Letters to the Editor

Eileen Schell Interview

As an aspiring nonagenarian, I object to Eileen Schell’s patronizing remark, “my oldest student is currently 90 years young” (Interview with Eileen Shell, January/February 2004). Attempting to praise old people by calling them young is as illogical and basically bigoted as attempting to praise black people by calling them white, attempting to praise a woman by saying she thinks like a man, or attempting to praise an adjunct by saying he thinks like a tenured professor.

Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Providence, RI

Fulbright Winners

Thanks so much for printing the long list of Fulbright Scholar Award winners (January/February 2004). I have been teaching part-time for quite a few years now, and am beginning to feel in a bit of a rut. However, seeing that list–and such a long list–made me feel as though I am not stuck teaching. I can apply for a Fulbright or any number of other grants, and share my skills with students around the world!

What a blessing the Adjunct Advocate is for those of us out here in the trenches. Without it, I might feel as though I were alone, without prospects and colleagues.

Jennifer Cranston
Buffalo, NY

A Career in Higher Education Administration

I was quite skeptical when I opened the January/February 2004 issue and started to read the cover story about finding a career in higher education administration. Why, I thought as I began to read, would I ever want to sit behind a desk and push papers? I am an excellent teacher, I’m publishing in my field and keep up by paying my way to at least two disciplinary conferences each year. Last year, I applied for 27 full-time teaching jobs, including one at the college where I now teach as a full-time temporary lecturer.

The hiring committee, comprised of “colleagues” from my department didn’t even give me an interview. They hired a guy for the job with fewer years of teaching experience than I have. I never got a letter letting me know that the committee had decided on another applicant.

From conversations with other part-timers at my college, what happened to me is not at all out of the ordinary. We part-timers apply for the full-time openings, and rarely get the nod. If Chris Cumo’s piece made one thing really clear it was that there is a career path in higher education administration. One gets a degree, perhaps an internship or two, applies for jobs and then finds employment. Where’s the toiling? The days of doubt that any full-time job will ever materialize? Where’s the angst that comes at the end of May each year wondering if your one-year contract will be renewed once again?

Thanks to Chris Cumo for his splendid piece. If I do leave teaching, I won’t look back–only forward to landing a job in higher education that pays decently and comes with a nice benefit package.

Hal P. Rogers
Los Angeles, CA

An Accompanying Object

Since when did Elayne Clift think she could be an adjunct and boss around the Program Director? Did Clift miss the memo that went out to the rest of us? Adjuncts suck up to their bosses so that they don’t get fired. Her boss may be a first class pain in the behind, a cold European clam, but the important thing to remember is that the Program Director directs the program and the adjuncts teach in the program. I think I can offer a bit of advice to Elayne Clift so that she never has the same problem again with a supervisor. Shut up, quit whining and do your job.

K. Mazzoli
Baltimore, MD