Raúl Rubio
PAF 9308 – Administrative Services in Higher Education
Reaction Paper #1 – HR Management
October 13th, 2011
Within the arenas of Academic Affairs and Human Resources Management recent attention has been focused on the effects on students in courses taught by part-time faculty. In the article “Gatekeeper Courses Should Not Be Assigned to Part-Time Instructors, Research Suggests” by David Glenn, possible effects pertaining to the instruction by part-time faculty is presented. These encompass findings that propose that “First-year college students are significantly more likely to drop out, if their high-stakes ‘gatekeeper courses’ are taught by part-time adjuncts” and other studies that suggest that “part-time instructors can be detrimental to students’ well-being.” This article points to a few interesting factors related to these research findings. One being that this case may not be necessarily connected to the quality of teaching by part-time faculty, but related to an “accessibility issue,” David Glenn, the article’s author, suggests. He mentions research conducted by Audrey J. Jaeger in which “an important factor is students’ inability to talk to part-time adjuncts about their course work” causing students to become disenfranchised with the course and learning about the particular subject. Some listed solutions include assigning part-time instructors to smaller, advanced courses, and other relevant support, including, “more office space, places to gather, and resources that would allow those instructors to support students outside the classroom.”
The issue at hand seems to engage two important “administrative realms” within the established university structure, Academic Affairs (College and Departmental Administrators) and Human Resources Management, which would have to work hand in hand for the successful coverage of instructional staff. They would need to implement an organizational framework that would oversee existent needs, qualifications, hiring, renewing, training, and the overall management of part-time faculty while assuring their effective integration within the department structure and their attention to curricular objectives. Coincidentally, the Hanover Research Council’s report titled “Workforce Planning – Applications in Public Higher Education” (2007), supports an integrative plan of this nature. In their analysis and recommendations they include a section titled “Departmental Responsibility and Directions,” in which they offer steps for the development of a ‘Workforce Plan’ inclusive of gathering information on ‘mission-critical’ positions, utilizing data on workforce demands, determining future needs, among other in-house assessments. Also included, are initiatives which would maintain consistent monitoring and evaluation of the ‘Workforce Plan’ for the ever-changing university setting, including the engagement of variables that include: retirement outlook, recruitment and retention trends, and workforce attrition. This would entail the collaboration of both Academic Affairs (inclusive of the university’s administration and the department) and Human Resources Management.
Within the particular realm of Academic Affairs, the state of part-time instruction is described by the AAUP Contingent Faculty Index (2006) as follows: “Part-time faculty are not involved in broader curriculum planning and often have only very limited interaction with their faculty colleagues” (Curtis & Jacob, 9). The repercussions are of a wide-range, including both effects described above, but more likely pointing to an overall lack of cohesive structure of curricular objectives within departments given the disconnect among the faculty teaching related courses. They Index expands on this idea by stating: “This means that part-time faculty teach in isolation; they are not aware of how the courses they teach fit into the overall instructional objectives of their department or the institution as a whole” (9). Given this, Academic Departments must implement a cohesive plan for the successful integration of part-time faculty into the mission and curricular objectives of the department. This entails a proactive role by department administrators and clear objectives of department programs, course sequences, and learning outcomes.
The issues brought up by these articles offered me an opportunity to think about the framework of the “needs” versus the “proper uses” of part-time faculty. Specifically, those related to the popular use of part-time and contingent faculty for the introductory courses, which are most often offered in conjunction with a sequence course and therefore critical for the success of the second course. Given my background as a faculty member, most aligned with the realm of Academic Affairs, I was reminded not only of the importance of supporting the integration of part-time faculty within the department structure but also about the critical importance of studying the learning outcomes assessment data for those courses taught by these instructors (as well as those of full-time faculty). This should not be interpreted as alluding to the idea that learning outcomes results of courses taught by part-time faculty may be lower, but as a call for attention to be given to possible trends or differences based on whether a faculty member is part-time, contingency, tenured or tenure-track. A continued increase in the number of courses taught by part-time faculty (22% in 1970 versus 47.6 percent in 2005, as listed in the Glenn article, published in 2008) and also supported by The Hanover Research Council 2010 “Academic Administration Practice” Report which demonstrates that this area is of primary concern. That report also points to a decline in Full-Time, Tenured, and Tenure-track faculty, (Trend 7, Page 44) which calls for the order of careful “workforce planning,” which is the subject of a number of the other key articles included in our course readings package. It would seem necessary to establish programs that envision strategies and contingency plans for these trends. In order to support cohesive and successful teaching of general-education, ‘gatekeeper,’ and major-related courses departments should integrate both full and part-time faculty in finding ways to assure uniformity across the board. Many academic departments and Centers for the support of Teaching and Learning seem to have already begun implementing programs that support these initiatives. Not only will the success of these initiatives affect the general retention of students, but they are critical for the success of students that do stay.
Works Cited
Curtis, John W. & Monica F. Jacobe. (2006) “AAUP Contingent Faculty Index-2006.” American Association of University Professors.
Glenn, David. (2008) “Gatekeeper Courses Should Not Be Assigned to Part-Time Instructors, Research.” The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Hanover Research Council. (2007) “Workforce Planning – Applications in Public Higher Education.”
Hanover Research Council. (2010) “Academy Administration Practice.”
