Adjunct Faculty Can Increase Student Success: Create opportunities for them to lift graduation and retention rates

• Published in: Planning for higher education 2019-10, Vol.48 (1), p.18-24
• Main Authors: Guthrie, Ruth, Wyrick, Cheryl, Navarrete, Carlos J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adjunct Faculty; Collective bargaining; College campuses; College students; College teachers; Colleges & universities; Cost reduction; Culture; Curricula; Curriculum Design; Decision making; Economic crisis; Education; Educational Planning; Educational technology; Enrollments; Global economy; Government grants; Hiring; Learning; Low income groups; Mentors; Methods; Minority & ethnic groups; Professional development; Recessions; School faculty; Student Financial Aid; Student retention; Success; Teaching methods; Tenure; Universities; Wages & salaries; Workshops
• ISSN: 0736-0983

A report from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities identified the three most common cost-cutting tactics: hiring freezes (53.5 percent), freezes on salary increases (46.8 percent), and cutting institutional student aid (43.7 percent) (Turner 2015, 187). During the financial crisis, numbers of tenure track faculty decreased as universities relied more on non-tenure track faculty (hereafter referred to as adjunct faculty) to meet the educational mission of the university at a reduced cost. A HISTORY OF FACULTY HIRING California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), one of 24 institutions in the California State University System (CSU), is comprised of eight colleges and has an enrollment of 25,000 students. The GI 2025 goals include reducing the equity gap where personal or social circumstances such as gender, ethnic origin, or family background result in lower achievement for underrepresented minorities and Pell Grant-eligible college students.