Professor V.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever
Human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
We must always take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.–Eli Wiesel

by Chris Llinas

Professor Marilyn Veincentotzs (pronounced “vyn-SN-tz”)—online student, online adjunct, and founder of the International Association of Adjunct Practitioners (IAAP)—has always been an advocate for the disadvantaged, the downtrodden, and the dispossessed.

“In whatever situation I find myself,” she said, “I always end up gravitating to where the need is. I can’t not do something when it’s clear that something needs to be done. That’s always been my way.”

In the mid-1990s, for example, she was hired as the only African-American teacher at a brand new elementary school in a Los Angeles suburb, assigned to a classroom for “red track” students—mostly African-American and Latino children with learning and behavioral problems.

“These kids’ lives were in chaos,” Professor Veincentotzs recalled. “Not only did they suffer from difficult backgrounds and circumstances, but they were also in a school with a predominantly white administration and faculty. My mission was to nurture them, to support them, and to instill in them the understanding that if they could control their behavior, they could control their destiny.”

Her first year went well, given the positive support of the school’s first principal, a skilled administrator who was adept at handling the cultural conflicts that would often arise among the school’s increasingly diverse student body, and, further, between the school’s inner city students and their predominantly white suburban teachers.

“That woman was gifted,” Professor Veincentotzs said of the first principal. “She had her finger on the pulse.”

Her next few years, however, did not go so well. The first principal, the woman who had hired her, left the school, and a new principal took over, bringing with her “a whole new regime, a whole new mindset, much too rigid.” Given the bond of trust Professor Veincentotzs had established with her students, she was the one they came to when they had troubles. Over time, they began to report stories of mental, emotional, physical, and, in one instance, sexual abuse involving other teachers. Although Professor Veincentotzs was initially skeptical, she investigated her students’ complaints, discovered them to be true, and promptly reported them to the second principal.

Inexplicably, the second principal ignored and downplayed the reports, to the point where both Professor Veincentotzs and her students were ostracized by many in the school’s administration and among the school’s faculty. Professor Veincentotzs ultimately filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court, after which the school district offered her a lucrative out-of-court settlement. Professor Veincentotzs refused, and, although she ultimately lost at trial, she considers the experience a victory.

“I wasn’t doing this for me, but for those kids. This was about principle. I wanted that woman (the second principal) to admit under oath that she ignored what I told her and let those injustices continue. She did, and those kids heard it. As well, the school changed for the better. The truth came out.”

The same fierce determination that Professor Veincentotzs brought to bear for her students in Los Angeles she has now unleashed on behalf of online adjuncts worldwide through her recent formation of the International Association of Adjunct Practitioners (IAAP). With the IAAP, Professor Veincentotzs hopes to empower online adjuncts as teachers, employees, and innovators in the rapidly evolving world of online education. As well, she hopes to enhance the evolution of the online educational environment, give online adjuncts a strong new collective voice, and bring them the pay, the benefits, and the respect they deserve.

“Adjuncts, in general, don’t get any respect. It’s that simple,” she said. “But it’s not right, and it’s got to change, especially where more and more schools are hiring adjuncts to do their teaching. That’s why I decided to form the IAAP.”

Moving Online

The year 1999 marked the year that Professor Veincentotzs first encountered the realm of online education, when she started work towards a Ph.D. in organizational psychology with Walden University, an online institution.

“I was scared to death,” she said. “I had a computer, but I’d never been on the Internet. Plus, my first Internet connection was dial-up, so I encountered all sorts of technical problems when I first started out.”

Still, Professor Veincentotzs describes her first year online as “horrible.” She failed two classes, and was told by her first-year advisor that she might want to reconsider her plans.

“I didn’t have a clue. It was like I was in a foreign land. It was a disaster. I’ll never forget the fear, the anxiety, and the despair I felt during that first year,” Professor Veincentotzs said. “And I’ll also never forget the words of my first-year advisor: ‘This student will not be successful.’ Well, I took that as a challenge. I knew it had nothing to do with my abilities. My problem was that I needed guidance in how to maneuver in the online environment. That’s what I needed, so that’s what I set out to get.”

During her second year online, Professor Veincentotzs took up the challenge and mastered the realities of the online learning landscape, describing her performance as a “quantum leap” from the disaster of the first year.

“I felt like someone coming out of the dark ages into the modern era,” she said. “I also discovered, once I got the hang of it, that the online educational environment was tailor-made for folks like me—students who are independent, who don’t want to be held back, and who want the flexibility to design their curriculum and work as their energy levels and time permits. I took full advantage of my online opportunities once I became comfortable with the technology.”

