Recent research shows that professional learning is essential "equity infrastructure," the key to engaging front-line educators in the action-oriented partnerships needed to implement equity-focused practices with quality and at scale. The new, 2023 report examines professional learning at community colleges and Minority Serving…

As the reliance on part-time faculty members in community colleges increases, it is imperative to understand their contributions toward student success. This article analyzes a large body of existing literature that examines the use of part-time faculty and their impact on student academic outcomes. The article utilizes Foucault's three modes of…

In the 2017-2018 academic year, 332,727 U.S. university students participated in a study abroad program in a foreign country (Institute of International Education, 2018). Many of these students attend courses taught by part-time faculty, hired locally by study abroad centers with affiliations to U.S. universities. The directors of these centers…

Open educational practices (OEP) as a research field is relatively new. One aspect that has received limited attention is the impact of using open educational resources (OER) on the development of OEP. This article, based on a doctoral study (Pulker, 2019), considers teachers' activities when reusing and adapting OER, with a view to providing…

This paper attempts to shed more light on the teaching practices of part-time faculty members and their impacts on community college students. Thus, it carries out a comprehensive literature review. The review shows convincing findings. It has been found that part-time faculty members employ traditional teaching practices compared to full-time…

Developments in the academic world--particularly among research universities--have been pushing US institutions of higher education towards structures and practices that defy the very values of equity and quality they profess to uphold. This is evident in the increasing quantification of scholarly productivity as well as in the growing division of…

Known as "invisible faculty," (Gappa & Leslie, 1993), adjunct or part-time, contingent instructors play a vital role in meeting the needs of two-year colleges. Adjunct faculty members teach over half of the United States' historically underserved college students (Center for Community College Student Engagement [CCCSE], 2014), and…

The Center for Community College Student Engagement encourages colleges to hold focus groups with part-time and full-time faculty to learn about differences in the faculty and their experience at their college and to complement survey data. Survey responses tell the "what" about faculty's experiences; through conducting focus groups,…

Social work faculty experience increasing demands to develop and maintain a research portfolio that includes external funding and publications. Given the increase in research expectations, more part-time instructors are needed to teach courses. In addition to the literature review, we briefly describe a pilot part-time faculty mentorship project…

In academia, there are two different worlds, one inhabited by tenure-track and the other by non-tenure-track faculty. In the first, people encourage faculty to become involved in a series of important reforms that increase student success, completion, and learning. In this first world, people envision faculty simultaneously increasing their…

It is important for administrators, faculty, and policy makers to understand and consider how policies commonly associated with non-tenure-track faculty roles and working environments impact student learning. Many policies impede the ability of faculty to provide effective instruction that is aligned with departmental and institutional goals for…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, more than two-thirds of the professoriate in non-profit postsecondary education is now comprised of non-tenure-track faculty. New hires across all institutional types are now…

Providing instructor manuals for part-time faculty is not a new practice. Post-secondary institutions often produce manuals filled with everything from the college calendar to the procedure for obtaining a parking pass. However, in the age of stretched budgets and waning support from their institutions, developmental education programs are looking…

This monograph provides a portrait of non-tenure-track faculty, describes studies of their experiences, and proposes plans of action. Much of the research, particularly early on, tried to provide a picture and description of this faculty that have been largely invisible for years. Therefore, "Portrait of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty" focuses on the…