teaching with a Masters

[mrscruff]

So is she an adjunct? (You can be an adjunct and teach multiple classes which look like a full teaching load). If so, she may be doing all the hard work you describe above for a mere fraction of what the full-timers make for teaching the "fun" classes.

No, she is a full time faculty member. Sorry for the confusion; I was referring to two adjunct faculty besides the woman I mentioned previously.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[wigflip]

No, she is a full time faculty member. Sorry for the confusion; I was referring to two adjunct faculty besides the woman I mentioned previously.

Interesting--that's pretty rare from what I understand. Good for her. And good for you that you got someone who actually cares about teaching.

 

[paramour]

Interestingly, most of the adjuncts at my last university (in my dept) were PhD's--clinicians by day, adjuncts by night.

 

[wigflip]

Interestingly, most of the adjuncts at my last university (in my dept) were PhD's--clinicians by day, adjuncts by night.

I think some folks do this (teach that one undergrad class at the local college) to keep some kind of institutional (academic institution) affiliation for purposes of prestige, publishing. It certainly ain't for the money.

 

[LivingOffLoans]

I'd like to be an adjunct faculty member in addition to doing therapy. Like someone else said, clinician by day, and occasional lecture at night to keep affiliated with academia. I wonder if I'd be okay with just a master's degree to be an adjunct at a university or private institution. I'd be willing to go for the doctorate if I had to, but I do think I am quite marketable as is and would make an excellent lecturer/mentor to grad students. Any tips?

 

[wigflip]

I'd like to be an adjunct faculty member in addition to doing therapy. Like someone else said, clinician by day, and occasional lecture at night to keep affiliated with academia. I wonder if I'd be okay with just a master's degree to be an adjunct at a university or private institution. I'd be willing to go for the doctorate if I had to, but I do think I am quite marketable as is and would make an excellent lecturer/mentor to grad students. Any tips?

It'll depend on the academic job market in your area. If there are a lot of four-year universities with graduate programs, there may be a glut of grad students and recent PhDs vying for just a few adjunct gigs. Start researching community colleges to see who's hiring for what and what credentials their existing adjuncts have.* In some departments, masters level folks can be more competitive than those with doctorates because the department can pay you even less. If all you want to do is "teach"/adjunct (as opposed to being a researcher first and foremost), it's not a good investment of your time and money to go on to the doctorate.

I'd read some postacademic blogs before getting too attached to the idea of adjuncting. It's poorly paid and can be a lot of work.

*I've been tracking the community college jobs in my area and almost all of the ones that are coming up are in applied areas: counseling, nursing, tech.

 

[wigflip]

It's also worth noting that the issue of adjuncting is very political for those who are entrenching in academia or have transitioned out. Because 70% of teaching is now done by non-tenure track faculty (temporary full timers, part timers without benefits, and grad students) there are fewer and fewer tenure track jobs for the many, many graduating PhD students each year. It's an exploitative system to say the least.

http://afteracademe.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-quit-my-job-as-adjunct-and-became.html

 

[LivingOffLoans]

Being an adjunct faculty member would be in addition to my clinical work. I don't care if it only pays a few grand for one class; I just want to lecture for the fun of it and be connected with up and coming graduate students. I've known many adjuncts from different schools who really enjoyed teaching in addition to practicing by day. Sounds like fun to me.

 

[FutureMHC]

I read this thread and HAD to share this story because it is just beyond my comprehension, despite being part of the "millennial" generation.

I am a senior in an adult program at a SLAC. My sig. other is also a student here and was in a class last term with one of these "entitled" students. The student in question had some serious issues with his writing style and methods of citation, and had delusions of grandeur with regards to going to law school upon completing his BA. The profs advised him to re-evaluate his paper and gave him an opportunity to rewrite the paper for a better grade. One of the professors told him rather bluntly that his current writing style would never allow him to be successful in law school. This set off a powder keg. Rather than quietly take their GENEROUS advice and do the extra work to resubmit the paper, he launched an all out assault on the professors of the course, going to the president of the college and accusing the professors of all sorts of insults and misdeeds during the class. So, the professors did a little digging and found out that this student's paper had been purchased on an essay website. He was brought up on academic dishonesty charges to the Academic Council and received an F for the course. STILL, rather than take his punishment and admit he was wrong, he invoked his "consumer" rights and threatened to contact everyone from the Board of Education to personal friends of his who he feels hold influence in the community. He even sent the email from the professors that revealed his plagiarism to everyone in the class, trying to prove that the professors were acting with impunity and disrespect to the student (consumer). The program I am in is not a "degree mill" or institution where you pay your money to get your degree. You actually have to work for it and I think this guy got in over his head. But the point I am trying to make is how in the world can a student actually think that he was right? His righteous indignation is laughable, but it also sends a scary message...

 

[BlackSkirtTetra]

I do not understand why someone would feel the need to "purchase" a paper when it is so easy to write. Nonetheless, when I was in undergrad I entertained the idea of selling papers, but could never bring myself to that lowly moral place to do it!