This study explores the teaching practices and labor conditions of media and communication adjunct faculty at three universities. Since the late 1960s, the number of faculty who are part-time and contingent is increasing and adjuncts are now more than 70% of college and university faculty (AAUP, n.d.). In this study, I examine the neoliberal…

As part of the post-secondary educational landscape, online education in the form of online programs and courses help institutions reach and enroll more students. To meet the needs of increased enrollments in online education, part-time faculty are often hired to teach online courses. Part-time contingent faculty or adjuncts represent a growing…

Understanding the relative impacts of part-time adjuncts in community colleges is highly policy-relevant, partly because community colleges rely on part-time faculty heavily and partly because community colleges assume a critical role in addressing the national equity agenda by disproportionately serving underrepresented groups. This study uses…

Issues of instruction and assessment at community colleges are influenced by the high percentage of classes taught by adjunct faculty. In 2014 for the Virginia Community College System, part-time instructors comprised 70.3% of instructional faculty. This dissertation describes the instruction and assessment technique choices of adjunct instructors…

This study investigated a set of online reading courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in a university's college of education. The courses were thought to integrate culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), and the study's intent was to determine the extent to which they actually did so. The goals of the study were to determine whether CRP was…

There is a growing trend to rely on part-time instructors including both adjunct faculty and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in higher education (Eney & Davidson, 2012). Most kinesiology departments depend on part-time instructors to teach instructional physical activity programs (IPAPs) to the general student population; this is…

The postsecondary landscape has changed drastically in the past 40 years, with one of the most obvious changes being the increased reliance on adjunct or part-time faculty. Approximately 50% of the current faculty employed by postsecondary institutions are categorized as part-time faculty, up from approximately 25% in 1975 (American Association of…

The purpose of this quantitative, multiple regression study was to examine the relationship between 10 adjunct instructor characteristics and organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Part-time instructors who taught for the institution during the 2012-2013 academic year completed an electronic survey with questions from three valid and…

Research has shown that forming a professional identity is central in the process of becoming an effective teacher (Alsup, 2006; Danielewicz, 2001). Yet, little is known about the faculty identity development of part-time faculty, who represent nearly 70% of all faculty at community colleges (AFT Higher Education, 2009). Addressing this critical…

Satisfaction with the quality of students, autonomy, faculty support, honorarium, and preference for teaching were significant predictors of adjunct faculty loyalty. With the exception of autonomy, these factors along with a heavy teaching load, collaborative research with full-time faculty, and satisfaction with teaching schedule were predictive…

Faculty involved in implementing a grant to incorporate technology into post-secondary ESL teaching and learning describe the coaching model they used to do this. The authors explain how they drew from principles of literacy coaching to develop and implement their model; describe their experiences in working with coachees; discuss technology…

The growing use of part-time, non-tenure track faculty in higher education has become a nationwide phenomenon. The college-teaching part-time instructor is one who is working for low pay, has little job security, and has few benefits. College part-time instructors' employment is in a contingent state. They do not have the job protection provided…

Institutions of higher education have been gradually employing more part-time faculty over the past several decades. Walsh estimates that part-time faculty employment across all types of institutions increased 79 percent from 1981 to 1999. The growth of part-time faculty at community colleges is equally astounding. It is now estimated that 67…

The 2006 report from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings's Commission on the Future of Higher Education, "Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U. S. Higher Education", made recommendations that most parttime faculty cannot follow. The report "urge[s] postsecondary institutions to make a commitment to embrace new pedagogies, curricula,…

This handbook is designed to help part-time and adjunct faculty who need professional enhancement but do not have the time for formal coursework. The focus is on the modern student, who differs in many ways from the traditional college student. The book provides more advanced strategies that those presented in the earlier "Handbook for…