adjunct faculty

administrative assistant

education specialist

program coordinator

proctor

Sinclair Community College

Adjunct instructors are incredibly undercompensated at most colleges, though I am told that Sinclair is one of the better places for adjuncts to work. You get a set rate for each course you teach (around $2400-$3000 per course at Sinclair for a one-semester, 3-credit hour course in liberal arts, at least). You are expected, for that set rate, to plan your courses, create teaching materials, teach your classes, be available to meet with and communicate with students, and for some disciplines, grade a tremendous number of written papers. We get paid the same for a course whether we have 12 students or 27, although 27 students can involve more than twice as much grading and overall twice as much work. That part of the compensation truly does not make sense. If one tries to do the job well and give students lots of helpful feedback, one can be lucky to make minimum wage at times. I do not count the hours I put into my work; I don't want to know.

As an adjunct, you do not get health insurance, you do not get vacation leave, and if you are sick and can't teach one day, your pay is docked not only for the hours of in-class time missed, but also the pay for grading and prep, even though you still have to grade the same number of papers that week and create lesson plans for students in place of the class(es) you missed. You also do not get any guarantee you will get classes to teach in a given semester. 

At one point, some of us training to teach online were told we would get $500 for the online training that would take 50 hours to complete (teaching online courses involves a LOT of grading, by the way). After the training was over, we were informed that, unfortunately, they were no longer paying for the online training. The department head had not been informed that the 50+-hours of training was no longer compensated.


The farthest you can move is up from Lecturer I to Lecturer II position, which is a few dollars more per credit hour. There is no other way to move up, salary-wise, except through small, occasional cost-of-living raises.

Take this job only if you really love your content area and enjoy working with students. On top of the low pay, a Master’s degree is usually required for the job, and we get little feedback for the quality of our work. Adjuncts are subject to public reviews by students on Rate Your Professor. Sometimes students take revenge after earning a low grade (students and even non-students are able to post multiple reviews).

Sinclair was once a very good school, it was innovative and education centered. It has turned into little more than a technical or trade school. It's programs often have such a long wait list we loose students because they run out of financial aid or time before they ever even get into their program. Professors are evermore stripped of their voices in any governance, and now often teach "canned" classes. The faculty have no control over their schedules, this is because of the need for the administration to consolidate power under their offices. The climate for faculty is VERY stratified, with everything geared toward developing and supporting the full time faculty, who make little more than 30% of the total faculty. The majority of the faculty are adjunct, part-time. Their pay is below the national average, there are no benefits, and no job-security. There are very very few and far between opportunities for advancement, and when they arise, they often go to those outside of Sinclair. Sinclair has no interest in actual education, they simply want the student dollars. They claim to have support services for students, but the creation of those has done little or nothing for the student retention or graduation rates. There are no offices for adjunct faculty, they have to meet with students in hallways, unused conference rooms, and library nooks. Departmental support for adjuncts vary, however they do not create an atmosphere that is inclusive of all. They are very stratified and treat adjuncts badly. No one actually cares about one another except in a superficial way. No one speaks up for one another, they just go in, do their job, and leave. It is because they are afraid they will be under fire from the administration. 
DO NOT WORK HERE IF YOU CARE ABOUT OTHERS. It is great to be left alone and make a little side money, but it is no way a secure job, nor is it a supported job. Your income is so unstable you do not know if you will have enough, or even any, work, and may not be able to pay your bills. I honestly have no idea how the people who are writing the positive reviews can sleep at night.

I am dedicated to the vision of the department and look forward to new opportunities to help our students achieve their educational goals.  Both a career changer and former student, our student population identifies with my experiences and frequently looks to me as a guidance counselor, coach and mentor.  While my technical and teaching skills are my strengths, I have a soft skill approach which is a necessity to work with a diverse student body found at Sinclair. While pursuing my passion for culinary arts, I have made many sacrifices.  However during this journey, I have discovered teaching to be one of the most rewarding areas of my professional career.  

As a lifelong learner, I am drawn to the continuous learning aspect of the culinary arts and hospitality management fields. Two recent events exemplify this thriving environment.  From a lifelong learning perspective, I earned my Certified Executive Pastry Chef certification through the American Culinary Federation.  From a continuous learning outlook facilitated through Sinclair’s mini-sabbatical session, I attended the Northeast Regional ACF conference for technical training.

