By Paul Fain
Delta College, a two-year institution located in Michigan, has moved to make all of its full-time faculty positions either tenured or tenure-track. That means about 55 instructors at Delta have the option of replacing their one-year renewable contracts with tenure-track status.
The decision bucks a trend toward the hiring of adjunct professors and keeping them off the tenure track, at community colleges and across most of higher education. And the conversion of existing positions to tenured, as opposed to just hiring new professors, is considered the Holy Grail for adjunct advocates.
Officials at the college said their goals are better teaching and showing respect for professors. They also said the move won't cost much, and will help in recruiting new faculty members. “We truly believe that having tenure or tenure-track faculty is a commitment to our students,” said Thomas Lane, vice president of instruction and learning services at the college.
Part of the reason, he said, is that tenured faculty can focus on students and teaching instead of worrying about “are they still going to be here” after their contract expires.
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I honestly think this is what most places should be doing (teaching institutions, anyway). As a former adjunct who applied for and got the tenure-track position that opened on my campus, I can say that I already knew (and my campus and department knew, too) that I was a good fit, because I'd been adjuncting for 3 years by that point. I had excellent peer and student evals, and I'd worked (unpaid) on a committee centered on engaging students in the first year of college. The campus knew that betting on me would probably pay dividends, and so far, it has. I'm published, and I work on several committees that have a direct impact on the campus. I love most aspects of my job (except the salary), and unless my partner's job in Chicago comes through, I'll probably be staying here.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we often fail searches here because the departments and the campuses often have conflicting goals: the departments often want to hire superstars, and the campuses know that superstars are not going to be happy in west-by-god-bumfuck rural Wisconsin. If we *do* get a superstar, they're usually gone within two or three years--on to bigger and better-paying institutions more in line with their research agendas. We do our best to look for people who put teaching first in their cover letters, but that's not a guarantee that someone will be happy in our institution.
This is not to say that we do not hire competent (or stellar) tenure-track folks. We do. But the guy who's got a book published and another in the pipeline probably isn't going to be happy teaching a 4/4 load with most of it in composition (in my department) or lower level math, or intro to chemistry or whatever. An adjunct, on the other hand, one who's been with the institution for a few years, would probably be pretty happy to have the position converted, and be more likely to stay long-term.
What it boils down to, for me, is that if you're good enough to teach here as an adjunct, why can't you be good enough to teach here as a tenure-track professor? In my case, having stability and working on one campus (as opposed to 2 or 3 to make ends meet) made it possible for me to do the PD that the department wanted. I think other adjuncts should have the same chance.
Sometimes big, good things do happen. The Berlin Wall coming down was one of the few before this that I can remember. My best to all adjuncts who get t-t jobs: I wish there were more of them.
ReplyDeleteOh man. I want to send this out to everyone in my school. I've heard higher ups say things like, "We're in a unique situation because 90% of our faculty are part time," trying to spin it, when everyone knows it's awful. That said, several of the tenured profs are major deadwood. My favorite being an AV instructor that didn't know what an ipod is, and I think he may have actually used the word "whippersnapper."
ReplyDeleteYes, Virginia, there is a Sanity Clause.
ReplyDelete