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Volume 41, Issue 3
September 30, 2003
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September 30, 2003
Diversity prevalent in adjuncts
Myte
Alleyne
Contributing Writer
 |
| Photo courtesy
of Russell Haughey |
| Adjunct faculty member Russell Haughey
holds a bear cub while working as a ranger for Ariz. Department of
Game and Fish. |
At MCC, the likelihood that you are being taught by an adjunct, or part-time,
teacher is about 70 to 1.
Most of MCC’s departments have about seven to 20 full-time teachers
and the rest are all part-time.
What do these professors do, outside of giving you homework and grading
your tests?
Most work somewhere else full time, for 40 hours or more.
Marilyn Enloe teaches microbiology in the life science department at MCC.
She also is the assistant director of transfer services at ASU.
The balancing act of maintaining her full-time position and teaching at
MCC as adjunct faculty has taught her how to get creative with her schedule.
Most adjunct faculty members do not have offices, so when a student wants
to meet before class, Enloe has to take a vacation day at her full-time
job to do so.
Enloe said she must grade papers on the weekend or on her days off from
ASU.
“When I started teaching at MCC as adjunct I was a single mother
raising two children by myself and I needed the extra income.Now my daughters
have both graduated from ASU and are married, but I continue to teach
microbiology just because I enjoy it,” said Enloe.
Most MCC teachers, both adjunct and full-time, agree that the technology
available to teachers to enhance their lessons is a significant benefit
to teaching at MCC.
Many chose MCC for that reason, among others.
Another reason many professors choose to teach at the community college
level is because the focus is on teaching.
“The big difference between ASU and MCC is their missions. MCC has
that middle word – community. MCC is a community with customer service
in mind. If there is a demand for a class the school puts it together.
ASU doesn’t seem to realize the needs of the students quite as well.
The faculty at ASU really needs to do research and publish articles, so
maybe the third priority is teaching, and then when it comes to teaching
it is more focused on the graduate student than the undergrad. At MCC
there is not a requirement to do research; the focus is on teaching and
the student,” professor Russell Haughey stated.
Haughey teaches biology 105.
Haughey is also a game ranger for Arizona Game and Fish, so he too faces
the challenge of working full time somewhere else while teaching at MCC.
“I enjoy teaching at MCC because I feel that I can have a great
positive impact on preserving Arizona’s natural world by teaching
people about its value and why it should be preserved,” Haughey
said.
“My biggest challenge is teaching a night class when I am tired,
and what is probably worse, the students are tired. One of my lecture
sections starts at 8:30 p.m. and ends at 9:45 p.m., so the big challenge
is keeping them alert and paying attention. The students and I are all
in the same boat. We all work very hard at day jobs, and also meet at
night for our class. Many of us also have children or other family responsibilities,
so I have a tremendous amount of respect for the hard work and dedication
the students exhibit just by being there in my class,” Haughey said.
Some adjunct faculty members decide to teach after retiring from positions
elsewhere or in other fields.
Edward Shallett taught full time, and later went to part time after retiring
for the benefit of more time with family and keeping an extra income.
“I retired from full-time teaching to be under less pressure. I
had served on many committees, supervised many activities and attended
countless meetings. As an adjunct, it is more my choice as to what I do
with my non-teaching time. Last semester I worked full time and I was
reminded as to why I retired,” Edward Shallett said.
Before retiring, Shallett worked at a gambit of occupations as a biologist.
He was once the director of a mobile zoo in New York.
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