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[king_ghidorah]

Not everyone can afford "one pennyless summer." 

What about unionizing?  Has anyone here tried it?  Is it worth it? 

I guess not, but then again, so many adjuncts never get around to taking the all-important steps that would change their lives, and quality people spend their entire productive carreers as third-stringers in a state of constant poverty-level existence. 

And I don't know why we don't unionize - I brought this up at our last adjunct meeting (in front of the chair [who is sympathetic]) and everyone chimed in in the affirmative...but then no one does anything about it. 

I think these two conundrums are branches of the same tree: overwork leads to inertia in other more important, long term ways.

Educator1 - you have a rare situation.  Are you for real, or are you a sock puppet for an administrator somewhere?   Hmmmm...

[educator1]

King,

I am very much for real and not, in my observation, all that rare. The last "instructor appreciation" luncheon put on by the Dean was attended by at least twenty other full-time instructors, all of whom are in similar circumstances. The part-time adjuncts are primarily working professionals who have advanced degrees and want to share their knowledge and experiences with our students. As I stated earlier, I think that their presence enhances the educational experience for students.

[mdwlark]

King,

I am very much for real and not, in my observation, all that rare. The last "instructor appreciation" luncheon put on by the Dean was attended by at least twenty other full-time instructors, all of whom are in similar circumstances. The part-time adjuncts are primarily working professionals who have advanced degrees and want to share their knowledge and experiences with our students. As I stated earlier, I think that their presence enhances the educational experience for students.

King, educator1 has already admitted to being an administrator. 

[elsie]

King,

I am very much for real and not, in my observation, all that rare. The last "instructor appreciation" luncheon put on by the Dean was attended by at least twenty other full-time instructors, all of whom are in similar circumstances. The part-time adjuncts are primarily working professionals who have advanced degrees and want to share their knowledge and experiences with our students. As I stated earlier, I think that their presence enhances the educational experience for students.

Y'all are talking at cross purposes. Adjunct instructors serve one role in professional programs, but a completely different role in departments that serve general education. In a business school, for instance, the adjunct instructor provides practitioner knowledge. In a department serving general education, the adjunct instructor provides a warm body in the front of the classroom, teaching four or more freshman comp classes (or a similar course) in a highly exploitative situation.  educator1 is speaking from experience with the former, while other posters are speaking from the latter.

[educator1]

You guys are too much. I left administration 18 years ago. Elsie has it right. The path to non-research involved teaching through professional involvement in a field is totally different from going into instructing directly from grad school. I believe that the latter route is very difficult and awkward.
My only point is that the traditional role of the adjunct (to infuse professional experience into the educational realm) is a route to university teaching that can be mutually rewarding for both the adjunct and the institution. We can actually concentrate on what the students need to know to succeed and infuse pedagogical thinking into the rest of the faculty.

[elsie]

Unfortunately, the professional model of the adjunct instructor can blind the institution and its administrators to the situation of the general education model. Or perhaps 'blind' is not the right word. Some within the institution are blind, while others see it as a shell game, using the advantages of the professional model to disguise the abuses of the general education model.

[mdwlark]

I like my adjunct job, I like my department.  I would make a career of adjuncting if benefits were available and it paid better.   Unlike some adjuncts, I have a day job with salary and benefits, I would rather be teaching and researching.  There is a difference between professional school adjuncts and general ed adjuncts only if the adjunct has a day gig.

[elsie]

That's true. We do have a couple of high school teachers who teach adjunct for us, but only one section each.

[bms2000]

I just don't want to do tenure track crap. I don't particularly like doing engineering research, I think proposal writing is for the birds, don't really need to serve on n different commitees, don't care if I advise students. I like teaching, I do some research into engineering education in my own time. I guess I understand the appeal of TT positions, but they really don't provide a lot of enticement for me. That's probably hard for some TT folks to grasp - not every adjunct wants what you have. If a permanent instructor job came along, I would jump at it. But the idea of 4 years of a grueling fraternity initiation, followed by possible rejection just doesn't appeal.

[educator1]

I just don't want to do tenure track crap.

Couldn't have said it better myself. There is an excellent argument to be made for a distinction between the teaching faculty and the research faculty. I have also heard TT folks say the same thing about teaching. All they want to do is their research and the heck with spending time on teaching.

Unfortunately, the professional model of the adjunct instructor can blind the institution and its administrators to the situation of the general education model.

I am afraid that this situation is nothing more than market forces. The institution will pay market prices for the resources it needs (look at engineering/science TT faculty salaries vs humanities TT salaries).