Vox Prof ForumSpecial Lecturers--Not Just omeone's poor relation | Forum Rules Become a member Contact an administrator Back to Topic list | |
| Author: trupiano | Sep 11, 2009 10:04 pm | Top | Reply |
| I feel compelled to put in a word on behalf of the Special Lecturers at OU. I fully support the critical necessity for more tenure-track faculty. For so long now, the trend throughout the country has been to fill the classrooms and departments with part-time or adjunct instructors. Without a doubt, this trend is detrimental to higher education on so many levels, as has been clearly articulated by the AAUP membership these last several weeks. Having said that, make no mistake that your Special Lecturer colleagues at OU are professional, intellectual, and dedicated to delivering the highest quality of instruction possible to our students. We, too, attend conferences, stay current in our area of study, and, yes, even publish. (And we do all of this despite low wages, few benefits, and little status.) Students should feel confident that when they take a course taught by a Special Lecturer at OU, they are not receiving substandard instruction. Would we like to secure one of those rare and coveted tenure-track positions? You bet. (And certainly, the more there are available, the better our chances.) So why do we continue, knowing that the odds are against this? Perhaps because, at the end of the day, we are, at heart, teachers. Because nothing can quite match that precious moment when one sees that small spark of understanding light up in a student's eyes, when after weeks of hard labor one finally witnesses the awakening of intellectual curiosity in a previously disinterested and disengaged young man or woman. Are these reasons enough? Perhaps. | ||
| Add to this discussion (members only): Note: All fields must be entered to submit a message. | |
| User Name: | @oakland.edu |
| Password: | Forgot your password? |
| Message: | |
| User Name: | @oakland.edu |
| Password: | Forgot your password? |