In 2004, Professor Veincentotzs parlayed her mastery of the online educational realm into a position as an online instructor with Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (CCI), teaching courses in psychology. After teaching with CCI through 2004, Professor Veincentotzs taught online courses in psychology for Northwestern State University in Louisiana during the first half of 2005, and now teaches online courses in psychology for Grand Canyon University. In addition to her online teaching responsibilities, Veincentotzs is also studying towards a Ph.D., which she expects to earn from Walden University in August of 2006.

Professor Veincentotzs’s experiences as an online student and as an online instructor have made her acutely aware of the needs of both students and instructors in the rapidly evolving world of online education.

“Like I said before, I will never forget what it was like during my first year at Walden,” she says. “I have my students now, and I can tell which ones who are feeling like I felt that first year—usually around one-third of the students in any given course. I find myself bending over backwards to help them out, anticipating the problems they might not verbalize because they’re feeling intimidated. I figure it’s my job, as an online instructor, to teach not only the subject matter but also the mechanics and process of being an online student.”

As for the needs of online instructors, Professor Veincentotzs started to gain awareness, first, through her own experiences, and, second, through participation as a member on the Adjunct Advocate’s AdjunctNation.com website.

“On my own, it didn’t take long for me to realize that online instructors…get paid pennies on the dollar, particularly when you factor in the additional work involved with online teaching. I had to quit my job with one school because they paid way too little for what they wanted me to do,” she said. “As well, I felt extremely isolated from the other online adjuncts at the schools for whom I taught. One school had no mechanism whatsoever for communication among online adjuncts; another had a format for communication, but it was never used, at least during my time there. That’s what led me to the AdjunctNation.com website.”

The IAAP Debuts

After a few weeks of perusing the message boards at the AdjunctNation.com website, particularly the board entitled “Going the Distance,” Professor Veincentotzs quickly realized that many online adjuncts were experiencing feelings of isolation, exploitation, and disrespect.

“It got me to thinking,” she said, “that these institutions of higher education, both online and traditional, were exploiting adjuncts in the same way and for the same reasons that Wal-Mart was exploiting part-time workers—to keep employment costs low and profits high. If Wal-Mart employees could start organizing, why not adjuncts? There’s power in numbers, you know.”

And so the idea of the IAAP was born.

“I was reading all these posts, and I started to see the need,” Professor Veincentotzs said. “There were disparate adjunct organizations at various traditional institutions here and there, but nothing whatsoever for online adjuncts, and no overarching national or international organization for all adjuncts, both online and traditional.”

In January 2005, Professor Veincentotzs posted a message to an AdjunctNation.com message boards asking whether anyone might be interested in forming a professional organization for online instructors. The response was both immediate and sustained, and has spawned great interest. In addition, Professor Veincentotzs has established regular email correspondence with ten people from that list, some of whom already teach online, others who are interested in doing so, and all of whom want to be actively involved with the IAAP.

At present, Professor Veincentotzs is in the process of laying the administrative and logistical foundation for the IAAP.
“Creativity’s the easy part,” she says. “Building a firm foundation is the key focus right now.”

With the assistance of her significant other, Glenn, a former technical writer & editor with IBM, (who, incidentally, she met online in 2001), Professor Veincentotzs recently established a website for the organization at http://www.adjunctu.info. She is currently working with a legal consultant, an online adjunct himself, and a few others on the various steps related to incorporating the organization, procuring licenses, establishing accounts, and registering the domain name.

When asked about her goals for the organization, Professor Veincentotzs breaks her answer down into short-term and long-term priorities. She notes health insurance, strategies for increasing salaries, and an online conference for members as her primary short-term goals.

“In the short term, once we’ve laid our foundation and established a membership, I’d like to schedule and hold an online conference where we can get together and discuss strategies for addressing the two biggest issues facing adjuncts—benefits, particularly health insurance, and salaries.”

As for long-term goals, Professor Veincentotzs takes a broader view.

“Pay and benefits are important in the long-term, and I would hope the organization might someday be able to negotiate for better pay and benefits on behalf of adjuncts, both with specific institutions or with benefit providers, depending on the situation,” she said. “But these issues only speak to adjuncts as employees, when we are so much more than that. We are teachers, first and foremost, and innovators in a world of higher education that is rapidly evolving. In the long term, I would like to see the organization play a vital role in bringing adjuncts together to share ideas and collaborate on projects designed to make the world of higher education a better place for students, teachers, and institutions.”

Professor Veincentotzs pauses for a second, and then laughs. “Then again, it would be nice if the IAAP could bring adjuncts just a little bit of respect.”

Amen, sister. Amen.