Part-time faculty need to be brought into the student learning outcomes assessment loop not only to help accreditation, but because they, like full-time faculty, can benefit from assessment. When part-time faculty are not participating in assessment, a sizable percentage of courses are being less effectively taught than they could be. In an…

This study examined how the presence of formal tenure systems at publicly-funded two-year colleges in the Mountain States' region of the United States relates to differences in the common institutional performance factors of graduation rate, retention rate, and unrestricted instructional cost per FTE student as reported to the Integrated…

This article describes the results of a mixed-methods study that examined the perceptions of community among online faculty in Washington state community and technical colleges. Twelve community and technical colleges were randomly selected from the 34 colleges in Washington state. Results indicated significant differences between females versus…

This Delphi study explored the instructional practices of community college faculty who were teaching blended or Web-assisted courses and how these practices influenced student persistence. The Delphi method provided qualitative data in the form of expert advice through consensus building on the instructional practices most likely to influence…

Several years ago, when his college first financed a writing program administrator (WPA) position--reassigned time and a budget to pay adjunct faculty stipends for program development--the author met with all the most senior adjunct faculty. "Without you," he told them, "this effort to build a better writing program won't work. Participation and…

Part-time faculty members represent the majority of faculty at public two-year postsecondary institutions. Utilizing part-time faculty enables two-year institutions to control their instructional costs and maintain scheduling flexibility. However, part-time faculty are diverse in regards to their employment preference, some prefer part-time…

In the last thirty years, there has been a significant increase in the number of adjunct faculty delivering postsecondary education at community colleges (Jacoby, 2006). Multiple studies have evaluated the impact of part-time faculty on student learning outcomes, but findings have varied. This action research study utilized a phenomenological…

Using the most recent ten years of federal data, this report examines the state of the higher education workforce in the United States. This report, which will be an annual report produced by AFT Higher Education, documents the trend of relying more and more on contingent faculty in higher education who may be underpaid and undersuported. The…

This document presents findings from a study of adjunct faculty at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Focus groups and input from an adjunct faculty advisory committee were used to develop a survey instrument that was mailed to the homes of 552 adjunct faculty members who taught at the college between fall semester 1999 and…

The need for staffing adjunct community college faculty and the lack of specialized training for two-year college teachers led to the creation of The Faculty-in-Training Program. This program was established by Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) in North Carolina in cooperation with two local university English departments at the…

When part-time or adjunct faculty have been on the same campus for 10 years or when they teach several sections per semester, they are not rendering partial service. All institutions of higher education owe much of their success to these adjunct instructors who can provide students with experience that links education to the workplace and make up…

Describes the development, format, and content of a new faculty orientation and mentoring program. The orientation program targets immediate information concerning employment and getting started in the classroom, while the mentoring program provides peer support for the duration of the employee's first years of service. The initiative is divided…

Argues that the division of college staff into full-time and adjunct faculty leads to differentiated teaching services. Reviews statistics on adjunct faculty employment. Recommends that adjunct faculty be required to hold office hours and suggests hiring and promotion policies to improve the performance of adjunct teachers and enhance student…

This study examined the perceptions of chief instructional officers (CIOs) at community colleges accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) regarding: difficulty in meeting accreditation criteria for part-time faculty, challenges in implementing commonly cited practices for employing and utilizing part-time faculty,…

A multi-perspective qualitative study was conducted during the spring 1996 semester to investigate the impact of a mentoring initiative on the performance of ten adjunct instructors, new to the faculty of Indian River Community College (Florida). The study found that all participants derived a significant value from the mentoring initiative, with…