By James Callahan, Academia.edu, Notes on the Adjunct Life – Part 1
The much-maligned plight of adjuncts is a story of lies and exploitation… and a story adjuncts insist they must believe. This first installment of my experience as an adjunct for almost 20 years introduces OUR problem – the adjuncts’ problem. It may be ‘their’ fault, but the lie is one we want to be true.
The next semester is about to begin, and all the adjuncts are gathered for a mandatory welcoming dinner (and orientation) to kick-off the new year. Only some of us are show for this mandatory event and those in attendance wonder at the stupidity of those who pass-up the chance to show their face and make another impression in hopes of achieving the ultimate goal of the adjunct life – a real, full-time appointment.
There are about 150 of us in a general-purpose room in the secretive upper floors of the student center used for these odd gatherings or parent-things. I’ve never been up here, and I’ll not be back unless they hold another mandatory welcoming dinner.
And I’m the only one – besides the tenured (or soon-to-be-tenured) faculty doing their duty -who seems to know what’s going on.
My 100+ adjunct colleagues all seem to be under the delusion that this is another audition for a real job – a full-time job doing this glorious thing called teaching in higher education today. Maybe this will lead to a one-year full-time contract or a temporary appointment or a new faculty line added just for them because of their distinguished performance and popularity as an adjunct instructor, or at least the announcement of an upcoming search for a tenured-track position in their discipline for which they hold the inside track because, well, they’re already on the inside and they’ve attended this event.
But that’s the lie.
The lie these 100+ Ph.D.’s and M.A.’s always seem to believe… unfortunately.
The lie that working as an adjunct is the stepping stone or inside track or dues they’re paying to earn one of the few, coveted spots of full-time, gainful employment at this university.
One tenured or tenure-track professor is assigned to each table of 10 chairs and tasked with the role of small talk, answering questions about syllabi or the bookstore or characterizations of typical students.
But the adjuncts to my right and left move quickly beyond generic small talk and attack their real purpose of attending this mandatory orientation – what advice or tips do they have for the aspiring adjunct.
And who is the aspiring adjunct? That’s the adjunct who wants to have a real job, a full-time job doing what a real professor does – teach and read and grade papers (yes, adjuncts even like grading papers), attend mandatory functions in turn (like these adjunct orientations), and even hold office hours (yes, adjuncts even long to keep office hours).
I’ve been an adjunct instructor, adjunct professor, and even adjunct scholar, been lucky enough to be a visiting instructor, visiting professor, and visiting mentor. Over more than 20 years of supplementing my income as an adjunct visiting so-and-so I’ve learned the hard lesson of what the adjunct life is for most of us – a part-time job where we get to do what we really want to do and love to do and make a few thousand dollars doing it while we work another job or two to pay the bills.
As we chat, we also share our degree status and the person next to me begins, ‘I’m finishing my Ph.D. in blah-blah-blah and writing my dissertation on blah-blah-blah’s views of blah-blah-blah.’ And all the M.A.’s at the table become shy because there’s a Ph.D. candidate in their presence.
When it’s my turn it gets worse – ‘My Ph.D. is from so-and-so university.’ ‘Have you published?’ asks the tenured host. ‘I’ve finished a peer-reviewed article in such-and-such journal’ and the Ph.D. student next to me asks if that’s my first publication. Sorry, no. ‘I’ve got a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals and a couple of books, and some other stuff’ and I see their faces wince at that.
Across the table, someone with (just) an M.A. interrupts the pain by offering, ‘I’ve chosen to focus on teaching – you know, quality classroom disciplines and mentoring and leave my mark by using my energies to pursue excellence in instruction, not publishing another article that nobody will ever read.’ And all the other M.A.’s nod in agreement while the Ph.D. student turns to me and whispers something about search committees and publications and how some universities don’t emphasize teaching over scholarship. I don’t have a response that is encouraging so I just eat another bite of the chicken from my plate.
This lie – adjuncts hoping their status as adjuncts will serve as a stepping-stone to a full-time appointment – is not a lie we were told. Maybe administrators and department chairs may have been complicit, but they imagine they were being kind to us, not wanting to hurt our feelings.
This is the lie that keeps us coming back.
This is the lie we want to believe.
Want to talk? Contact me:james.p.callahan@comcast.net
Dedicated iconoclast with a Ph.D. in religious studies from Marquette University in the history of (Christian) theology, James practices a generous orthodoxy in faith-related research and service.
Callahan, James. (2025). Notes on the Adjunct Life – Part 1. Academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/36817072/Notes_on_the_Adjunct_Life_Part_1