Return to Document Top
from VCCA Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, Summer 1993, 36-39
© Copyright 1993 VCCA Journal
Virginia community college administrators are using many creative and flexible approaches in devising adjunct faculty personnel practices that fit their colleges' individual circumstances and needs. Based on survey responses from 100 VCCS administrators (Coffey), three factors are common to effective adjunct faculty policies and procedures: (1) adequate college planning; (2) communication and involvement of adjunct faculty with other college employees, especially full-time faculty teaching similar subjects; and (3) provision of college resources and incentives. Highlighted here are what VCCS administrators reported as successful practices for adjunct faculty management, selection, support service provision, compensation, and evaluation.
Adjunct Faculty Management
To effectively manage adjunct faculty, community colleges need to make adjunct faculty personnel practices institutional priorities. As Judith Gappa states, "Treating adjunct faculty employment as a casual departmental affair rather than a planned institutional effort is rapidly becoming less feasible" (96).
VCCS colleges achieve institutional coordination in the administration of adjunct faculty by designating college administrators to coordinate the adjunct faculty personnel practices or by giving full-time faculty members released time to serve as adjunct faculty coordinators. These adjunct faculty coordinators are responsible for personnel practices regarding adjunct faculty recruitment, selection, orientation, compensation, supervision, and evaluation.
At several colleges, adjunct faculty advisory committees also assist in designing, implementing, and evaluating the colleges' adjunct faculty personnel practices. For example, the advisory committee prepares an adjunct faculty newsletter, designs a needs assessment for adjunct faculty, provides input into the college's orientation sessions, and coordinates the college's mentor program between new and more experienced faculty members. Membership of an adjunct faculty advisory committees typically includes a college's academic dean and adjunct and full-time representatives from each of the academic divisions. Distribution of the minutes of the committee to all full-time faculty and administrators has also improved college communication.
Adjunct Faculty Selection
Colleges have increased the availability of qualified applicants by these creative approaches: updating the files of active part-time faculty applicants; continuously advertising adjunct faculty positions; seeking referrals from college advisory groups; preparing written justifications to hire exceptional applicants not meeting minimum requirements (as specified in 3.4.2.2. of the VCCS Policy Manual); employing permanent adjunct faculty on a nine-month contracts for certain positions; and assisting adjunct faculty in meeting minimum qualifications by providing tuition reimbursement for graduate courses (from local funds). In one case, adjunct faculty took graduate courses offered by a four-year university at their local community college. To help determine the teaching ability of adjunct faculty applicants prior to hiring, colleges require mini-teaching demonstrations by adjunct faculty applicants, request former supervisor and student evaluations from applicants who have previously taught, and observe adjunct faculty applicants when they are invited to guest lecture or substitute for full-time faculty at the college.
Additionally, involvement of full-time faculty in the selection of adjunct faculty has improved the success of colleges' selection practices. Full-time faculty participate in reviewing applicants' files, interviewing applicants, and making recommendations for hiring. While some full-time faculty involved have been faculty "team" leaders or "lead" faculty who receive compensation for working with adjunct faculty, other full-time faculty participate on a strictly voluntary basis.
Administrators have utilized college resources and incentives to secure adjunct faculty for employment: starting adjunct faculty within their salary ranks according to individual qualifications (rather than automatically starting them at the bottom or mid-point of their salary range), including provisions in adjunct faculty contracts to compensate adjunct faculty for preparation and/or teaching of classes later canceled or reassigned, offering some professional development funds out of non-state funds, and providing yearly merit and seniority increases.
Adjunct Faculty Compensation
While some compensation policies--such as the starting salaries, use of state funds, and provision of fringe benefits--cannot be determined locally, most other compensation policies can be locally determined. For example, frequency of payment, reported as problematic at many colleges, is a local decision. In certain circumstances adjunct faculty have been paid weekly, although twice a month is the most common arrangement. Payment for adjunct faculty's partial services is also permitted if the details are included under "Special Conditions" in the adjunct faculty appointment agreement: colleges award adjunct faculty honorariums of fifty dollars or prorated salary amounts for such class preparation and/or teaching. Furthermore, adjunct faculty are sometimes allowed "prorata" pay options for teaching under-enrolled classes. Local funds, foundation funds, and grant money have been used to offer stipends to adjunct faculty for attendance at meetings and for professional development funds. Finally, some colleges have designed provisions for yearly merit and seniority increases for adjunct faculty.
Adjunct Faculty Support Services
College planning has minimized support services problems for adjunct faculty teaching at off-campus locations, during weekends, or in the evenings. For example, off-campus coordinators, administrators who rotate evening-duty, and work-study or other part-time employees provide secretarial, audio-visual, and duplication assistance. Communication about support services has been improved by including information on support services in adjunct faculty handbooks, at orientation sessions, in discussions with full-time faculty mentors, and in adjunct faculty bulletins and newsletters.
Pooling resources in centralized areas and using library carrels and empty classrooms and laboratories for adjunct faculty offices have proved successful. At colleges where adjunct faculty are paired with full-time faculty mentors, more sharing of office space and improving communication among full-time and adjunct faculty have occurred.
Adjunct Faculty Evaluation
At colleges with adequate planning mechanisms, evaluation criteria and procedures are communicated to adjunct faculty at orientation sessions and through inclusion in adjunct faculty handbooks. New adjunct faculty are evaluated after their first semester of teaching and once a year thereafter with the same evaluation instrument as that used for full time faculty. Written evaluations are prepared, discussed, and included in adjunct faculty's permanent files. Adjunct faculty also evaluate the college and its services.
The involvement of full-time faculty in the evaluation of adjunct faculty differs throughout the VCCS. With full-time faculty assisting administrators, classroom observations, peer evaluations, and discussion of evaluation results with adjunct faculty occur more frequently. At many colleges, evaluation results are directly linked to the college's reward structure and to planning for future professional development opportunities for adjunct faculty.
In conclusion, three factors are common to effective adjunct faculty personnel practices throughout the VCCS: adequate college planning; adjunct faculty communication and involvement with other college employees, especially full-time faculty from the academic department/division; and the provision of college resources and incentives. VCCS administrators, therefore, can look to others within the System for models of successful adjunct faculty practices.
Works Cited
Coffey, Susan O. Part-time Faculty Policies and Procedures in the Virginia Community College System. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, 1991.
Gappa, J. M. Part-time Faculty: Higher Education at the Crossroads. Washington, D.C.: Association for the study of Higher Education, 1984.
Susan O. Coffey has been teaching English and speech at Central Virginia Community College since 1971. She is currently the coordinator for the College's Self-Study. A recipient of the Chancellor's Fellowship for 1988-89, she received her doctorate in the administration of higher education in 1992 from the University of Virginia. Her dissertation treats adjunct faculty policies and procedures in the VCCS.