adjunct faculty

faculty

academic advisor

tutor

coach

Ivy Tech Community College

As an adjunct, you are on your own.  You must self-train and self-orient.  There is one orientation meeting, that occurs on one scheduled day, in the summer.  A training portal offers some self-training with slides.  Most of it you will gain by asking questions of those who have more experience in the system. Ask an experienced full-time faculty member for their strategies with the assigned curriculum—well-liked exercises, time-saving assessments, contact information for the publisher for instructor supplements, workarounds with software.  
You are an outsider restricted to adjunct only invitations. You will not be invited to departmental meetings.   Your career will not advance within the organization.  Build it outside of Ivy Tech with your own investment of further education and professional networks.

Tips: 
*Phone calls must be specific phone numbers; no calls will be forwarded using the main number.  Visit offices.  Meet people. Collect calling cards.  Build your own directory.
*There is no staff directory shared with adjuncts.  The link, "White Pages" works with many specific facts already you already know.  Ask a full-timer for help for a phone number or use those calling cards and ask for the resources.
*On-line classes pay instructors on a standard minimum rate.  Pay based on years of service applies only to face to face classes.
*Benefits are minimal, most are less than retirees' benefits.  For example, health insurance is a flat rate of $5,000 coverage per incident.  Don't expect a pregnancy nor a broken arm to be covered past the maximum amount.  Add on a premium of about $500/ month and a deductible.   It is cheaper to stay well and bank the money.
*Expect to have less access to needed services than full-time employees.  Confidential meetings with students must be planned ahead of time including key access to conference rooms via a full-time staff member.
*Assignment of next semester's classes depends on the lack of issues encountered by the department chair.  Handle your classes' problems.  All issues, handled or fumbled, become your performance review--your only performance review.  Build your reputation.  Protect it.  Sideline student elevations up the administrative chain by one-to-one meetings with troubled students.  Memorize student names and use them. Positive relationships are highly valued by students who know you know them by name. (There is no back-up of student photos with student names on file if you need to write up a disruption report.)
*Students will seek loopholes in policies.  Ask a seasoned full-time faculty member to share their first-day orientation lecture, orientation quizzes and their version of a signed classroom orientation contract.  
*Beware of the landmines.  Students are enrolled in 100 level classes for which they do not have pre-requisite skills. Citing sources correctly in papers and in presentations has been the #1 issue in classes where researched papers and presentations based must be graded or failed due to plagiarism by omission.  English classes teach MLA.  Social Sciences use APA. The difference confuses the students and causes errors.  #2 issue is money.  A significant number of students do not have daily access to a good computer due to conflicts in schedules and money.  Some choose less current textbooks to save money.  These hidden issues will cause blow-ups.  Students must be convinced about why they should choose the higher road of adequate preparation in completing this class’s assignments and investment in computers and books.  #3 issue is student time.  This population added school onto fulltime work and parenting.  Superheroes up until enrollment gets them bogged down.  Sell students on the best practices to save time.

So, the mission, should you choose to accept it, 
is to be your own success story dodging the issues of being a part-time contractor, with less than ideal conditions, working with a challenged population.  The students are all diamonds in the rough.  Some self-discard and self-destruct.  Many carry on with their education past the 100 level classes.  Some become gems because they went on to BS degrees, grad school, and professions that made me proud.

I genuinely loved this job for a long time. The work felt meaningful, the students mattered, and my coworkers cared deeply about access, equity, and helping people change their lives through education. The mission used to feel real, and I was proud to be part of it.
That changed after the college actively supported the passage of Indiana Senate Bill 254. Since then, the institution has felt less focused on education and student growth and more driven by politics, workforce quotas, and external pressure. The values that originally made this a great place to work—academic freedom, trust in educators, and student-centered decision-making—have been eroded. Morale dropped, workloads increased, and the job no longer feels aligned with why many of us chose higher education in the first place.

Advice to Management:
Listen to the people doing the work. Re-center the mission on students and learning, not just compliance and labor-market metrics. Rebuilding trust will require acknowledging how much SB 254 changed the culture—and not for the better.

