Adjunct By Choice

By Melissa McDonald I like to keep busy. Teaching semester-after-semester keeps the momentum going, but then something happens that forces me to sit out for a semester or more. Usually, we move. As I mentioned in my blog "Who Gives Up a…

By Melissa McDonald I'm starting a new job this semester, and so far, I am seeing good things in regards to faculty support, but that is not always the case. I have been in both worlds—campuses where I have been given support to…

By Melissa McDonald In my area, for-profit colleges and universities have really stepped up recruiting efforts. When watching TV, for example, I see 2-3 commercials at every commercial break, often back-to-back and all "encouraging" the…

By Ron Tinsley I appreciate living in a major metropolitan city where you don't need a car to get everywhere. I live close to public transportation so that is a plus even though I have to be hyper alert to ward off the forces of evil.…

By Melissa McDonald It's that time of year again when many of us are rushing to get our spring syllabi together and preparing for the semester ahead. I just found out which course I am teaching a few days ago, giving me two weeks to get…

By Ron Tinsley Fellow Adjuncts By Choice, indulge me for a moment. Sit back and think about your lives. Think about the success. Think about who you have become. Now, flashback to 10th grade! Think about what was important to you at…

By Melissa McDonald I once had a student who claimed he did not have a culture. "Of course, you do," I explained. "You just don't see it because you're used to it." When I first started teaching, I was in a familiar place—my home state of…

By P.D. Lesko The new E-Zine content went up and there are a couple of pieces that deal directly with the question of whether higher education will be the next "bubble" to burst. In "A College Education of Diminishing Returns," the…

By Ron Tinsley I have learned the hard way that not all Ph.D.s are created equal. I went to graduate school dreaming about teaching college. For some reason, no one clued me in to the fact that to teach at major research universities,…

By Melissa McDonald Imagine walking into your department head's office and saying, "I'm giving up my full-time renewable teaching position to pursue adjunct teaching several states away." Okay, so I didn't use those exact words. That is…