The Adjunct Track

Don't Go the Extra Mile, Except ...

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By Jill Carroll

Many adjuncts work under a common, if false, assumption: Eventually, they hope, their institutions will hire them as full-time faculty members if they go the extra mile, even though they are not being paid to do so. With this hope in mind, they volunteer for committees, help organize new programs, spearhead new initiatives -- all with a view toward "earning" full-time status.

Most of the time, this is a mistake, and those adjuncts who work with this false hope end up with heartache and bitterness.

The truth is that many of these institutions don't want a full-time person in your adjunct position -- not now and probably not ever. If they had wanted a full-time person, they would have hired one in the first place instead of hiring you. They hired you, an adjunct, because you are cheaper. And assuming that you're good at your job, they get what they need at a bargain-basement price.

If the institutions do decide to make your position into a full-time one, you still may not be in the running. The very thing that you are doing for them -- namely adjuncting -- may work against you. Because of your heavy teaching load, you haven't been able to publish as much as other candidates. You haven't won teaching awards because adjuncts often aren't eligible for the big awards. You haven't given papers at prestigious conferences because you haven't had the time to write them or the money to get to the conferences.

Then there's the issue of bias against adjuncts. The search committee may suffer from the prejudice that afflicts much of academe: Adjuncts are adjuncts because they are second-rate scholars. If they were first-rate, they would have landed full-time jobs in the first place. Never mind that the institutions themselves, with their bottom-line hiring practices, are responsible for the burgeoning adjunct market. This possibility escapes the search committee. So, again, your adjunct status penalizes you at the very institution that hires you.

Universities hire with a view toward what's going to make them look the best for recruiting and for fund raising. Hiring a little-known adjunct is not going to enhance their image on either front.

The wise adjunct, then, will not go the extra mile expecting to earn a full-time position. If your institution requires you to do extra work outside of the normal duties of teaching, grading, and meeting with students, then refuse to do it. If universities want "service" from their adjuncts -- in addition to teaching -- then they should pay for it.

Should adjuncts go the extra mile for any reason? Well, that depends. You have to assess each instance on its own merits and decide.

Go the extra mile if you can learn something new by doing so. If attending a workshop, or working on a committee will teach you a new skill or give you the opportunity to do something you've never done that you want to do, then do it.

You might decide to go the extra mile when it serves your students. If you care about the students -- and, hopefully, all of us in the teaching profession do -- then learning a new skill, mastering a new body of knowledge, or being trained in a new procedure is worth doing.

In my own adjunct practice, I find that I decide to go the extra mile most often when it serves the students. The way I figure it, the students don't pay any less tuition because an adjunct is the instructor. They pay the university for my excellence in teaching, regardless of what the university pays me. So, I try to give it to them. For me, this is a matter of professional ethics, but you have to decide yourself, and you may very well decide differently.

Although going the extra mile is unlikely to put you in line for a full-time position, sometimes doing so can better your situation as an adjunct. Serving on a committee can help you make connections and build positive relationships with full-time faculty members. Then, as they make adjunct hiring decisions, they'll have you in mind. Or going the extra mile can mean volunteering to teach a course you've never taught before. It will probably involve extra work, but you'll be more marketable as an adjunct because of the experience. You will especially want to take advantage of such opportunities if you've never done them before: in this case, go the extra mile and get something to put on your CV.

In all of these instances, go the extra mile when a clear advantage is to be had, an advantage that you have some control over, that doesn't leave you feeling taken advantage of. Do it when you can see clearly what you will learn, how the students will benefit, and how you will benefit. It may never land you full-time employment, but it may be worth doing if it serves your immediate interests, or those of your students.