IHE article: Institutional Changes to Support Adjunct Faculty

[polly_mer]

"Forward-thinking colleges and universities have begun to address the needs of adjunct faculty in innovative, creative and distinctive ways. Take California State University, Dominguez Hills, for example. It launched an impressive set of reforms to pursue equity for all faculty members and to initiate a new culture where non-tenure-track faculty members were included and respected. Instead of tackling the many issues that concern non-tenure-track faculty in a piecemeal, ad hoc fashion, as many institutions have tried to do, the university took a comprehensive approach, with a focus on an inclusive culture that began by including non-tenure-track faculty from the get-go, in the planning process."

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/05/28/institutions-should-learn-some-good-examples-how-support-adjunct-faculty-opinion

Is this a promising trend or only available to institutions that could hire TT/T if they chose, but have opted for more contingent faculty for some reason?

[downer]

Is it a trend? I'm not sure.

The features that the article mentions are nice enough but personally I'd run a mile from being on a committee for shared governance having to sit around with Deans.

Gimme money, that's what I want.

Well that, and students who want to learn.

[FishProf]

I'm trying to get a feel for how well my adjuncts are compensated.  We pay $1100 per credit, with a 4-credit lab being 5-credits of load (i.e. $5500).  I think we are above average, but I have no real basis for that except knowing of a few local schools paying much less.  Can anyone weigh in on how that compares?

(p.s. This is in the Northeast, and there are lots of schools in the area).

[Hibush]

I'm trying to get a feel for how well my adjuncts are compensated.  We pay $1100 per credit, with a 4-credit lab being 5-credits of load (i.e. $5500).  I think we are above average, but I have no real basis for that except knowing of a few local schools paying much less.  Can anyone weigh in on how that compares?

(p.s. This is in the Northeast, and there are lots of schools in the area).

I checked the NY Department of Labor statistics site for a non-metro area with a lot of schools. Salaries for entry-level postsecondary teachers (which would include the adjunct pool) are from the low 40s to the high 50s, depending on the subject.

[polly_mer]

I'm trying to get a feel for how well my adjuncts are compensated.  We pay $1100 per credit, with a 4-credit lab being 5-credits of load (i.e. $5500).  I think we are above average, but I have no real basis for that except knowing of a few local schools paying much less.  Can anyone weigh in on how that compares?

(p.s. This is in the Northeast, and there are lots of schools in the area).

Have you tried an equivalent work calculation?  If 24 credits per year (e.g., 4/4) is standard for someone making $48k per year with teaching as 60% of the duties, then

0.6 * $48k/24 credits = $1.2 k / credit which is close to what you're paying without benefits.

Another plausible calculation is 12 credits per year (e.g., 2/2) paid at $60k per year with teaching as 40% of duties:

0.4 * $60k/12 credits = $2k /credit, which is above what you're paying

As someone wrote on a different thread, if you're getting qualified instructors willing to work for that pay with minimal turnover, then you're probably paying about market rate.  If you're having trouble employing or keeping instructors, then you need to pay more.  If you have more qualified applicants than you can sort through, then you can probably pay a little less.

[glowdart]

I'm trying to get a feel for how well my adjuncts are compensated.  We pay $1100 per credit, with a 4-credit lab being 5-credits of load (i.e. $5500).  I think we are above average, but I have no real basis for that except knowing of a few local schools paying much less.  Can anyone weigh in on how that compares?

(p.s. This is in the Northeast, and there are lots of schools in the area).

Do you have the type of relationship with your adjuncts that you can just ask them? I've learned a lot by asking "what do you need" and "I know we do not pay you enough, I've asked the Provost to re-evaluate the rate, but is it keeping up with the other places where you teach." We pay a little less than two local places, but it's harder to get in there and classes get cancelled all the time at one. We're at the same rate as a few other places and higher than the rest. I still don't think it is enough, but it is market rate.

[Hibush]

I'm trying to get a feel for how well my adjuncts are compensated.  We pay $1100 per credit, with a 4-credit lab being 5-credits of load (i.e. $5500).  I think we are above average, but I have no real basis for that except knowing of a few local schools paying much less.  Can anyone weigh in on how that compares?

(p.s. This is in the Northeast, and there are lots of schools in the area).

Do you have the type of relationship with your adjuncts that you can just ask them? I've learned a lot by asking "what do you need" and "I know we do not pay you enough, I've asked the Provost to re-evaluate the rate, but is it keeping up with the other places where you teach." We pay a little less than two local places, but it's harder to get in there and classes get cancelled all the time at one. We're at the same rate as a few other places and higher than the rest. I still don't think it is enough, but it is market rate.

