According to a report by the American Association of University Professors in 2013, adjuncts typically earn between $20,000 and $25,000 annually, compared to the average salary of $84,303 for full-time instructors and professors.
Carol A. Parker, senior vice provost at UNM, said on main campus there are 1,600 faculty, 25 percent of which are adjunct or part time.
“They really are an important part of our faculty,” she said. “That is vital; it’s substantial also for us to be able to rely on adjuncts to increase or decrease the number of course sections that we can offer.”
Steve Borbas, lecturer and adjunct associate professor, said he has been teaching at UNM for 30 years and always saw an unfair situation for many adjuncts and lecturers around him.
“I would say 99 percent of universities in this country, and probably even more community colleges, they treat these people very unfairly,” Borbas said. “Those are the people that I feel terrible about.”
Parker said adjuncts take temporary roles for many different reasons. Some are experienced practitioners or UNM staff members who like to teach and are happy to help UNM fill temporary needs for their expertise. Others may want to get teaching experience for permanent faculty positions.
“Some simply wish to only work part time,” Parker said. “However, part-time, temporary adjuncts’ positions are not well suited to be a sole source of long-term employment.”
According to a study by UC Berkeley Labor Center of low-wage occupations, 25 percent of part-time university faculty in the United States needs government aid to supplement salary and rely on public assistance programs.
There have been movements in the last three or four years to make changes to adjunct/lecturer faculty, Borbas said.
Parker said a full-time faculty course load varies by discipline, but “the faculty handbook definition of a full-time teaching load for main campus regular faculty is three courses.” Adjuncts on main campus teach an average of two and a half courses and some adjuncts will take on up to four classes.
“These guys work twice as hard as a lot of the full-time faculty, and we have a lot of old, full-time faculty who are just not pulling their weight,” Borbas said.
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The turnover rate for adjuncts on main campus is 13 percent, compared to six percent for full-time faculty, Parker said. Average adjunct longevity is six and a half years, but some, like Borbas, have been with the University for decades.
Parker said that where benefits are concerned, UNM has allowed individual colleges to set them rather than standardize the amount. Some years ago, UNM created the term-teacher position to recognize adjunct faculty who teach a full course load.
Term teachers work full time and are eligible for benefits, she said. Currently 32 individuals hold term-teacher appointments at UNM.
Matthew Reisen is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
