Math 101

Notwithstanding a Republican administration’s bureaucrats going after a Democrat-dominated college —

When you have academic fields that are overwhelmingly over-populated — what is the logical outcome?

A very, very few get hired full-time. The vast majority do not get hired full-time. Math 101.

As always — don’t play the sap. If you must adjunct, only stay long enough (<3 years) to display your talents. Then announce that you are leaving.

If they really want you — they’ll make a deal for full-time. Look how a certain faux-Indian got a nice deal in Boulder — he faked out CU to a $68K/year pension.

No one is forced to work in U.S. academia. If things are that bad, leave for someplace better.

L.L., at 7:00 am EDT on August 15, 2006

part-time to tenure

Where I teach, we had a pair of very successful part-time instructors who, had they been hired on tenure-track, almost certainly would have been granted tenure. Both had taught for us for several years. Both were middle-aged. And in fact, the school did the right thing and when two tenure track positions because of retirements, the two part-timers were given the t-t jobs in regular searches. Could we have found “better” candidates? Depends on what you mean by better. We certainly could have found younger candidates. Both of these teachers were effective in the classroom & in the department—we had years of official records. Still, some faculty yearned to bring in “fresh blood,” a code phrase for “younger,” I think, but also revelatory of a belief that part-timers are somehow tainted by their status. It is a pernicious and (usually) unconscious belief. It seemed to me to be a matter of simple justice that we put these two colleagues on t-t; it was also a pragmatic decision in the best sense of the term. We knew for a fact that we were getting good teachers/scholars, something that is never certain when a new and unknown person joins a faculty.

And, yes, I began my academic career as a part-timer, though I am now a full prof, though not at the school where I was a part-timer.

Note: I usually post here under my full name with my school affiliation, but because this post describes the experiences of colleagues rather than my own hare-brained opinions, I am posting anonymously.

jd, at 7:45 am EDT on August 15, 2006

Age Bias

I teach at a community college in New Jersey suffering from the same budget crunch as all other NJ colleges.

What are the costs of hiring a full-time instructor? If the instructor is 68 years old, how long can she reasonably be expected to stay before retiring? Assuming that she will retire in less than 10 years, what are the costs for completing two job searches in 5-10 years instead of one? Can you quantify the value brought to the position by the experienced woman in order to justify the guaranteed additional job search during the next decade?

My community college is trying to save money by offering retirement packages to older professors. Is it because of their age or because of their salary? I don’t honestly know. As a result, I would be shocked if my institution would hire someone in their late 60’s at the same time they’re trying to offer retirement packages to people the same age..even if the experienced teacher could be brought in at a far lower salary.

Steve S., Assistant Professor at NJ Community College, at 10:05 am EDT on August 15, 2006

Writing Professor,

Nobody thinks any job is their “divine right.” But consider a couple of points, please. First, whether one pursues literary analysis or comp/rhet, we ALL spend years teaching composition. Therefore some of us think we might be fairly good at it. In my doctoral program, everyone regardless of specialization had to take several hours of comp theory and practice. This was not wasted time; we all got excellent training in the nuts and bolts of composition.

Second, I’d love to see a comparison of comp specialists to lit specialists as far as their actual teaching competence. Who’s the better writing teacher? Let’s find out. In my own experience, being a composition specialist is no guarantee that one is also a great writing teacher, or even a good one.

Third, why is composition and rhetoric even IN English departments? It’s an accident of history; the two are not necessarily related. English departments, being first and foremost literature departments, will continue to draw grad students who are interested primarily in literature, not in teaching composition. But because nearly all schools put their writing programs in their English departments, the source of freshman comp instructors will also be in English departments. That does not make us all love comp, but it does give us a lot of experience teaching it.

And that’s why we think we should have a good chance at these jobs. If you disagree, find some evidence that we are not as good at teaching it as the comp specialists are.

Not a Comp Specialist, at 11:35 am EDT on August 15, 2006

this is a distraction from the real issues

I am a long-time comp and lit. instructor, doing a PhD. Doing a Phd and working as an adjunct— neither of these is the wisest career move. It’s nearly impossible to get a f/t job. I don’t appreciate the position of Keith Hoeller, who seems to be worried that turning two p/t jobs into one f/t job puts at least one part-timer out of work. Yes, the p/t faculty should have an equal shot at the vacancy. But we absolutely should not be clamoring to keep p/t exploitive jobs in existence. Most of us are not dabbling in college teaching, and we deserve legitimate work. I learned a lot as an adjunct, while doing my PhD, but there is no way I will do it as my primary wage-earning occupation. Moreover, I am sorry to say this, but if I were on a hiring committee, I would be biased against employees willing to work double-time for half-pay for years on end. Rather than admire their dedication to the field and students, I would worry about their self-esteem. In addition, as someone who HAS taught 10+ sections in a year for $25K without benefits, I know this sort of schedule leaves one little time to keep up with advances in the field. I think that “even community college students in composition courses” deserve faculty who do keep up with research and who are writing. More tenure-track full-time positions are needed, and this is to the benefit of students AND faculty. Academics must refuse to be exploited. In addition, while ageism is wrong, there is a difference in discriminating against a candidate who is 57 and the same candidate when she is 68. I know of few 68-year-olds who intend to keep their jobs for long. I would not expect an employer to hire someone they knew would be leaving soon, regardless of the reason.

comp veteran, big urban U, at 12:20 pm EDT on August 15, 2006

Why hire someone about to retire?

Steve S. believes that it will be less cost-effective to hire someone closer to retirement than a younger person. That assumes the younger person will stay. In reality, turnover among untenured faculty is high, even in teaching institutions. People who are younger leave when their spouses get offered jobs, leave when they are offered more money elsewhere, leave to be closer to family or to live in a more desirable area, or they don’t fit in or dislike the institution, etc. The idea that hiring a younger person will prevent another search is unsupported by reality (regardless of the hope or intention) and strikes me as an excuse for discrimination. People retire at very different ages, some because they are tired of teaching for 20-30 years, not because they are incapable of it. AARP documents that the majority of retirees are retired by the job market, not by their own inclination. Absent forced retirement policies, there is no reason to assume someone will or should retire at age 65. If someone can acquire a Ph.D. at an older age, and if they can hack it as an adjunct, they can and should be given the same chance to work full time as younger applicants.

There are other code words and subtle age-related discriminations once you are hired in a tenure track position. For example, there is a non-specific concern about your level of energy, your flexibility, or your ability to work with technology. It is a burden having to be extraordinarily peppy and never complain about illness, to offset stereotypes about older people’s capacities. The same behaviors in a young person are always given a different spin.

Nancy, at 9:20 pm EDT on August 15, 2006

Adjunct...

After teaching for four years as an adjunct at a university in South Florida, I was offered a job as Visiting Professor for $21,500. I was sure that this was a per-semester salary. How wrong I was! $21,500 was to be my compensation after more than thirty years in the classroom in all. That was when I chose to return to a high school classroom where I more than tripled the college offer. I now have the benefits of health insurance and retirement as well. So what does that tell you about higher education and the well-seasoned adjunct?

Carol, at 4:40 am EDT on August 17, 2006

age

Katherine...of course you will find it hard to find a tenure track job when you finish at age 50ish. People who are 30ish find it hard. This sort of thing happens with all jobs, even blue-collar. I really think that career changes are hard and it’s best to be wise about what one will end up faced with when all of that hard work is finished and one is out the college door and on the street looking for a job. That’s the school of hard knocks.

James, at 4:55 pm EDT on August 19, 2006