Customer Reviews

The Invisible Faculty: Improving the Status of Part-Timers in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)

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This is a must-read for anyone concerned about higher education in America in any way. The causes and consequences of having half (or more -- at both our community college and the local branch of the U it's 70%) of the student credit hours taught by "contract" employees, many of whom teach a full load for 1/3rd the pay and no benefits, are layed out in great detail for all involved. With college education costs going up at a rate exceeding the rate of inflation by several times over the last decade or more, this book should also be of interest to taxpayers wanting to know where all the money is going. The book ends with a most useful and helpful list of several dozen sound and concrete things which could be done to improve things (if anyone really cared). Get a copy for yourself and also buy one to send to a local Dean or University President!

Over the past decade, colleges and universities nationwide have increased significantly their use of part-time (often called "adjunct") instructors. While often criticized, this practice enables colleges and universities to infuse real world perspectives into many of their courses and expand their total course offerings, without incurring permanent long-term costs. For those of us concerned about improving the teaching effectiveness of adjunct instructors, The Invisible Faculty is the definitive resource of "hard research." Many who take a cursory view of Drs. Gappa and Leslie's work, or that of others of us who write on this topic, seem to immediately conclude that our agenda is an increased use of part-time faculty. In reality, our agenda is to make significant improvements in a well-entrenched practice that is not going to go away, in spite of the clamor of academic traditionalists.

In higher education today, a common complaint among students is that faculty don't seem to care much about doing a good job of teaching. A major reason why is that nearly half the instructors are adjuncts paid from $1,000 - $3,000 a course. They are not tenure-track, and giving a best effort in the classroom or keeping up with the literature of their field are not rewarded. If a truly bad teacher comes along they are summarily dropped, but mediocrity is not grounds for termination. Administrators running campuses as corporations like the money bottom line, since the underpaid adjuncts handle half the students and salary money can go to research stars (and of course, themselves). The students are the ones who are truly hurt; no wonder so many drop out.