Supporting Adjunct Faculty within the Academy: From Road Scholars to Retired Sages, One Size Does Not Fit All

• Main Author: Muncaster, Karen
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Boston College 2011
• Subjects: adjunct; faculty
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2426

Thesis advisor: Philip Altbach === As the number of part-time faculty in higher education rises, colleges and universities have begun to offer additional services and support to their part-time faculty in an attempt to attract and retain instructors who contribute to the institution. However, few institutions consider that the needs of their part-time faculty may differ; most seem to anticipate that the programming and services they offer will be equally desirable to all adjuncts. This study surveyed a sample of part-time faculty in Massachusetts to determine if faculty with differing backgrounds and motivations for teaching might desire different types of support and services from the college or university where they taught. A survey instrument was created using questions from the National Survey of Post-Secondary Faculty and included questions about interest in specific institutional services and support. An analysis of the results indicates that the faculty in this study fit into a modified form of the typology proposed by Gappa and Leslie in 1993. The relationship between these "types" and interest in the supports and services was analyzed using standard statistical techniques. Results of the study indicate significant difference in the interests of these faculty based on their faculty type. Reasons for these differences are proposed and suggestions for how colleges and universities might act on this knowledge are offered. === Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. === Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. === Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.