News Brief

            An interesting feature in the January 3^rd edition of the Sunday N.Y. Times by Samantha Stainburn tracks the growth of adjunct faculties nationwide. Ringing words from the N.Y. Times.  Here is an excerpt from that piece:

            “In 1960, 75 percent of college instructors were full-time tenured or tenure-track professors; today only 27 percent are. The rest are graduate students or adjunct faculty instructors employed on a per-course or yearly contract basis, usually without benefits and earning a third or less of what their tenured colleagues make. The recession means their numbers are growing.

            “When a tenure-track position is empty,” says Gwendolyn Bradley, director of communications at the American Association of University Professors, “Institutions are choosing to hire three part-timers to save money.

            “While adjuncts are talented teachers with the same degrees as tenured professors, they’re treated as second-class citizens on most campuses, and that affects students

“...Barack Obama taught a seminar on racism and the law at the University of Chicago Law School as an adjunct. Professoring part-time is a hobby for overachieving architects, graphic designers, lawyers and entrepreneurs, all of whom can share insights from real-world experiences that full-time academics haven’t had…you may find that real estate teacher is one step removed from Donald Trump’s V.P. on LinkedIn, and these are the types of people you want to meet.”