I Once Was Adjunct, But Now I Am Found, Was Blind But Now I See

It is a jungle out there! Adjuncts just know HALF of what goes on in an academic department. I functioned as an adjunct for a year for a university and a community college and I did now know WHAT was going on among assistant professors/full-time faculty.

Adjunct Power
It is amazing how many people actually teach in adjunct positions. Currently, there are more adjunct professors than tenured or tenure-track professors (Finder, 2007).With this many people having power in higher education, it is interesting that this group of people do not have decision making power. I see this from my point of view as an assistant professor, but if I step back and look at the national situation from an adjunct's point of view I am appauled.

Possible Solutions
It would actually be interesting to see if adjuncts form a national/state union. Addressing the situation of decision making authority, my former community college actually allowed adjuncts to function on faculty senate. Unheard of! It was interesting, but I do not think that adjuncts could actually run for a position.

Here is an interesting book about the adjunct experience - "Ghosts in the Classroom : Stories of College Adjunct Faculty--and the Price We All Pay".

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/20/america/college.php

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HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY!

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I plan to post a millennial-centered article per week. In addition, I am working on an article about millennials and life after college.

Millennial Professor

"Write to the Top! - How to Become a Prolific Academic"

"Write to the Top! - How to Become a Prolific Academic"

I actually read this book over the winter break and it was very helpful. As a new faculty member, there were many items introduced in the book that I did know about (i.e. - book buyers). I was in student services for a long time and I never knew that these people existed!

Also, I especially liked the section about the ideal letter from a journal editor! This was the best publication ever written, etc. I wrote a few articles over the break and I REALLY needed the humor in that section!

I STRONGLY recommend this book!

MillennialProfessor

HBCUs and the Millennial Generation

Perspectives: HBCUs and the Coming Era of Growth and Service
http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10508.shtml

An interesting read about the changes that HBCUs have encountered and how they have adapted. One of Dr. Rivers's quotes is very interesting, "Since then, students have changed. Students virtually everywhere did. Sometime in the 1980s, attitudes shifted. The millennial generation now demands greater engagement of faculty and often refuses to afford faculty members the automatic deference and respect they previously had enjoyed."

This quote actually coincides with my research on HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) and HWCUs (historically white colleges and universities) and African American college students. The students who were in my sample indicated that they wanted faculty members who engaged them in the classroom and who challenged them academically. In addition, the some of the HBCU students indicated that they had some faculty members who did not have a strong grasp on the English language.

Again, the article is a very interesting read.