The Adjunct Track

Integrated and Informed

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By Melissa Maley

When I walked by her office, Sophie motioned me inside. What began as a momentary diversion ended in my kidnapping: I was led blindly into a meeting on teaching fellowships and foisted on the group as Sophie's stand-in for the semester.

As a part-time instructor, I had come by the small liberal-arts college that morning to do nothing more than pull some slides for a lecture. But I was once again astonished at my department head's ability to be both nurturing and assertive. By the end of the two-hour fellowship meeting, not only had I made a semester-long commitment, I also had signed on to attend a program to train faculty members in a new teaching method -- even though I knew that, unlike the full-timers attending the program, I might not be paid for my time.

The whole thing reminded me of why I continue to work at that small teaching-centered college despite the fact that it pays me less than other institutions and that, as an M.A., I am unlikely to ever land a full-time job there. It is because as an adjunct on that campus I am treated as a part of the campus community, and not simply as a transient convenience. And that has come to mean a lot to me in the five years that I've been an adjunct.

In the same town, I happened to teach at a private art school. It paid me twice as much as the liberal-arts college. A majority of the art school's faculty members were full-timers, many of them quite successful in their fields. There, too, I went to meetings and introduced myself. But very few people seemed interested in getting to know me.

After two and a half years teaching two classes a semester at the art school, I barely knew anyone on the campus. The attitude of the full-timers seemed to be, Why bother? Faculty meetings, held only once a semester, didn't provide any time for discussion. My dean brought me into his office after my first semester, told me I was doing a great job according to my student reviews, then promptly dismissed any future I might have had at the college beyond my current position because I lacked a Ph.D.

I stayed on for a while at the art school for the money, but it was the first job I abandoned when community-college work started to come my way.

I realize all of this could read like I have a desperate, don't-care-if-it-means-low-pay need to belong. But the thing is, I have belonged. I worked full time for five years at another art school, so I know what I am missing.

More important, I know what my students are missing with a faculty made up of unattached, unrecognized adjuncts filling in all the gaps of the college curriculum. A big part of teaching well is done outside the classroom. It is done in discussions with colleagues. It is in the knowledge of, and access to, campus resources. It is simply being in your office to discuss problems with students.

Adjuncts, in most cases, have little access to all of those things, and yet they are expected to waltz in and do a wonderful job at the three different colleges where they teach in order to pay their mortgages. And many of us do. But we could all do better for our students if colleges would give some thought to how well they integrate adjuncts into their faculties.

Based on my experiences as an adjunct -- teaching for five years at two four-year institutions and two community colleges, all within 10 miles of one another -- I have some suggestions for department heads and full-timers:

Make faculty orientation for new adjuncts mandatory. Don't hate me for saying that. Adjuncts are often hired at the last minute, I know, so this can become difficult. However, a regularly scheduled meeting designed especially for new hires at the beginning of each semester could make a world of difference. That meeting should include the basics about student demographics and retention rates, as well as the all-important copy-machine codes and restroom locations. It should also include a campus tour to help orient new adjuncts to the campus before classes begin.

A group meeting has the benefit of introducing new faculty and staff members to one another so that they feel less like a voice in the wilderness and more like part of the pack.

Leave time in department meetings for small-group discussion. Because we are not paid to attend meetings, we adjuncts literally cannot afford to sit in on too many. But we do at least make time for the division and major department meetings. Why not apply some of those student-centered teaching techniques we are all supposed to be using and actually let us discuss issues in small groups?

From the adjunct perspective, that would allow us to forge closer contacts with a few other faculty members. For the full-time instructor, it would offer an opportunity to clear up any "problems" that might arise when an adjunct teaches a section of a course that has long been taught in a certain way. It would save part-timers a lot of time and effort to have a brief discussion with someone who has taught the course they will be teaching and who might be willing to share slides, film clips, or even just their preferences on the choice of textbooks.

Make conferences and training programs accessible to the entire academic community. At most institutions, such opportunities are already available to adjuncts -- at least in principle. But in practice, many colleges don't go out of their way to publicize their availability to part-timers.

In addition, those events should be timed in such a way as to allow adjuncts to attend. At the community colleges where I teach, we actually have classes canceled twice a semester so that we can attend one of several teaching workshops. Since at least one of those workshops falls on a day when I would ordinarily be teaching there, I always attend.

The benefit to the college is clear: New teaching techniques can be introduced, or old ones revived, and the faculty, both full- and part-timers, together experience a sort of teaching "tent revival."

Pay adjuncts for office hours. And make sure they have an office. I cannot do my job unless I can meet with students who are behind, or interested, or frustrated with my class. I need to give make-up exams and help edit their papers. I need to explain to a student that he is only failing because he fails to come to class, or that she isn't reading the material in a focused manner. Having a meeting space and a time to meet is a must for student retention.

Many adjuncts can't afford to hold office hours on their own dime, so they design their syllabus to be either extremely strict or extremely lenient -- and thus avoid having to help students succeed. I understand why some do that.

For my part, I hold office hours at least once a week on each campus where I teach, even though I do not get paid for my time. But if I had a regular time and a regular space in which to meet with students, I could integrate into my lesson plans more ambitious projects for students, projects that would require me to meet more frequently with them outside of class but which I know to be great for student learning.

In the end, it is students who suffer because of the budget choices that have made adjunct teaching a seemingly permanent feature of academic life. But adjuncts teach for the same reasons that have drawn full-timers to the profession: a love of learning, a desire to make a difference in the lives of students, and a need to be part of a positive, diverse community.

Full-time faculty members are not paid that well, but are compensated with good benefits as well as membership and prestige within the college community. We adjuncts are paid even less, and end up volunteering our time for institutional and student benefit. As the emphasis on adjunct teaching seems here to stay, colleges owe it to us and to our students to create an environment in which we are welcomed, integrated, and informed.