Pre-Conference Events

Contingent Faculty-Central to our Programs

with Dr. Christine Monikowski
9 AM – 4 PM

The issue of recruiting and maintaining qualified adjunct and part-time instructors (i.e. contingent faculty) needs to be addressed. Although to my knowledge, there isn’t any research on the number of adjuncts working in our Interpreter Education Programs (IEPs), conventional wisdom says we face the same problems plaguing higher education in general. The American Association of University professors (AAUP) reports that in 1988, 34 percent of instructors working in higher education were contingent faculty; in 2006, that number rose to 52 percent. And while students continue to “find finer facilities, they are also likely to find fewer full-time faculty with adequate time, professional support, and resources available for their instruction”. We know that many of our IEPs function as small programs with one or two full-time faculty and a pipeline of contingent faculty. We also know the challenge of staffing all the courses, every semester. We know the success of students depends on quality of our courses. And we know the quality of our courses depends on our instructors. A cohesive curriculum depends on a cohesive faculty; scaffolding only works if an instructor knows what happens in the previous courses, in the subsequent courses. Is this even possible with a contingent faculty that are not required to attend weekly meetings? Is this even reasonable to expect from contingent faculty who teach the same course every semester? Is this even appropriate for an adjunct who arrives on campus just in time to teach and leaves immediately afterwards because he/she has other commitments? It seems doubtful that these circumstances will change. Now is the time to address the pressing issue of contingent faculty, for the sake of our field, and our students.

This six-hour workshop is meant, NOT for adjuncts themselves, but for those who are responsible to recruit, hire, and oversee them: program coordinators, chairpersons, supervising faculty.

There are three primary areas of focus for this workshop:

1. Pre-hire

Seeking and finding justification for hiring faculty that lack prerequisites
Writing job announcements
Working with your institution
Recruiting adjuncts/part-time faculty

2. Hire

Helping possible candidates apply
The interview process
Explanation of responsibilities

3. Post-hire

Orientation – what is expected in this position?
Training – the culture of your IEP
Evaluation – self and peers

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