Hello my fellow faculty brethren and sistern!
There’s a lot going on with The New Adjunct website, and I’ll get to it in a minute, I promise. But in light of the tragic events of February 12th at the University of Alabama @ Huntsville, I feel compelled to offer my commentary.
First off, my thoughts and prayers are with the University, its faculty, students and staff. The word that continues to come to my mind is “unimaginable.” Incidents like this certainly make you take a minute to step back and reflect on how precious life is, and it is my sincere hope that an effective and meaningful healing process is taking place for the institution.
Secondly, while some may argue this, the shooting certainly puts new light on the tenure debate. The tenure process is, at best, a stressful one. Aside from a raise in salary and the perks of promotion, tenure represents the pinnacle of pedagogical success. It reflects a respect from our colleagues for exemplary teaching, research and service. On the other side of the coin, tenure denial typically means the end of your career. It can be political and impure. I’ve seen faculty celebrate the announcement of their tenure promotion, and I have heard the myriad of stories from those who were denied, and essentially informed that they had one academic year to find new employment. To sit on the tenure track seems wonderful. It also seems as if your academic career can be skyrocketed or destroyed at the flick of a pen. The administrator in me seriously hopes that this particular instance of tenure denial was for all the right reasons-teaching, research and service that were simply not at the masterful level tenure promotion should warrant. I have told many of my administrative colleagues, many times that we are playing with people’s lives, and our personal agendas have no business playing a role in the determination of a person’s livelihood. As faculty, we carry a large banner asserting our dedication to the students, and not our own self-interests. Let’s hope the university upheld this same level of consciousness.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, onto better news.
The New Adjunct is so close to its launch, we can taste it. In fact, it is my hope and promise that the next entry from me will be one celebrating the official launch of the site. It’s up right now, so click here if you’d like a sneak peek. However, I must warn you: we’re still tweaking the design and adding content.
In the next couple of weeks, we will begin loading up threads for the discussion forums, and welcome you to jump in and get the discourse started. Those threads will discuss topics such as “What type of benefits are you receiving from your institution?”, “Who are your full-time advocates?”, and “Are you living in an adjunct culture of fear?” I will also have a thread up that furthers the discussion of the tragic shooting at the University of Alabama @ Huntsville. In time, you will be able to add your own threads, and begin your own discussions, sharing of insights, debates, etc.
I am also very excited to announce that we have slowly began to collect a following! Two weeks ago, we set up both facebook and twitter pages, and have new people following us everyday. We cannot express how excited and honored we are to see that people are taking an interest in our ideas, and are in anticipation of our launch. I can promise you, we will do the best we can to put out resources that are helpful, healthy and meaningful to your professional and pedagogical growth.
There is one thing, however that we ask of you (for now). We want to know what you would like to see on the page. Considering that we put this project together for you, we’d like to know what you would consider most helpful. So, respond to this entry, and let us know how we can use our page to serve you and your colleagues. Also (okay, I lied, two things), spread the word! There’s strength in numbers, and the more people that know of pages like The New Adjunct, and Adjunct Nation, the closer we can come to working together to become better teachers and scholars.
One last thing. In March, we will begin nominations for The New Adjunct “Adjunct of the Month” Award. We will announce our first winner early at the end of next month. We have also decided that since adjuncts teach year-round, we will continue the award through the summer months also.
That’s all for now! Continue to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
