Reappraisal and Implications for Policy and Research

Abstract

We need to recognize and to convince policymakers that excessive dependence on contingent appointments is detrimental to undergraduate learning, and especially so for the "at-risk" students, unable Ernst BenjaminThe authors of this volume agree that contingent faculty provide a substantial and increasing proportion of undergraduate instruction. They do not agree in their assessment of the implications of these facts. Their disagreements, however, are not as great as may initially appear. This is particularly true insofar as the assessment rests, as this volume intends, on the issue of the contribution of contingent faculty to student learning.First, none of the authors seriously questions the qualifications of contingent faculty as undergraduate, especially lower-division, instructors-though I am about to do so. Second, those authors who focus on part-time instructors share similar concerns about the out-of-classroom involvement of these faculty in student learning, and attribute these deficiencies to lack of time and inadequate terms of employment and professional support. Third, several of the authors note larger concerns that indirectly affect student learning. These include the increased dependence on a declining number of full-time faculty for out-of-class involvement in student learning, the breakdown of collegial cooperation, and the longer-term impact on faculty quality that will come with deterioration in the terms and conditions of their employment opportunities.In the discussion that follows I offer a reappraisal of each of these three issues: qualifications, contribution to student learning, and larger effects. My reappraisal takes account of the differences between the three main types of contingent instructional staff: part-time faculty, full-time nontenure-track faculty, and graduate assistants. I do not aim at synthesis. Rather, I reframe the issues in the light of additional evidence to emphasize

Table of Contents

“…Not only does the tenure-line faculty population become such a small majority as to be ineffectual in institutions, but also the prolific hiring of non-tenure-track faculty represents a change in mind-set regarding all faculty: disposable, outsourced, deprofessionalized, and lacking the protections of academic freedom (Burgan, 2006;Slaughter and Rhoades, 2004). To strengthen the institution of tenure, Benjamin (2003a and2003b) suggests a reduction in non-tenure-track faculty hires, and instead institutions should move toward various lines of tenure such as a teaching tenure track to increase the value of the teaching aspect of faculty work.…”

“…First, academics like Benjamin (2003a and2003b) and Finkin (1996) view the increase of non-tenure-track faculty as another means of weakening or perhaps removing tenure and whittling away at faculty autonomy and academic freedom. Second, academics such as Amacher and Meiners (2004) see tenure as an outdated practice that needs either drastic restructuring or complete removal (making everyone nontenure track to some extent).…”

Faculty Appointments and Scholarly Activity: A Changing of the Guard?

“…Teaching, research, and service are often referred to as the triad or the three-legged stool that define the activities of university faculty (Popovich & Abel, 2002). Contingent faculty are referred to as faculty who are not typically on a tenure-track system (Benjamin, 2003;Gappa et al, 2005;Umbach, 2007). Although previous research examined the increasing use of contingent faculty across the academy, little work has been done to compare actual performance in teaching, research, and service among contingent, tenured, tenure-track, and no tenure system faculty.…”

Is timing everything? the impact of early, standard, and late orientation and registration on the retention of community college students

“…In addition, they have very little time, and more often no place to meet with students outside of class (Wirt, et al, 2014). Adjunct faculty may also be less prepared to advise students on curriculum, degree requirements and college policies (Benjamin 2003b, Jolley, et al, 2015). …”

“…Poor institutional assimilation by part-time faculty can adversely affect student learning (Green, 2007). The effects included reduced instructional quality, lack of curricular cohesion, and weak advising (Benjamin, 2003a(Benjamin, , 2003b). Harrington and Schibik (2001) found that freshman who took a higher percentage of courses with part-time faculty members were less likely to persist towards their degree.…”