ADJUNCT FACULTY IN TWO-YEAR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION AS INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURS

The AGI 2011 Workforce report states that approximately 17% of community colleges (CCs) in the U.S. have some form of geoscience program and that over half the faculty in these programs are part-time instructors. Since many of the remaining 83% of CCs are small schools that offer the occasional earth or environmental science course taught by part-time instructors, it is all too apparent that part-time faculty are a critical component in two year geoscience education.

Though many part-time faculty are "short-timers" or "moonlighters" that are peripherally involved with the programs for which they teach, there are those who are long-term instructors who consistently and frequently teach courses in one institution while actively participating in departmental and other college affairs. These are professionals who for a variety of reasons have chosen to put down roots in and become active members of a particular college even though they remain part-time. To survive in the long term they engage in a variety of additional activities at their institutions, such as managing special programs, developing curriculum, writing grants, and building bridges between their schools and other local, regional, and national institutions. They in fact become entrepreneurs within their institutions who originate or help launch new initiatives that benefit students, other faculty, and the larger educational community.

Despite their financial limitations such entrepreneurial relationships have advantages for both the individual instructor and their institutions. However, for these advantages to be realized there must be an institutional culture that supports individual initiative and regards part-time faculty as critical members of the academic community. The aim of this talk is to investigate the advantages, limitations, and mechanics of such relationships, as well as what colleges can do to encourage and support them.