A typical day at work involved processing donor gifts, pulling reports, updating constituent records, preparing correspondence, providing queries, exports, reports, creating donor profiles, and other information for the team/chancellor/others.  Updated solicitor actions, proposal statuses, and etc.  I cared very deeply about my work and our team's goals and was committed to working together as a team to meet our department goals.  

What I learned:  Working at Ivy Tech and in the Campaign & Development Department gave me an appreciation of the importance of providing the opportunity of a higher education for all students. It was very exciting to be a part of an educational institution that changes the lives of our students, their families, and the community in which they live!  

Management:  I loved working with my supervisor, my team, and the management, faculty, and staff of Ivy Tech.  Very wonderful and committed group of people who give of their talent and skills to assist our students in excelling and making a better future for themselves and their families.

Co-Workers:  I loved my co-workers!  It was a fun place to work and we interacted very well together.  There were people who were more challenging to work with but that's part of any work place.  In situations such as this I would look for ways to discover what made them tick personality wise so that we could become an effective team.

The hardest part of the job:  Many times I worked very long hours.  You must be dedicated and willing to be flexible to meet deadlines.

The most enjoyable part of the job:  I loved this position!  It was very challenging but I enjoyed the knowledge that I have gained in working in an academic and fundraising environment, and in becoming very proficient in The Raiser's Edge (Blackbaud).

The day starts with greeting students with a smile and a positive attitude that is encouraging. Each student that I meet with I assesses the student's stage of development (academic, career, and personal) and promotes student growth by determining suitable developmental tasks; assists student in establishing realistic and attainable academic and career goals. Answer questions regarding the admissions process and college life in general. Review applications and register students for classes. Maintains student files and records; documents all pertinent student information; updates computerized information system regarding changes to student status. Interprets and explains college and university policies and procedures; participates in preparation of orientations and presents academic information to new students, parents during orientation and returning student.
For one hour and forty five minutes I facilitated a New Student  Seminar Course. Assist students in obtaining skills necessary to education, career and life objective, Maintaining student attendance, classwork and grades. Inform students of institution resources needed to succeed, utilized motivational techniques to increase retention rates among student within the classroom. 
The work culture is fast pace and revolves around good customer service.
The hardest part of the job is when I am not able to encourage students to stay in school.
The easiest part of the job is my enter action and the relationships built with the students.
The most enjoyable part of the job is watching the student meet their goal by graduating and the pride it gives them.

Although high school graduates make up the bulk of college entrants each year, there are other college students who do not fit the standard profile, this "non-standard profile" is where Ivy Tech focuses itself. These students are older, employed and likely to attend school part-time. As community colleges have expanded and universities have set up permanent off-campus sites in the suburbs, this new species of student is changing the characteristics of the entire college student category at Ivy Tech, and truthfully, the nation as a whole.

And if we expand the definition of college student to anyone enrolled in a college class, the number of possible species stretches to infinity, but as the age gap expands, the greater percentage of students who take classes to improve or advance their employment situation. At Ivy Tech, the typical student is from 30 to 35 years old, and 60 percent are women. The students, most of whom are employed either full or part time, are evenly split between career programs and university studies. Interestingly, Ivy Tech is attracting a large number of students who already hold degrees and are returning to school for either personal enrichment or professional development through the college's Continuing Education division.

At Ivy Tech, administrators are rethinking programs to meet the needs of older students, as the system faces the graying of the population, and the increasing need for second careers. If anything, it appears the system's population will only become more diverse, and the college will be forced to try to offer programs that appeal to young and old alike.

Depending on the area you work in, it can be great or horrible. Most people are nice and supportive. However, there are several groups/individuals who are spiteful and upper management/HR is unwilling to address or correct it. This creates pockets or great areas and pockets of areas to avoid.

The pay is also very sub par. All part-time positions have the same pay regardless of the job or experience. These positions are also very much dismissed and unappreciated by management. They give great lip service to how much they appreciate people but their actions says differently. PT positions get poor pay (as noted above), no benefits, are not eligible for inclusion in a wide variety of activities, regularly dismissed/ignored, are not considered worthy of verifying your pay is processed (but they will for full-time people) or that if you leave, given any information on what to expect or how to access needed information like every other company I have worked for (i.e. accessing pay, W2 info).

