4.7 Guidelines for Hiring Adjunct Faculty

Governing Policies

Section 4.1.2, Faculty Handbook – Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Appointments
Section 5.2, Faculty Handbook – Eligibility for Benefits
Section 6.1.2, Faculty Handbook – Teaching Assignment Guidelines

Procedure

As defined in Section 4.1.2 of the Faculty Handbook, Adjunct Faculty are temporary faculty members who are appointed on a semester-by-semester basis. Adjunct Faculty are typically hired for specific, short-term, instructional assignments. They may, however, also be assigned supplemental administrative duties.

As Adjunct Faculty members are usually hired to fill specific, short term needs, they have generally been considered ineligible for benefits. As such, to remain in compliance with Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act the following guidelines shall be used to limit Adjunct Faculty effort levels:

  1. Total effort across all activities, instructional and administrative, shall be less than 75% of full-time effort without the expressed, written approval of the College Dean and the Provost.
  2. For Adjunct Faculty who have teaching-only assignments, whether in the same department or not, effort is calculated based on the full-time load defined in Section 6.1.2 of the Faculty Handbook of 12 credit hours per semester. As such, to be less than 75% full-time, normal adjunct assignments must have TOTAL teaching loads of LESS THAN 9 credit hours per semester.
  3. For adjunct assignments that include both teaching and administrative responsibilities, total percent effort is calculated as the sum of 1) the percent effort directly assigned to administrative responsibilities, and 2) 8 1/3 % effort per course credit hour taught. The sum of these two efforts must be less than 75%.

The Provost may allow a small number of adjunct appointments to be above 75% of full-time effort in cases where it can be documented that there is a compelling institutional need/interest in retaining an adjunct appointment at a higher level of effort. Adjunct Faculty appointed at effort levels of 75% and above shall be deemed eligible for benefits as defined in Section 5.2 of the Faculty Handbook.

Last Revision:

June 18, 2014