Results of Part-Time and Adjunct Faculty Survey

The Joint OAH-AHA Committee on Part-time and Adjunct Employment recently released the results of its 2002 survey. Gathered through surveys published in both the OAH Newsletter and AHA's Perspectives, the data is based on 276 responses, with 256 completed surveys from historians who identified themselves as either adjunct or part-time faculty. Participants were asked to complete a multiple-choice questionnaire with questions ranging from reasons for working part-time, receipt of benefits or support, annual income from teaching, and number of non-teaching hours spent preparing class-related activities. Respondents were also given the opportunity to provide comments. The data included a wide range of employment contexts, experiences, and locations while also displaying varying levels of academic achievement ranging from respondents with Ph.D.s, M.A.s, doctoral students, and ABD students.

A majority of respondents work as adjuncts at a four-year college or university (63 percent), followed by those employed at community colleges (23 percent), both two-year and four-year institutions (10 percent), graduate students (9 percent), and those in full-time, nontenure positions (8 percent). An inability to find a full-time college or university position was the main reason claimed by most survey respondents for working part-time (67 percent). Other major factors included being geographically tied to a certain area (45 percent) or a full-time job in another profession (21 percent). Over half of the respondents noted that they received under $15,000 a year from teaching while only 18 percent reported that working as an adjunct earned them $25,000 or more a year. For more information and results, visit <http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/2002/0210/0210aha3.cfm>.