ERIC Number: ED417793
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1998-Apr-24
Pages: 12
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
How the Other 2/3 Live: Institutional Initiatives for Part-Time Faculty Assimilation in America's 2-Year Colleges.
Parsons, Michael H.
The number of part-time faculty employed in two-year colleges has risen dramatically in recent years, with current data indicating that 64% of two-year college faculty work part time. It is critical, therefore, that colleges ensure that part-time faculty are well integrated into the organizational culture. In assessing initiatives for helping part-timers assimilate, colleges can look to standards established by their regional accrediting agency or guidelines developed by advocacy groups, such as the American Association of University Professors. In addition, a number of processes have been developed and implemented, making part-time faculty integral components of the college. These processes include such steps as providing handbooks for part-timers, conducting formal evaluations at least once a year, developing mechanisms for recognizing and publishing adjuncts' efforts, providing professional development funds, including adjuncts on college committees, and involving them in curriculum and textbook decisions. Moreover, part-time faculty should be recognized as integral to the future of two-year colleges, in that their broad-based experience adds to the colleges' comprehensiveness and flexibility. Finally, improving the quality of institutional life for part-time faculty is not a finite goal, but a part of the endless process of developing teaching excellence among both part- and full-time faculty. A paradigm for assimilating part-time faculty is appended. Contains 13 references. (BCY)
Descriptors: Adjunct Faculty, Adjustment (to Environment), College Faculty, College Planning, Community Colleges, Educational Practices, Employment Practices, Faculty College Relationship, Faculty Development, Institutional Mission, Interprofessional Relationship, Part Time Faculty, Personnel Policy, Program Development, School Policy, Standards, Teacher Administrator Relationship, Teacher Role, Two Year Colleges
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Hagerstown Junior Coll., MD.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A