Recognizing the Contributions of Adjunct Faculty

by Richard Lyons

EN ROUTE TO presenting a workshop last week, I read the recently published book Ghosts in the Classroom (Camel’s Back Books, 2001, ed. Michael Dubson), a collection of essays written by adjunct faculty members. My research told me that essays written almost exclusively by “aspiring academics”–one of four categories of part-timers identified in The Invisible Faculty (Jossey-Bass, 1993, Judith Gappa and David Leslie), who account for fewer than half of adjunct instructors nationwide–skewed the perception readers would likely develop of the overall environment for adjuncts.

But that point did not discount the compelling stories all of these adjunct professors conveyed. Most troubling was the nearly universal sense of isolation within their institutions that the essayists expressed, and that they perceived the primary cause as intentional actions, or lack of actions,
by mean-spirited administrators or full-time faculty members.

The single book that most undergirds my management style is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, written a decade ago by Stephen Covey, then a professor at Brigham Young University. Covey’s fifth habit, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood,” has become especially well-entrenched in my psyche, fostering within me an objective insight into diversity issues and belief systems that nothing else I had ever read had done. As I write this column, The Chronicle of Higher Education has just published the review of a book released by Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project that supports the theory that diversity improves the quality of student learning. These thoughts have coalesced to remind me once again of the potential value that adjunct professors bring to higher education.

Their diversity, passion, expertise, and “real-world” perspectives enliven thousands of classrooms each day. That they are not being recognized for their contributions is not only professionally reprehensible, but from an administrative viewpoint, an indication of poor leadership. Our failing to recognize the valuable contributions of our adjunct faculty members stifles their potential to participate fully in achieving our mission, increases
their turnover rate, and ultimately detracts from the quality of education our students receive. Thankfully, a number of academic leaders and their institutional cultures are waking up, and initiating worthwhile recognition programs.

In The Invisible Faculty, Judith Gappa and David Leslie’s research tells us that most adjunct faculty members-their categories of “expert/specialists,” “free-lancers,” and “career enders” especially–are motivated by the intrinsic rewards of teaching. We often refer to this as “watching the lights come on in students’ eyes.” While we should not lose sight of the critical role “aspiring academics” play in many departments
and in some institutions overall and should address the financial needs that foster “freeway flying” by some, we need not fear that effective recognition initiatives need to be costly to implement.

In 1996, Indian River Community College, which serves four counties in east central Florida, installed a comprehensive program for developing the potential of adjunct instructors that included meaningful recognition initiative. This program included a structured orientation and required teaching-methods course for developing the teaching and classroom management skills of new adjunct instructors, but also addressed their
very critical social and belongingness needs.

Brown-bag luncheons, at which full- and part-time faculty members could mix, as well as participate in a workshop in classroom management were hugely successful. Providing each adjunct instructor with a dozen or more one-on-one recognition opportunities, the luncheons have largely eliminated the bifurcation between full- and part-time faculties at the institutions. Instead, a palpable rapport has emerged that has contributed
to the open sharing of teaching ideas and the classroom confidence of adjunct instructors. At the close of the same academic year and each year since, the contributions of adjunct instructors to the college mission have been recognized at a wine-and-cheese reception. According to attendees, this recognition has significantly increased the bonds adjunct instructors feel toward the college, helped them develop a more comprehensive view of the institution, and enabled them to deal with classroom challenges more effectively.

The Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, has relied for a number of years on adjunct instructors’ delivering courses at far-flung locations throughout the state. In recent years, the Center has taken significant strides toward developing a learning community that embraces these instructors, largely by providing significant opportunities for recognition of their contributions and achievements.
Like our previous example, “eating meetings” of various sorts that provide relationship-building opportunities as well as a professional development component have been a primary tactic of their strategy. The dean’s moments from the dais, but more significantly his looking adjunct instructors in the eye and thanking them genuinely for their contribution to the achievement of the Center’s mission, have provided much needed recognition
in order to maintain and extend the quality of their teaching.

As you look ahead to the new academic year, assume the mantel of true leadership. Admit to yourself and to others at your institution that your success is greatly enhanced by the efforts of key adjunct instructors. Find an effective way within your budget and your institutional culture to recognize the highest achievers among this important core group. You might invite them to share a meal, perhaps including a special developmental opportunity. Perhaps you will recognize one or more of the most effective in an institutional newsletter, or on your Web site. Or, you might consider creating an advanced echelon of adjunct instructor, with a title that is appropriate, to serve as a model for others to emulate.

Conducting a focus group of key adjuncts might be a good place to try out some of your ideas to evaluate what might work most effectively within your situation. Whatever the scope or design of your initiative, I believe you will find, as I have, that your gesture will pay many immediate as well
as long-term benefits to the achievement of your increasingly challenging mission.