It seems that after all of the hard work that goes into homework, taking lecture notes and studying for exams, students often forget about the work that is put in on the other side of academics. Often taken for granted are the people who work long hours to assign the homework, create the thought- provoking lectures and put together those pressing exams. Even then, within the world of academics there is a certain type of teacher who is often forgotten: the part-time professor.
Luckily, the times of being left in the dust will soon be a thing of the past. KSU recently established a part-time faculty senate to the university council that will allow representation for adjunct professors. I spoke with Yvonne Wichman, a dedicated part-time professor at KSU for over 15 years who brought light to the subject. Her excitement alone explained why it is so important that the new part-time faculty council be in place.
Being a part-time professor might only be the tip of the iceberg for many, but it is also the main source of income for numerous teachers at KSU. Part-time professors are limited in the amount of hours they can teach as the Georgia Board of Regents strictly limits part-time professors five courses per academic year. With lack of hours comes lack of income, which is a struggle for many part-time employees at KSU.
For those supporting families, many end up supplementing their income by getting second jobs or teaching outside of the Board of Regents at private universities. There will now be a part-time professor who understands the struggle that comes with part-time teaching that can represent this often unheard realm of faculty members.
While tenured professors often get to bathe in the glory of academic prestige, many part-time professors are left underappreciated and unrecognized. In many cases, however, students actually preferred adjunct professors to their more seasoned colleagues. According to Jordan Weismann’s article in The Atlantic, controlling for certain student characteristics, freshmen were actually about seven percentage points more likely to take a second course in a given field if their first class was taught by an adjunt or non-tenured professor.
According to the KSU Academic Affairs office, as of spring 2013 KSU had approximately 900 full time faculty members and in excess of 600 part time faculty members, meaning that P/T represented 40% of total faculty (1500) on campus that semester.
Before the recent addition to the university council, over 40% of KSU’s faculty was left unrepresented. Yvonne Wichman said, “I’m thrilled to see we are being recognized by the senate, and by the university at large, it speaks very highly of KSU.”
If there are ten or more part- time faculty members within a department, they will be represented within the council by an elected faculty member. With over 24 departments needing representation across campus, this will be a wonderful addition to the university. It is great to see representation given to those who work so hard both inside and outside of the classroom; the voices of part-timers will finally be heard. The emergence of the new part-time faculty council shows just how much KSU has grown and will continue to grow over the years.
Brittany Maher,
Senior Communication Major
