Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

EdD

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Learning Sciences and Human Development

Committee Chair

Ernest R Goeres

Abstract

The growing use of part-time, non-tenure track faculty in higher education has become a nationwide phenomenon. The college-teaching part-time instructor is one who is working for low pay, has little job security, and has few benefits. College part-time instructors' employment is in a contingent state. They do not have the job protection provided to tenured professors because they are usually hired for only the upcoming term with no guarantee of being hired for any future terms.;The purpose of this study was to describe the status of part-time faculty in Maryland public and private four-year colleges and universities as perceived by department chairs and to explore whether there are significant differences between private versus public on each of the five areas of study. The five areas were (1) extent of information collected on the professional commitments of their adjunct faculty, (2) extent adjunct faculty are evaluated and what evidence is required, (3) extent adjunct faculty become integrated into the department, (4) extent performance expectations are explained to adjunct faculty, and (5) extent adjunct faculty are satisfied with employment conditions in the department.;A cover letter and seven-page survey was sent to identified Maryland public and private four-year college and university department chairs using Survey MonkeyRTM. For this particular study, descriptive statistics and ANOVAs were used as appropriate measures. Statistical results revealed there was a significant difference (p < .10) between chairs from public and private institutions on their composite scores in the area of the extent adjunct faculty are evaluated and the evidence required. Department chairs from private institutions recorded a higher mean score than department chairs from public institutions, indicating chairs from private institutions agreed more with this statement, resulting in a higher mean score. Conducting Cross-Tabulation, a strong, significant association (Cramer's V = .317, p < .05) was found between the type of school (public/private) and the survey question that adjunct faculty are expected to use student-centered effective teaching techniques. While both groups tended to agree with this statement, chairs from private institutions were much more spilt in their responses.;There were no significant differences between chairs from public and private institutions on their composite scores in the area of information collected on the professional commitments of their adjunct faculty, in the area of adjunct faculty becoming integrated into the department, in the area of performance expectations being explained to adjunct faculty, and in the area of adjunct faculty satisfaction with employment conditions in the department.

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