Contingent Faculty Resources

Who Are the Contingent Faculty?

Graduate teaching assistants, part-time faculty, adjuncts, and full-time faculty who are employed by the college or university to work on a temporary basis are the contingent academic labor workforce.

NEA Resources

The NEA and Contingent Academic Workers in Higher Education: NBI 2004-60 Action Plan
This report ( 217k, 46 pp) is a comprehensive plan of action developed "to secure for contingent academic workers throughout public higher education the rights, benefits and protections that full-time tenure track workers currently enjoy." The elements of the plan include recommendations for research, organizing, political advocacy, collective bargaining, leadership development and capacity building, and communications.

NEA Policy Statement on Part-time and Temporary Faculty

"Part-Time Faculty: A Look at Data and Issues" Volume 11 No. 3 September 2007
The data in this Research Center Update shows that public two-year institutions employ the greatest number of part-time faculty (67%). The vast majority of part-time faculty holds instructor or lecturer positions. Part-time faculty members stay with the same institution for at least seven years. http://www2.nea.org/he/heupdate/images/vol11no3.pdf

The NEA Almanac of Higher Education

• 2008 “Bargaining for Full-time Non-Tenure Track Faculty” by Gary Rhoades and Christine Maitland – a review of language bargained for full-time temporary faculty in the areas of compensation, evaluation, appointment and reappointment. http://www2.nea.org/he/healma2k8/images/a08p67.pdf
  
  
• 2006 “More Than They Bargained For:  Contingent Faculty” by Gary Rhoades and Christine Maitland – a review of language for contingent faculty in the areas of job security, evaluation, compensation and professional development.  http://www2.nea.org/he/healma2k6/images/a06p65.pdf
  
  
• 2005 “Bargaining for Contingent Faculty by Christine Maitland and Gary Rhoades” – a review of contract language for contingent faculty in four states.  The chapter discusses the differences in negotiations between combined units (full and part-time) and separate units for full and part-time faculty.

"Nontraditional Faculty Ranks Grow Faster Than Tenured Positions" Advocate. http://www.nea.org/he/advo04/special (Special Issue 2004). Data reveals that part-time faculty has grown faster than full time faculty.

Henry Lee Allen. "Employment at the Margins: Nonstandard Work in Higher Education." NEA Almanac of Higher Education. http://www.nea.org/he/healma2k4/images/a04p27.pdf (2004). Henry Allen examines a thirty year trend of growing part-time faculty employment at the expense of full-time positions. Data reveals a dominance of part-time faculty at public community colleges.

Joe Berry. "Support Campus Equity Week." Advocate. http://www.nea.org/he/advo01/advo0108/speaking.html (August 2001). Joe Berry speaks out on why NEA higher education faculty who have tenure should support Campus Equity Week.

Henry Lee Allen. "Diversity, Nonstandard Work, and Academic Employment in the 21st Century." NEA Almanac of Higher Education. http://www.nea.org/he/healma2k3/images/a03p27.pdf (2003). Henry Allen examines the fiscal, political and structural forces that influence the long-term trend toward contingent academic labor.

Gregory M. Saltzman. "Union Organizing and The Law: Part-time Faculty and Graduate Teaching Assistants." NEA Almanac of Higher Education. http://www.nea.org/he/healma2k/images/a00p43.pdf (2000). Gregory Saltzman articulates the labor laws pertaining to organizing part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants.

"Part-time Faculty." Update. http://www.nea.org/he/heupdate/images/vol7no4.pdf (September 2001). This report discusses the increasing role that part-time faculty members play in the colleges and universities workforce.

Ben Johnson and Tom McCarthy."Casual Labor and the Future of the Academy" NEA Thought & Action http://www.nea.org/he/heta00/s00p107.pdf (Summer 2000). The academy relies more heavily on casual workers—part-time and adjunct instructors—than any other sector of the economy.  As the use of casual workers continues, the career hopes of thousands of would-be professors are severely undermined.

James C. Palmer. "Part-Time Faculty at Community Colleges: A National Profile." NEA Almanac of Higher Education. http://www.nea.org/he/healma99/images/a99-45.pdf (1999). James Palmer profiles the rising ranks of part-time faculty at community colleges nationwide.

Jeannie Ludlow. "Priorities and Power: Adjuncts in the Academy." NEA Thought & Action. http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/f98-51.pdf (Fall 1998). Walk in the shoes of an adjunct professor as she shares a chilling, humorous, and optimistic story.

John Stevenson. "Contracted, Contingent, Part-time: Coming Soon!" NEA Thought & Action. http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/f98-65.pdf (Fall 1998). John speaks first hand about the need to organize the growing ranks of part-time, contingent faculty.

Deborah Lee Schneer. "Alice in the Academy: A Farce in Thirteen Scenes." NEA Thought & Action. http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/f98-71.pdf (Fall 1998). A new Alice in Wonderland play reveals the pittance of pay, the demanding workload and the fantasy of full-time employment.

Gina L. Sheeks and Philo A. Hutcheson. "How Departments Support Part-Time Faculty." NEA Thought & Action. http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/f98-85.pdf (Fall 1998). The range of interaction between part-time faculty and their departments vary from indifference and exploitation to full engagement, according to a study reported in this article.

Jane Kerligner and Scott Sibary. "Protecting Common Interests of Full- and Part-Time Faculty." NEA Thought & Action. http://www.nea.org/he/heta98/f98-91.pdf (Fall 1998). Sharing common interest in the academic community, these authors make the case for a harmonious, mutually beneficial relationship between lecturers and tenure-track faculty.