Allison G. Armentrout, an adjunct instructor at Stark State College, does not get paid by the hour. She earns $4,600 to teach two English composition courses. But now she carefully tracks how many hours she works on an electronic time sheet. During a recent week, she spent three hours preparing for her lectures, close to six hours in the…

The older teacher in today's college environment may find the generation gap between him and his younger colleagues wider than the one between him and his students. He may have trouble initiating shoptalk with the younger generation of careerists whose dossier is scrutinized annually by multiple pretenure review committees. When it comes to…

The University of California campuses are among a small but growing number of research universities adopting new policies--or reinvigorating old ones--that allow tenure-track and tenured professors to work part time. Typically, professors interested in scaling back their work want more time to care for young children, a sick relative, or an aging…

At a time when colleges are under increasing financial pressure to rely more on part-time instructors, three new studies suggest that doing so erodes the quality of education many students receive. Part-timers' inability or unwillingness to devote more time to students outside the classroom, the research suggests, results in the denial of…

First-year college students are significantly more likely to drop out if their high-stakes "gatekeeper courses" are taught by part-time instructors, according to the findings of a study presented during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association last week. The paper is the latest in a long parade of studies suggesting that…

Reports that adjunct faculty, which accounts for half the professoriate, does not have academic freedom and can lose jobs for such usually protected activities as teaching controversial material, fighting grade changes, or organizing unions. Accounts of such activities are offered from Jefferson Community College (Kentucky), Chestnut Hill College…

Many academics, whether married couples or professional partners, are teaming up to share tenure-track positions, and, although the evidence is largely anecdotal, their numbers seem to be increasing especially in the smaller institutions. The biggest drawback may be earning only half a salary; the benefits include more time for research or family.…

Discusses the increasing movement toward organization of part-time college faculty, graduate students, and full-time faculty members who are off the tenure track, describing activities of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor and the California Part-Time Faulty Association. Notes that despite active organization on both coasts, the movement…

Discusses how some colleges are letting tenured and tenure-track professors cut their hours and pay to spend more time with their families. (EV)

Discusses the increasing influence that the graduate student caucus is having on the Modern Language Association. Graduate students are now well represented on the organization's delegate assembly and executive council. Critics see the students as using fear and intimidation to press their needs in a bleak job market over other organizational…

Reports that all six regional college/university accrediting agencies have rewritten, or are currently rewriting, their standards to place more emphasis on what students learn, accept the growth of part-time faculty members, develop ways to evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning, and let colleges tailor accreditation process to their own…

Although the 1980s period of belt-tightening in higher education meant layoff of many tenured professors, financially troubled colleges are trimming part-time and nontenured faculty jobs and offering encouraging early retirement in the current period of retrenchment. However, the proportion of tenured faculty has shrunk as the overall size of the…

Reports on initiatives of the American Association of University Professors to reach out to graduate students and part-time professors and the association's increasing involvement in unionization battles. Notes plans to form partnerships with various groups, including the American Conference of Academic Deans and teaching assistant unions. The…

A report released by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce based on a survey of departments in 10 social science and humanities fields shows that part-time and adjunct professors receive far less pay and fewer benefits than their peers. In many institutions, nontenure-track instructors make up almost half of the teaching staff. (SLD)

A University of Maryland's University College program to teach part-time faculty members how to become better instructors is described. The main goal is to make instructors more sensitive to the needs of adult learners. (MLW)