That approach shows a good effort at seeing what the market is like.

There are two markets in many places, and it's good to have a sense of which you are working in. One is derived from the regular long-term employment of valuable professionals model. The other is the gig economy model.

The gig economy model tricks its participants into accepting far less than what they should be making. That phenomenon enables income inequality.

If the gig employment becomes too large a part of a particular profession (post-secondary general education instructor, local transportation provider, musical artist), then it distorts whole the marketplace.

[FishProf]

I am constrained by by a Union contract that dictates pay levels (it is an adjunct and TT union) so I have no leeway in making offers.  As an additional note, unit members (those with 3+ semesters in a row) get $1700 per credit.

[marshwiggle]

There are two markets in many places, and it's good to have a sense of which you are working in. One is derived from the regular long-term employment of valuable professionals model. The other is the gig economy model.

The gig economy model tricks its participants into accepting far less than what they should be making. That phenomenon enables income inequality.

If the gig employment becomes too large a part of a particular profession (post-secondary general education instructor, local transportation provider, musical artist), then it distorts whole the marketplace.

Which is exactly why people need to realize that "gigging" has its limits. From
another thread,

When a college puts up a teaching adjunct position that pays $3,000 for a class, they usually end up with more than one qualified applicant. The one thing you can take from that is that the college isn't paying "too little." If anything, it's paying too much. The corner store with a "HELP WANTED, $10/hr" sign that's up for months? That place isn't paying enough.

The law of supply and demand is about as basic as Newton's Laws; ignoring it just sets you up for pain.

[Hibush]

The law of supply and demand is about as basic as Newton's Laws; ignoring it just sets you up for pain.

With the normal supply and demand model, there is not the discontinuity one finds with the gig economy. There is such a big gap--many fold--between normal pay for highly trained professionals and giggers. It works locally in both domains but seems not to between them. There is information friction of some kind (causing people to ignore the forces of supply and demand).

The hopeful part is that people do have agency and can decide, individually and collectively, not to work for too little. The economy is really strong at the moment, so this is definitely the time to act.

[kaysixteen]

Yes, the economy is really good right now, but no matter how many times it has been said on the fora over the years, methinks it still seems necessary to state clearly that many non STEM PhDs simply have few options, nonetheless.

[marshwiggle]

Yes, the economy is really good right now, but no matter how many times it has been said on the fora over the years, methinks it still seems necessary to state clearly that many non STEM PhDs simply have few options, nonetheless.

People with STEM PhDs make up an infinitesimal part of the population. So someone with a non-STEM PhD has as many options as vast swaths of the population, plus the ones conferred by their own specific qualifications. Unfortunately, many only consider the latter category as "acceptable".

[ciao_yall]

Yes, the economy is really good right now, but no matter how many times it has been said on the fora over the years, methinks it still seems necessary to state clearly that many non STEM PhDs simply have few options, nonetheless.

People with STEM PhDs make up an infinitesimal part of the population. So someone with a non-STEM PhD has as many options as vast swaths of the population, plus the ones conferred by their own specific qualifications. Unfortunately, many only consider the latter category as "acceptable".

Non-STEM PhDs have options, just not necessarily in academia.

[Hibush]

Yes, the economy is really good right now, but no matter how many times it has been said on the fora over the years, methinks it still seems necessary to state clearly that many non STEM PhDs simply have few options, nonetheless.

People with STEM PhDs make up an infinitesimal part of the population. So someone with a non-STEM PhD has as many options as vast swaths of the population, plus the ones conferred by their own specific qualifications. Unfortunately, many only consider the latter category as "acceptable".

Non-STEM PhDs have options, just not necessarily in academia.

Piling on a bit, by agency I mean that all PhDs have the ability to look broadly at career possibilities but it is they also have individual responsibility to chose to do so.

There are conventional resources that are used by people with other degrees to help answer the questions, such as "so where are those jobs?" Career counselors for instance. They don't recommend barista, call-center and ride-share options.

[kaysixteen]

I grant that a 28yo just finishing a humanities or social science PhD may be able to reorient his career path to go outside of academia, especially given access to university career counseling resources, etc.  It is much much harder for a 40 plus one to do so, because, well, most employers hiring for the sorts of jobs that middle ager might well try to seek after, well, ah, err, ahem... Let's just say most forumites, especially long tenured ones and STEMers, vastly overestimate how hirable those people are.  Like it or not.