Welcome to Adjunctville

Where Do We Go From Here?

Authors

  • Natalie Dorfeld Florida Institute of Technology

Keywords:

adjuncts, part-time, contigent labor, new faculty majority, academia, exploitation, freshman composition

Abstract

Currently, 75.5% of those teaching at the collegiate level are contingent, meaning off the tenure track with renewable contracts, and it is detrimental to all parties involved. This article will attempt to provide four recommendations to academia’s current state: 1. tweak graduate programs, 2. improve working conditions, 3. restructure English Departments, and 4. just don’t go. Although the predicament is much more complicated than this, and will never be an overnight fix, improvements can be made in order to assist those at every stage of the part-time merry-go-round.

Author Biography

Natalie Dorfeld, Florida Institute of Technology

Dr. Natalie M. Dorfeld is currently an Associate Professor of English in the School of Arts and Communication at Florida Institute of Technology. Her work has been featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Working Papers in Composition and TESOL, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, and CEAMAGazine. Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of Forum: Issues About Part-Time and Contingent Faculty, which focuses on adjunct professors working in the humanities.

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Published

2021-06-17

Issue

Vol. 49 No. 1 (2021): Winter/Spring 2021

Section

Columns

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