The Professionalization and Socialization of Adjunct Instructors in a Southern California Community College

<p>This study investigated the professionalization and socialization of adjunct faculty into the culture of a community college campus in Southern California. Because adjunct faculty are the majority faculty at most colleges, it is vital to orient and support them for maximum effectiveness. A review of literature revealed that well-socialized employees are more committed to organizational well-being; however, few studies examine community college English Department part-time faculty in this light. This qualitative case study does so, using the model of organizational socialization (Tierney & Bensimon, 1996) as its framework, and focusing on this research question: How are part-time English Department faculty socialized into the culture of a public community college? Bridge Community College (BCC) is the pseudonym for the site of this study, and data were collected through analyzing results of in-depth personal interviews with 15 adjunct faculty participants. Results revealed a lack of purposeful, thorough hiring processes and lack of well-planned orientation programs. Although opportunities for professional development were available for participants, these did not specifically address professional needs and conflicted with teacher work schedules. Overall, while adjunct faculty felt supported by administration and other leaders, they expressed a need for robust orientation, more mentoring, more interactions with full-time faculty, and more input in decision-making affecting their work lives. Implications and recommendations for practice include improving hiring and orientation processes; making professional development more accessible and relevant; developing a formal mentoring program where full-time faculty and veteran part-timers can mentor new adjunct faculty; addressing and integrating issues important to faculty of color.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Ramirez, Nancy Roemi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Linda Perkins
• DeLacy Ganley

• adjunct college faculty
• mentoring
• part-time instructors
• teacher orientation
• Community College Leadership
• Educational Leadership

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/509

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1451