Scholarly Publication in a Changing Academic Landscape: Models for Success

Models for Success

Lynée Lewis Gaillet, Letizia Guglielmo

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781137429148
• eBook ISBN:
  9781137410764
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Administración de la educación

More publication by contingent faculty, Guglielmo and Gaillet contend, enriches and deepens both the scholarly conversation and individual faculty's work as teacher-scholars. They provide a guide for scholars off the tenure track, addressing the publication process step by step and showing its compatibility with teaching-focused scholarship.

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Introduction: Negotiating the Terrain

Abstract: In “Introduction: Negotiating the Terrain” we explain the rationale for this project, stipulate our intended audience, and outline the scope of this work. In this chapter, we introduce the external narratives appearing throughout the text, including current conversations on the realities of contingent faculty work in higher education, we define our terms, and we explore possibilities for expanding existing notions of scholarly inquiry. In addition to offering an overview of the text, we suggest strategies for using this volume as part of developing a scholarly research agenda and supporting professional development.

Keywords: adjunct teaching; contingent faculty; faculty funding; professional development; publishing guide; scholarship

Gaillet, Lynée Lewis and Guglielmo, Letizia. Scholarly Publication in a Changing Academic Landscape: Models for Success. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. DOI: 10.1057/9781137410764.0004.

Dear Colleagues:

Although it may seem unusual to open an academic reference guide with a message to our readers, we feel compelled to personally welcome you and at the same time explain our motivation for writing this text. In the following pages of this monograph, we present what are certainly bleak statistics and information about what might best be labeled “the plight of the adjunct laborer.” Recent articles and editorials with such harsh titles as “The Highest-Paid University President Makes 170 Times More than the Average Adjunct” and “An ‘Alarming Snapshot’ of Adjunct Labor”—along with controversial, high-profile stories of adjunct faculty members like Margaret Mary Vojtko, who taught French as a part-time professor for 25 years at Duquesne University, earning $10,000 a year with no health insurance and who died with no contract renewal—certainly paint an alarming portrait, and perhaps come as no surprise to you. However, we know that no one enters the academy with a plan to be (what we label and explain fully in the pages of this volume) “contingent.” Instead, we all entered our respective fields because we recognize our skill as teachers, researchers, and leaders; because we relish the enjoyment and fulfillment we find working with students and colleagues; and also because we love texts, broadly defined. No matter how overworked, underpaid, or peripheral we may sometimes feel, the impetus for pursuing academic degrees and entering the academy steadfastly remains. Although the aforementioned material conditions of contingent faculty work are gaining public attention (see, for example, the Coalition on the Academic Workforce website, which includes 33 recent studies addressing a wide range of issues), contingent faculty voices and the wealth of experience and expertise that authorities like you bring to college and university campuses are not fully represented in current academic conversations, and we find that to be a real problem. Depending upon your present situation, we hope this monograph will motivate you to resume scholarly pursuits, seek venues for disseminating work you have already begun, identify allies with whom you can collaborate, and discover new projects prompted by the information presented here. We know that other teacher–scholars will benefit greatly from your work and are confident that you will enjoy this process, as well—Lynée and Letizia

The need for this volume

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reports, “Today, over 50 percent of faculty serve in part-time appointments, and non-tenure-track positions of all types account for 68 percent of all faculty appointments in American higher education [75% when you add graduate students to the mix]. Both part- and full-time non-tenure-track appointments are continuing to increase.” Non-traditional, hybrid, contingent faculty positions permeate the academic landscape in the wake of economic downturn—with no resolution or plans for returning to the “status quo” in sight. This rather bleak situation comes as no surprise to those of you employed in part-time, fixed-term, and other non-tenure track positions. And whereas many people employed in contingent positions choose part-time teaching, many more seek full-time work and advancement often available through professional development activities. Of course, the irony is that overworked contingent faculty members, especially those who work part-time at several institutions in order to pay the bills, have little spare time to develop a research agenda or find ways to document the work they may already be doing. And although the academy views publications as cultural currency and often accepts them as means for purchasing advancement, contingent faculty members are often neither encouraged nor supported in professional development efforts—and may even be discouraged from pursuing scholarly interests. What does it mean when many of our best and most experienced teachers are not involved in the conversations that shape our fields of study? How can all teacher–scholars find ways to make their intellectual work public? These questions, informed by our own experiences as former contingent faculty members and now tenure-track administrators, prompted us to gather other faculty members’ stories of “contingency,” to reexamine the traditional academic triumvirate of responsibilities (teaching, publishing, and serving) given the wide range of institutions that employ contingent faculty members, and to write this book.

This publishing guide addresses the current shifting nature of faculty positions and offers concrete advice for maintaining a research and publishing agenda, even without department (financial or professional) support. At the same time, we recognize the problems inherent in current employment practices. Here, we outline those problems, and in subsequent chapters we suggest ways to work within the present system, offering anecdotes from our experiences and current contingent faculty members to illustrate strategies for engaging in professional development opportunities and disseminating your work.

