Hi Martin,
Your point is well taken. I suspect that the comments regarding
"adjuncting out" refer in part to the practice of handing open class
assignments to any warm body (including at larger univeristies, senior
Ph.D. students in need of some teaching experience), and was probably
(hopefully!) not intended to overemphasize the distinction between
permanent staff and those high-quality, regular instructors who just
happen to work on contract.
That being said, I think there still may be some differences that arise
in generality (although certainly not in every instance). Permanent
staff have more incentives to build a program by increasing the number
of majors -- so even if the teaching quality is high, the level of
recruitment effort may be different. And if adjunct teaching faculty do
not have Ph.D.s, it may send a signal to the students about the quality
of the program. For better or worse, the percentage of faculty with
terminal degrees is considered a quality benchmark in many
circumstances.
In the case of our Department, one of our best recruiters is an adjunct
who teaches across several departments. He frequently directs his keen
students to our programs, regardless of the department where that course
is based.
- Sean
*****************************************
Sean B. Cash
Department of Rural Economy
University of Alberta
515 General Services Building
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H1 Canada
(780) 492-4562
http://www.re.ualberta.ca <http://www.re.ualberta.ca/>
scash@ualberta.ca
________________________________
From: marteenm [mailto:marteenm@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 11:10 AM
To: tch-econ@elon.edu
Subject: RE: increasing the number of econ majors
>When we adjunct out a principles course to enable sabbatical or other
teaching >releases, declared majors dip markedly the following year or
two.
Now, as an "adjunct" I am not sure how I feel about this comment. It
seems to have a bit of inconsistency in it. If the goal is to have the
best instructors teaching principles classes then it shouldn't matter if
the instructor is full- or part-time. I make a living teaching both at
community colleges and universities and consistently receive very strong
student evaluations (which, I must confess, is not necessarily the best
way of accessing ability). I feel my contribution to sparking interest
in my students is just as important as anyone (fulltime or part-time) in
the classroom.
Now, I completely agree with the notion that heavy reliance on adjunct
instructors can produce inconsistency in teaching performance due to
heavy instructor turnover. However, putting this issue aside, I feel the
adjunct angle is not relevant.
- Martin Medeiros
"Ruder, Phil" <ruder@pacificu.edu> wrote:
For us, staffing the principles courses with our best teachers
has been
the single most important factor. When we adjunct out a
principles
course to enable sabbatical or other teaching releases, declared
majors
dip markedly the following year or two.
I love Lisa Daniels idea and will begin doing that next week!
---
Phil Ruder
Associate Professor of Economics
Pacific University
Forest Grove, Oregon
ruder@pacificu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Martha L. Olney [mailto:molney@econ.Berkeley.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 9:04 AM
To: James Lacey
Cc: Teach-Econ
Subject: Re: increasing the number of econ majors
Have the best profs in the department teaching principles and
lighting
the
fire of passion.
Martha
On Wed, 5 Apr 2006, James Lacey wrote:
> Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 07:23:02 -0400
> From: James Lacey
> To: Teach-Econ
> Subject: increasing the number of econ majors
>
> I was talking with some colleagues at another school, who
mentioned
> that they are concerned with the declining number of economics
majors
> at their school. For the profs, this means that they teach
mostly
> micro and macro principles courses, and mostly to business
majors.
> Upper level courses are still offered for the small number of
econ
> majors. If the numbers continue to decline, there is the
concern that
> the major will be discontinued, along with many of the upper
level
> courses.
>
> Any recommendations or success stories to share about how you
> increased the number of econ majors at your school?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jim Lacey
> Hesser College
> --
> jwlacey@gmail.com
>
=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Martha L. Olney
Adjunct Professor of Economics
University of California MOlney@econ.berkeley.edu
Department of Economics http://socs.berkeley.edu/~olney
549 Evans Hall, #3880 Office: 510-642-6083
Berkeley CA 94720-3880 Fax: 510-642-6615
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