DeLeeuw: Part-Time Faculty Crucial

While tenure track faculty may have employment security, adjunct professors are vital to the operation of all universities, including Boston College, both in the classroom and in regards to overall student life. "Boston College is very grateful and proud of adjunct professors," Vice Provost Patricia DeLeeuw said in reference to the value of both full- and part-time adjunct faculty.

Adjunct professors at BC include both part-time and full-time faculty; unlike their associate and full professor counterparts, they are often employed on a short-term contract basis and do not enjoy the employment security of tenure track positions. "Among the part-time faculty, there exists faculty that continue teaching at Boston College every year and faculty that may only teach one course for one semester," said Associate Dean of A&S William Petri. BC currently employs approximately 400 part-time faculty to augment its almost 750 full-time professors that have varying teaching loads and are engaged in activities other than teaching, such as research and advising. "Though the number of part-time professors appears to be high, it is important to note that some part-time professors only teach one course per semester," De Leeuw said in response to the faculty employment numbers.

De Leeuw said that in the graduate and professional schools, such as the Carroll School of Management, School of Social Work, and BC Law School, many of the students prefer a practitioner in the field with not only classroom, but also real-world experience to instruct the class, integrating valuable practical experience into the curriculum. Therefore, as a result, "many professional classes are taught by people currently involved in the field and teach only one or two classes per semester while they continue their employment with their respective full-time employer," De Leeuw said.
"Continuing part-time faculty are great professors; however, they usually have family or some other obligation preventing them from working full time at the University," Petri said. Petri also said that "continuing part-time faculty is usually most interested in advising and working with students, developing lasting relationships. They are involved in the life of the University, advise students, serve on department committees, and sometimes create student relationships that go beyond a single course."

Though continuing part-time professors are beneficial to the University, "there needs to be a healthy ratio of adjunct to tenure track faculty," Petri said. Tenure track professors are often heavily engaged in research in addition to their teaching and other University responsibilities, as opposed to their adjunct counterparts who are primarily concerned with teaching and some advising. "The whole idea of tenure is that professors are proven good in their field, earned tenure, and ought to intellectually pursue their interests, taking any position on a subject matter without fear of administrative repercussion," Petri said.

Part-time adjunct professors are common at universities across the United States. Due to the considerably lower salaries of part-time professors, many universities in North America have reduced hiring of tenure-track faculty in favor of recruiting adjunct part-time professors on a contractual basis. Contingent faculty now make up more than half of all faculty positions in the United States.

Despite a University budget constrained by the current economic times and a desire by the administration to keep tuition increases to a minimum, BC continues to hire new full-time faculty while refraining from increasing the employment of part-time adjunct faculty, De Leeuw said. She said that instead of making adjustments to part-time faculty employment, "the University is looking at other ways, including delaying some capital projects, to prevent any impact the University's budget will have on students' education and the quality of professors at Boston College." 

 "Though part-time professors are paid per course, they are paid better than many of the part-time professors at other universities in the Boston area," De Leeuw said. Additionally, part-time professors who have been teaching at least two courses per semester for the last five years at BC and continue teaching at least two courses per semester receive access to the same health benefits as their full-time counterparts.
Petri said that there are "no more student complaints against continuing part-time adjunct faculty versus tenure-track faculty." De Leeuw said that, "Because part-time adjunct professors do not have tenure, the University is not under a contractual obligation to have them remain teaching at BC, so they tend to be very good and effective at teaching students. Some part-time professors are excellent teachers with reputations and experience equally as good as full-time professors."