice has made my week much better; thank you!
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didotwite
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« Reply #11 on: August 07, 2008, 01:18:59 AM » |
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Just don't miss orientation if you're starting a tt job (unless you're in the hospital). I know of one former colleague who did that, without calling and explaining, and she never recovered her status with her new chair.
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prytania3
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« Reply #12 on: August 07, 2008, 06:28:03 AM » |
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I don't think that adjuncts should be asked to do jack outside of teaching their courses. The system is abusive enough as it is. Just don't go. You have a good chance that no one will notice. If someone does, apologize profusely.
I don't know. If he hasn't been assigned a class, they may not assign him one if he doesn't attend. In theory, I agree, Larry, but in practice, I'm not so sure. |
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Clowns, I tell you. Clowns.
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galactic_hedgehog
Procrastinating, Python-quoting, Blue Blazer-drinking, chocolate-chip cookie-eating, Pastafarian, Not So
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,564
Mind Ninja
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« Reply #13 on: August 07, 2008, 06:53:58 AM » |
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The place where I started as an adjunct required required new ones to show up for an orientation (separate from the regular faculty). If we didn't show, we were docked pay (they made us sign in). Make sure they're not going to do something asinine like that to you.
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Your professors were probably afraid of your galactic genius and did everything they could (behind the scenes) to thwart your hedginess. Hedgie loves to read. |
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seniorscholar
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« Reply #14 on: August 07, 2008, 10:09:10 AM » |
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In a situation where there are plenty of potential adjuncts available, I'm pretty sure we would have to be darn desperate before we assigned a class to someone who had missed the orientation. Reason: there are a whole lot of policies, some of them with significant legal ramifications, that will be gone over, as well as the information about getting computer accounts, library cards, free parking (a perk adjuncts get but full-time faculty don't), photocopying, material mounted on Blackboard, etc. that make your work a whole lot easier and less stressful. Remember that in some cases, classes become available during the first week of the semester, when there are significant numbers of students who register late, or adjuncts who back out at the last minute (or just don't show up for the first class). We'd certainly hire every new person who came to orientation before reaching for the person who didn't.
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