The Last Word

In December 2007, the Yardly Consulting Group delivered its strategic assessment of graduate programs at the University of Idaho to university president Timothy P. White. According to a letter from White to the college’s faculty, the…

by P.D. Lesko It seems ages since I wrote my column. I know that for many of you, this issue of Adjunct Advocate marks a return to the magazine after an interruption in our regular publishing schedule. What we have been doing is planning…

Look at the page preceding this one, and you will find yet another fabulous Matt Hall cartoon. Matt and I work together to come up with concepts several times each year. Believe it or not, I am often pushing him to poke fun at Adjunct…

I have been thinking about what it means to be a college faculty member. What does it mean to accept the responsibility of educating young people (not to mention returning students)? It is an awesome responsibility. Hundreds of thousands of…

Ward Churchill. Have you heard of him? My guess is that you have. Way back in 2001, this tenured professor made some comments about the World Trade Center attacks, and about the people who died. His right to free speech was defended by his…

(Note: This piece contains examples of bold-faced and unapologetic plagiarism. If that kind of thing bothers you, stop here.) Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. It appears, as of late, that higher…

This issue marks the third time the Adjunct Advocate has devoted an entire issue` to the theme of “colleagues abroad.” Our first “colleagues abroad” issue was published in May/June 2002. Two years later, in our November/December 2004 issue,…

by P.D. Lesko It’s time for part-timers to come out of the closet. If it’s December, I must be at the annual extravaganza the Modern Language Association diabolically schedules from the 27th to the 30th of that month. January? I’m at the…

In November, Sigrid M. killed herself. She taught German at the University of Trieste. She, like I, was a member of a small group of about 1,400 foreigners who teach languages at Italian universities. When I taught in Italy, every…

by P.D. Lesko IN THIS ISSUE, you’ll notice a couple of editorial changes. First, we’ve added a new regular feature called “In the Classroom.” There, readers will find information, tips and suggestions directly related to their teaching. The…