Issue
28(1)
Connecting
Non Full-Time Faculty to Institutional Mission : A guidebook for
college/university administrators & faculty developers.
(2007). Leora Baron-Nixon.
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing. 131 pp., $24.95 (paperback).
ISBN 978-1-57922-061-7.
Review by: Steve
R. Smith
Associate
Dean, College
of Arts
and Sciences
Pacific University,
Oregon
Memo to
Provosts, Deans and Department Chairs of institutions large and
small: Buy this book. Baron-Nixon has crafted a book that will
be especially helpful for those who struggle to navigate the challenge
of how best to handle—in the best interests of students and programs—the
“part-time/adjunct faculty situation” on campus. This
is for the reader who does not want a lot of theoretical underpinnings
or politically-charged huffing and puffing about the “part-time/adjunct
problem .” This is for the reader who wants clear, practical,
pragmatic guidance focusing on specific action steps that will
integrate part-timers with, and connect them to, the institution’s
missions and daily operations. Those who have their college/university
catalogs, policy manuals, and strategic plans within easy reach
of their desks will want Leora Baron-Nixon’s Connecting Non
Full-Time Faculty to Institutional Mission there, too.
As
Irene W.D. Hecht points out in her succinct foreword, “The theme
Baron-Nixon has chosen is that of connections ” (ix).
Indeed, this theme guides the manner in which the book is organized.
Its five chapters focus on areas to which part-time faculty should
be more palpably connected (academic tasks and missions) if they
and their academic units/institutions are to realize a more equitable,
efficient, and rewarding relationship. These chapters are “Connection
1: To The Institution”, “Connection 2: To The Department”, “Connection
3: To Teaching”, “Connection 4: To Students”, “Connection 5: To
Scholarship”.
Each
chapter begins with a passage titled “The Challenge,” e.g. what
makes it important, yet difficult, to connect a part-time faculty
member with his/her academic department’s colleagues and departmental
tactical and strategic operations? Each “Challenge” is followed
by specific “Action Plans” that should be put in place to best
meet it.
Since
it is often unusual for part-time faculty to hold a formal role
in academic advising on our campuses, Baron-Nixon focuses but
briefly (in “Connection 4”) on this area; however, she does provide
some interesting suggestions about how part-time faculty may serve
as “informal advisor[s] and mentor[s]” for their students (p.
86). Advising center administrators and advising program coordinators
may find that enacting these suggestions will provide additional
layers of service to their students.
There
are two perspectives Baron-Nixon may consider including in a later
edition of her book. One is that of part-time faculty members
who live the “life” and are imbedded in the midst of the challenges
she describes. The other is that of provosts or deans who have
taken the action steps she suggests. Have they worked?
The
steadily growing use of part-time faculty is a reality. Baron-Nixon
wisely frames this work in the context that, “Regardless of each
institution’s financial and political realities, when all is said
and done, institutional growth and continued success depend, to
a large extent, on ‘doing it right’ when it comes to working with
part-time faculty” (p. 2). Her guidebook is rooted in real-world
realities, informed with cogent and practical advice, and infused
with the spirit of doing what is best for our students and the
whole of the Academy.
