Submitting Campus
Worldwide
Department
Engineering and Technology
Document Type
Report
Publication/Presentation Date
Fall 8-20-2020
Abstract/Description
More than half of all faculty in the United States are adjunct faculty (Edmonds, 2015). As of 10/22/2015, the College of Aeronautics (COA) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide (ERAU-WW) included 684 adjunct faculty. This fact creates a necessity to conduct comprehensive research into the value of these faculty, the quality of the adjuncts who are teaching ERAU-WW courses, their affinity for the College, etc. Additionally, it is imperative to evaluate adjunct faculty performance, effectively communicate with adjuncts, at some level predict the commitment of adjunct faculty to the University and communicate the University’s commitment to the adjunct faculty. The College of Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide has a unique perspective and an increasing interest in ensuring that adjunct faculty concerns and challenges are understood and discussed, fair evaluations are conducted, prompt communication is fostered and the standards and expectations of the University, the College and his/her perspective academic department are clear. Worldwide’s collective adjunct faculty pool of both former and current adjunct faculty totals more than 3000, which raises the question, “Why is there such a large pool?” (ERAU-WW Workshop, 2015). The research outlined in this report seeks to clarify the current state of adjunct faculty within COA and to outline solutions to the unique challenges posed by supporting such a large pool of adjunct faculty whom are located at various places around the world. Results of recent research, as discussed in this document, demonstrate that communication between the College’s adjunct faculty and the college itself is virtually nonexistent leading the way for weakened commitments and a low sense of community (Gordon, 2009). Additionally, the data itself contains erroneous adjunct faculty members essentially making any communication between the College and the adjunct faculty population, as listed in the provided database, inefficient. More over the data begs the question of whether each adjunct faculty has received all the necessary training and if the total number of adjunct faculty outweigh the College’s need.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Norman, N., & Robinson-Bryant, F. (2020). Evaluating the State of the Adjunct Faculty Relationship to the College of Aeronautics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide. , (). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1418
