NOTE: The Executive Council of the California Part-Time Faculty Association has adopted the following as our current Mission Statement. We welcome any comments or discussion on this statement.

CPFA members should be aware that we see the Mission Statement as a living document that should be the subject of regular discussion, revisited from time to time, and updated when appropriate. We give it significance by our actions and interpretations.

The mission of the California Part-Time Faculty Association (CPFA) is to create the opportunity for community college students to have equal access to quality education by promoting professional equity for all faculty.

As educators, we understand that only with faculty who share equally in the responsibilities and rewards of the profession can such opportunity for academic success and education be afforded students in the California Community College system. Students, therefore, must be provided with faculty, whether employed full-time or part-time, who undergo the same rigorous hiring, evaluation, and promotional processes; who are compensated for preparing lesson plans, grading assignments, and advising students; who are compensated for participating in departmental meetings and serving on professional committees, including the shared governance process; who are provided with the peace of mind that health and retirement benefits provide; who are provided with the protection of due process and academic freedom; and who are able to invest in their professional future through a system for building tenure or seniority, including, in the case of part-time faculty, preference for full-time hiring.

In this regard, CPFA is dedicated to achieving our mission by:

  • encouraging practices and policies that ensure our faculty is as diverse as the students we serve;
  • educating the public, as well as students, faculty, administrators and legislators, about part-time faculty concerns and issues;
  • serving as a coalition and resource base for all individuals and organizations interested in promoting professional equity;
  • working to complement, enhance and reinvigorate the work that is already being done in faculty organizations, statewide and nationally, who share our mission;
  • creating alliances with other faculty, academic, labor, or social organizations, statewide or nationally, who share our goals;
  • seeking legislative means to achieve our goals.