Adjunct faculty.  A necessity to all college campuses, but not always welcomed with open arms.

There is a need for adjunct faculty on campus.  Some adjuncts are part time who teach because they love it, they leave the hustle and bustle of their 8-5 to come and make a difference in the life of a college student.  A number of adjuncts teach to scrape by and make a living, while others teach to get experience in hopes of one day becoming a full-time professor.  Regardless of why they choose to be an adjunct faculty, we need them.

Working in a job that puts me in contact with adjunct faculty and full-time faculty – I can attest that both make a difference on a college campus.  When standing side by side, one looks no different than the other. Both are passionate about their job and usually go the extra mile to help students.  I often see adjuncts getting the short end of the stick.  As a new campus, we’re still new and embracing the idea of evening and early morning classes.  When I build class schedules, it’s usually the adjuncts teaching these sections.  Sadly, they’ll take what they can get, and if offered an extra section – crappy time or not – they’ll take it.

Also, newly hired professors are granted release time.  So even though they just started, they already get 3 units off per semester!  Guess who fills up their empty sections? Adjuncts.

What am I leaving behind, what is my internet footprint?  In an ideal world – if my name were Googled, it would take internet users to my photo, my career, and a list of hobbies.  In reality, when you Google “Alison Potter” a child psychiatrist from Berkeley, CA is the first match.

To me, creating a digital identity is to create a positive reflection of myself for the whole world to see.  A place where I could send people to get some insight to me life.  Something to be proud of, something in which you don’t fear potential employers, friends, co-workers, or mother-in-laws digging up any dirt.

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