With the establishment of the UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence, starting in fall 2019, the University continues to demonstrate the important role that non-tenure track faculty realize in advancing the teaching mission of the institution.
“We are highly dependent on the dedicated faculty who fill positions with titles from lecturer to teaching professor. We have recognized their hard work, dedication and creativity in colleges and departments, but we are long overdue when it comes to recognizing them as a vital part of the University,” said Joan Lorden, provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs. “The tenured faculty, many of them award-winning teachers themselves, made the case to recognize their colleagues. I am delighted that next year our celebration of teaching will embrace the work of all our faculty.”
Non-tenure track faculty include two primary categories of teaching faculty: lecturers and adjunct faculty. Lecturers are mostly full-time faculty, and adjunct faculty are mostly part-time faculty paid on a per course basis. The University’s faculty ranks also include teaching professors, research professors, clinical professors and professors of practice.
For fall 2017, UNC Charlotte employed 365 full-time non-tenure track faculty; these lecturers taught approximately 37 percent of resident credit hours.
Kim Buch, a faculty fellow with the Center for Teaching and Learning and professor in the Department of Psychological Science, has researched and supported adjunct and non-tenure track faculty for a number of years. She said the University has been innovative in assisting these professors.
“The UNC Charlotte Center for Teaching and Learning is launching an online Adjunct Faculty Learning Community to support those faculty who teach online,” said Buch. “This is the latest effort by the center to provide guidance and establish community among adjunct instructors. In fall 2014, the center established an on-campus professional community for adjunct faculty members to build community and provide pedagogical support to these instructors.”
These Faculty Learning Communities have been offered each semester since fall 2014, and Buch noted that often the participants have extensive teaching experience.
“Non-tenure track faculty teach large numbers of students, and the vast majority have terminal degrees in their fields with many years of relevant work experience that is extremely beneficial to our students,” said Buch. “Seasoned business executives, professionals in health care fields, retired principals and teachers, to name a few, are examples of non-tenure track faculty members who bring real-world perspectives into the classroom. Such a robust richness of experiences provides our students insights that can be transformational.”
With the professoriate evolving nationally, UNC Charlotte is taking a proactive stance to support and recognize non-tenure track faculty members’ contributions.
The Center for Teaching and Learning continues to offer and enhance online resources for non-tenure and adjunct faculty members, including a new online orientation. Expanded offerings were added to Canvas, and there is an adjunct reading group that helps foster a sense of community among participants.
“The center will continue to develop offerings and online trainings, conduct assessments on their effectiveness and create opportunities to raise awareness of the needs of adjunct faculty and stimulate dialogue to support and build partnerships to address changes,” said Buch.
Richard Leeman, Faculty Council president and professor of communication studies, also echoed the importance of non-tenure track faculty. “These are our colleagues, and our department simply could not function without these co-workers.”
He and other faculty leaders have advocated the need to recognize the teaching efforts of non-tenure track faculty. The new UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence will be open to full- or part-time non-tenure track faculty who have at least five years of teaching service at UNC Charlotte (lecturers and adjunct faculty). The recipient must be teaching in the year the honor is awarded. Eligibility for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence will continue to be for full-time, tenured faculty members with at least seven years of service to UNC Charlotte.
“Recognition can certainly help communicate the message that the institution is proud of these individuals,” said Leeman. “The better we support our non-tenure track faculty, the better the institution will do, and the better UNC Charlotte does, the more respected all of our faculty will be.”
Photo by Jules Keith-Le, Center for Teaching and Learning