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I have a quick question for any of you university professors out there. What exactly does an adjunct professor do? I should phrase it in that what are the benefits in accepting an adjunct position.

I ask because recently my wife graduated with her masters and was offered a job with the university in our town. (Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas) They told her she would teach one night class ever semester and be an observer for student teachers who student taught at the school district in the next county over. That was pretty much it aside from the pay that they told her.

I was just curious from anyone else’s experience what privileges an adjunct professor might be rewarded. I thought this is a great way to get a foot in the door because she ultimately wants to teach college level full time. OH! I forgot to say she is a middle school Deaf Ed. teacher and her Masters is in Educational leadership. (She also received her principle license with the degree).

Any input would help me in my goal of trying to be smarter than my wife!!

Adjunct literally means “temporarily attached to the staff.” Basically you’re contracted for one term at a time and if you are not needed for any particular term you are not contracted (and not paid.) Job security is reliant on whether or not the school has students that are in need of your particular teaching skills. As an example my official title at Stetson University is “Adjunct Professor of Tuba.” As long as the School of Music is satisfied with my work and has tuba students I have a job. Other than that there really is no job security and no benefits. For me, I find this acceptable, since I like my job at Stetson very much and work hard to keep everyone happy with my work. As for benefits my army retirement serves me well. For your wife, having no benefits can be a serious issue but her adjunct position is a “foot in the door” which can lead to a more secure position. I wish the two of you good luck.

All that is totally on target.

But, I'll add this in: an adjunct gets the crappy office shared with 4-8 others; has to do a lot of extra checking up on things to be sure they have the most up-to-date info on policies; gets the crappy schedule (at least until they've been adjuncted for a while); still has to have office hours; gets paid a lot less comparatively; has to fight for a copier code and library reserves; generally has a little more trouble establishing good relationships with the students. (Oh, no benefits, and in some cases contract labor status---1099s, no withholding.)

But, they usually have a BLAST teaching, or else they wouldn't put up with all the crap involved.

yea I think my wife is pretty set on taking the position and I am rather excited for her. She is going to keep her middle school teaching gig so I think she will be fine there without benefits. I mostly see this as a way of getting into this university or even another as a full time faculty member. I might be a little jealous!

Pros: work with motivated students and faculty, musically/intellectually stimulating atmosphere, much less paperwork/administrative work than a full-time position, set your own schedule, great for your resume/reference list

Cons: low pay, no benefits, shared office, no security

College teaching in any capacity will absolutely help you get your foot in the door professionally. These days, at least in the low brass world, it's almost impossible to teach college unless you've...taught college. (I realize there are plenty of exceptions to this.)

So pretty much I agree with everyone else!

- Crappy