Current upper management is also unwilling to address issues related to department wide conflict. They will lie openly and repeatedly to you, telling you whatever they think you want to hear to get you out of their office. They will make promises they have no intention of keeping and keep pushing the goal post each time it's reached. 

HR also has no idea what they are doing, very incompetent. 

I teach English and Communications at Ivy Tech Community College and am Program Chair for the English and Communications department. I work well with my colleagues and enjoy the work environment. My students seem to appreciate my clear communication skills and my attention to the details of work that help them succeed. My colleagues appreciate the encouragement I give them in various situations that can be difficult throughout each semester.

In addition to teaching, I am managing editor of our college's only academic journal, and I do quite a lot of creative and technical writing as well.

Teaching full-time, supervising, editing, and writing are activities that require a great deal of planning and creative execution of those plans. As a supervisor in my department I rely on my colleagues to creatively execute their teaching as well.

Probably the hardest part of my job is seeing a student give up, when I am well aware that the student is able to do the work. Usually students give up on themselves, and that's a bit hard to take. I want people to succeed!

What's most enjoyable is when the light bulb comes on in a student's head and they understand. That is delightful! I've seen many students succeed who at first thought they couldn't.

IvyTech works almost entirely off of the labor of the Adjunct staff, and, while they do throw the occasional "bone" to us, it's still not what I became accustomed to as a professional position.  There is no office at the campus at which I work - it's a room slightly larger than a closet that includes space for a refrigerator; so I work from home which is challenging in its own right.  The staff is wonderful to work with, but the students don't get the full amount of attention that they probably should.  They are pushed into the faculty member's lap completely unprepared for the requirements of a college classroom and the rigors of an academic schedule not to mention the minimal technical knowledge of how to navigate the course management system online. The "best" part of this is that for a 40+ hour work week when I am reviewing student work and recommending improvements, I get to look forward to the grand sum of, approximately, $9/hour (that's after I divide out how many hours I'm actually putting in for the work I'm doing - not how many hours the school actually expects me to work).  I'm frequently told that I do more than other adjuncts that the students have, but I still don't feel that I'm doing enough for them - it's not a healthy thought process...

Significant concerns around ethical leadership and accountability at the campus level. Decision-making is inconsistent, opaque, and often times misaligned with stated institutional values. There is a noticeable lack of effective oversight from the systems office, with campus leadership serving as the primary (and sometimes sole) conduit of information upward.
Human Resources is not experienced as a neutral or protective resource. HR processes appear compromised by leadership influence, leaving employees without a trusted avenue for raising concerns or seeking support. This contributes to a culture where staff are hesitant to speak openly, document issues, or report misconduct.
High turnover, low morale, and frequent organizational instability are persistent issues that are not meaningfully addressed. Ethical concerns are often reframed as performance or “alignment” issues rather than examined directly.
Advice to Management:
Establish independent oversight and auditing of campus leadership practices. Restore trust in HR by ensuring it operates independently of local leadership pressure. Address root causes of turnover and morale issues instead of managing optics. Transparency, ethical consistency, and psychological safety are critical if the institution wants to retain experienced staff.

Typical day at work: I am stressed because I feel unprepared. My supervisor makes me wait an hour until she is free, for us to discuss something for 10 minutes.

What I learned: Adjunct teaching requires an enormous amount of unpaid, preparatory work.

Management: Program Chairs ask how you are doing, but offer minimal assistance when you ask for it. They are focused on other things besides your low-priority introductory class.

Workplace culture: Isolating. Even when you are teaching a class that is similar to someone else, you are not really encouraged to work together. Discussions on how to improve a course are superficial, and you feel in competition with your colleagues. A 30-minute, weekly, Skype/Zoom meeting would have been enough to discuss strategy and pitfalls, but this is discouraged.

Hardest part: As an Adjunct, you feel like you are not needed to teach, but
to fill in for legal reasons. You are told that Ivy Tech is student-centered, but you feel like you should not worry about that.

Enjoyable part: Regardless of how incoherent your syllabus might be, it is really fun to design your own lessons.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Adjunct faculty 464 salaries reported	$47.51 per hour
Faculty 68 salaries reported	$53,979 per year
Academic advisor 19 salaries reported	$47,499 per year
Tutor 31 salaries reported	$16.61 per hour
Coach 13 salaries reported	$43,376 per year

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