Some faculty members can be called to work for Ohio University to teach two courses during one semester and none the next. Because of their fluctuating schedules and roles, OU’s adjunct faculty are hard to track.
OU’s Human Resources registers adjunct faculty in the same system as teaching, tenure-track and visiting faculty, but with fewer details, said Gwenette Brooks, director of employment and recruiting.
Adjunct professors are hired on a departmental basis, which can occasionally cause inconsistencies in hiring among departments, Brooks said.
For example, the College of Arts and Sciences has each of their 19 departments hire the number of adjunct faculty they need, said John Gilliom, associate dean of the college.
The college spent $800,000 — a “small part” of their personnel funds for adjunct faculty last academic year, Gilliom said.
The psychology department typically hires the most adjunct faculty, hiring from one to 60 adjuncts per year.
HR has begun initial discussions to centralize at least some of the adjunct hiring process, including introducing newly hired adjunct faculty to the information they need to get accustomed to their jobs.
“There are definitely opportunities for improvement,” Brooks said. “Part of the problem of doing that centrally is that we hire so many people that we currently don’t have the resources (to track them).”
However, Gilliom said it’s important to allow the academic departments to hire adjunct faculty for the departments that need them.
“I think there are some structural things we need to look at to make sure we’re reaching all faculty if they’re faculty,” said Faculty Senate Chairwoman Elizabeth Sayrs.
As Faculty Senate discusses different ways to structure the classification of faculty members and each classifications representation in Faculty Senate, Sayrs said she will look into ways to include adjunct faculty in discussions.
Currently, only group I and group II faculty have representation in Faculty Senate, Sayrs said.
“When you have truly adjunct faculty who are teaching course by course, the best way to help them succeed is to treat them truly as whole faculty, regardless of how much they’re teaching,” Sayrs said.
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