Abstract
This article examines appropriate and inappropriate institutional uses of part time faculty, emphasizing the value of contingent instructors while cautioning against employment practices that undermine educational quality and equity. It identifies several legitimate functions for part time appointments, including graduate assistantships with adequate supervision, specialized professional instruction, staffing flexibility in response to enrollment variability, and roles for retired faculty or individuals seeking shared positions. The discussion also highlights practices that warrant scrutiny, such as using part time teaching as an informal audition for full time positions or enabling moonlighting across nearby institutions, both of which may narrow applicant pools and obscure institutional responsibility for instructional staffing. The article then identifies clearly unacceptable uses, particularly reliance on part time faculty primarily for cost savings, staffing night divisions, and assigning part time instructors to service courses without adequate oversight or integration into departmental structures. Key concerns include recruitment, orientation, evaluation, resource access, and availability to students. The analysis calls for sustained institutional attention to employment patterns to ensure that part time faculty are used ethically and effectively, and that their deployment does not compromise instructional quality, student equity, or the professional integrity of academic labor.
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Anita
(1986)
"Part-Time Faculty: Properly Using and Not Abusing,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 55, Article 27.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol55/iss1/27