Why contingent faculty should publish: stories

Beyond our work with contingent faculty colleagues, it was our own experiences as contingent faculty, particularly as contingent faculty working to maintain an active agenda of publication and professional development, that led us to develop many of the strategies we offer and motivated us to encourage other teacher–scholars to join these conversations. Here are our stories:

Letizia: Following the completion of an MA in English with a specialization in Rhetoric and Composition, I was hired into a full-time instructor position in an English department to teach five sections of first-year composition and world literature per semester. Although the position was technically advertised and described as a tenure-track position, only faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor are eligible for tenure within our university system. In theory, I would be eligible for promotion review, which could elevate me to that rank during my sixth year, and then technically on the tenure-track similar to other faculty at the university. The PhD degree was not required for this position and was not, at the time I was hired, a requirement for promotion or tenure based on my position’s description. Given that nearly all of my colleagues held PhDs, and recognizing that tenure-track positions were few and far between at the time I was hired, I was thankful for the opportunity despite the heavy teaching load, and I worked diligently to integrate myself into the department.

Within a few years, I was ready to return to graduate school, and it was obvious that my lack of a doctorate made many colleagues across the university uncomfortable. What was equally apparent, however, was the discouragement I also encountered when discussing graduate school. It seemed that I would “work myself out of a position” designated for a Masters-level pay grade and would not be considered eligible for a “regular” tenure-track position within the department. Not satisfied with being confined to the “boxes others expected me to occupy”—this is how my current department chair describes my work—I applied to doctoral programs around the country, chose a local program that fit my needs, kept my faculty position and benefits, and completed the PhD on the sly for most of the next five years. Although publishing scholarship was not required for my faculty position, as is often the case in contingent positions, I took advantage of opportunities to turn my teaching and doctoral work into conference presentations and, eventually, into publications. This work and these collaborations with my peers and professors in graduate school sustained me and created opportunities for me to remain engaged in scholarly conversations. These collaborations also led to the publication of this book, to countless conference presentations, workshops, and professional development opportunities for contingent faculty so that they, too, could find a space to make their work public.

When I was finally eligible for promotion to Assistant Professor, our faculty expectations had shifted, as often happens at growing universities, and it was important for all tenure-track faculty to engage in scholarship and creative activity, even those on a 5–5 teaching load. I downplayed my graduate program, casually mentioning that I had taken a class or two in my review narrative and promotion portfolio for that sixth-year review, and I was promoted to Assistant Professor with work in all three areas—teaching, service, and scholarship. At the beginning of my ninth year at the university, I completed the PhD and was eligible for a tenure review given my years of service. I wasn’t sure what to expect given that I had been discouraged initially from completing the PhD, but just weeks before I was to submit those review materials, the university realized that a Board of Regents policy—one that was not in place at the time I was hired—required the terminal degree for tenure. I certainly was thankful for having had the time and space to complete that PhD and for opportunities to collaborate with and to be mentored by other teacher–scholars who supported my work and encouraged me to join conversations in the field.

Lynée: As an undergraduate, I always thought I would go to law school, despite getting an undergraduate degree in secondary education. After being accepted into law school, I decided—at law school orientation!—that this path just wasn’t for me. I called my undergraduate advisor, inquiring about any options I might have, and found myself, quite unexpectedly, enrolled in a MA program and teaching first-year composition, a job I was totally unprepared to accept but that I truly loved. During the program and after, I supplemented my meager adjunct salary (no benefits, of course) by tutoring international students struggling to finish their dissertations, working freelance at a bank (assisting clients in writing loan application letters), tutoring at an athletic dorm three nights a week, writing for an agricultural newsletter, and even opening/closing an elementary after-school program (changing into professional clothes, rushing off to teach two composition classes at the junior college in-between the elementary school gig’s hours). My first real job with benefits was working for a reform school, and it was there that I quickly realized I needed to get a better plan—for me that meant going back to school and getting the PhD. While in graduate school, I had a wonderful mentor (who sadly passed away just as we were drafting this text). She mentored me and countless others for over 25 years.

Since joining the faculty at Georgia State University, I have tried to pay my mentor’s care and support forward. I have developed publication classes, led workshops, collaborated with my former students and contingent faculty members, published course outlines and rationales for teaching publication seminars, mentored new faculty, and donated all proceeds from my published in-house texts toward travel support for contingent faculty members.

We share these stories with you for a few reasons. First, institutions of higher education are constantly changing, as are the expectations for faculty work and workload. The changes bring with them a great deal of uncertainty and disruption in some cases, but they also can create opportunities if you are able to work outside of your ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Introduction: Negotiating the Terrain
• 2  Balancing Professional Work: Teaching, Research, and Service
• 3  Understanding Academic Genres
• 4  The Rhetoric of Submission
• 5  The Role of the Researcher
• 6  Collaboration
• 7  Digital Publishing and Intellectual Property
• 8  Establishing a Community of Scholars
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index