There are several continuous improvements that I have had the pleasure of being involved with through my current position at Sinclair Community College. For example, I continuously evaluate my teaching techniques to foster self-assessments and student success. In addition, I am honored to be the first course coordinator in our department and have enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in providing standard teaching techniques and course objectives. Furthermore, I have had the privilege to participate in special service learning opportunities directing students in a public setting.  This type of educational experience applies technical theories to a real-world situation while demonstrating skills as both a Certified Chef and business professional. Finally, my ability to teach faculty members is evident by being selected as a member of the pilot group for the Desire to Learn transition.

I taught as a part-time adjunct faculty for SCC for four years and really enjoyed it. I taught on the main downtown campus for a couple years and then started teaching at a couple of their satellite locations that were a closer commute for me. Adjunct faculty are supported (at least they were in my department) with development and other items, providing access to copiers an assigned mailbox, etc. The class load and student/teacher ratio wasn't too bad. You have control over what when you're available and the courses you can choose to teach are based off of your availability as much as they are able. If you have a regular job M-F, you can just teach weekends if you want to, or if you can only be available evenings they can work with that, as well. 
The per credit hour pay for adjuncts was better than at some of the local universities and at least when I was teaching there was a way to earn an Adjunct Faculty II level and that got you a higher per credit pay. You get paid once a month. I really enjoyed teaching at SCC and only left when my regular M-F job at the time had us rotating to work on Saturdays, so that got in the way of teaching on weekends. I should note, I used to teach during the week until I got a full-time job elsewhere and then switched to teaching on weekends. The other kink of the works was full-time faculty started figuring out how great it was to teach at the satellite locations versus main campus and then there weren't any classes really left for Saturday or Sundays that I could teach at the two locations I preferred and I didn't want to commute back to downtown for classes once again, so my availability became so limited that I simply did not choose to pick-up any classes that were offered and I stopped teaching part-time.

OFFICE SKILLS: Maintained computer and multi-line phone system. Created and maintained all paperwork required by the State of Ohio Police Officers Training Academy (O.P.O.T.A.) including all academies under the Criminal Justice Training Academy umbrella (Basic Police Academy, Corrections Academy, and Private Security Training Academy).
Attained certification for Accreditation Manager for CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) duties which include self assessment, organization of accreditation files and compliance with regulations.
The most difficult part of my job was when students struggled and /or failed.
The most enjoyable was watching students from befinning to end and being a part of their life path. Watching them succeed was incredibly gratifying.

Sinclair is a wonderful Comm. College and higher Ed. institution. They clearly have a firm grasp of how to encourage their students to succeed in life both personally and professionally.

A typical day, although there is no such thing, revolves around answering and returning emails/phone calls, follow up with other departments on campus about events, new initiatives, and upcoming projects. There are several things I have learned at Sinclair. First, be prepared to pulled in several different directions and always have an answer. If you do not have an answer, strive to find it. Second, interacting with all departments and professional ranks in the organization. Third, the importance of always challenging yourself with or without the physical appearance of my director. Finally, embrace the positive impact you have made in student's lives.

While very laid-back, the organization was still very positive and essentially professional.

Hour-by-hour meetings with students keeps the day flowing, and if you have a very challenging meeting with a student, it allows you to regroup your educational tactics effectively, without getting bogged down.

Management presence was very minimal.  But the people in management were good.

Coworker interaction was fairly minimal, as well.  However, 90%+ were very supportive and helpful.

Hardest part of the job: Spending hour after hour with a student (this happened less than once every six months) but realizing that they should just drop the class they are taking.

Best part of the job: The best part was the time spent with students who wanted to learn.  And that was 95% of the time.

A productive day would be to arrive to work, get settled, and hit the ground running because you never know what will come up. This way of working has helped me to provide good and positive customer service while meeting urgent and demanding requirements.

I learned that staying focused allows quality time to relax and interact with others. This interaction allows a positive community.

The hardest part of any place of employment, I believe, is when a person would realize that they would no longer be a good fit for a position or organization.

The most enjoyable part of any place of employment is to like what you do and where you work and work well with your teammates.

Karen O'Neal

Student/Community centered college VanGuard school! Typical day includes interacting with students registration, enrollment, directions, guidance; Learned that education is not something to be taken for granted! Neither is Financial Aid means to income! Co-Workers range from unhelpful to the very resourceful; overall the environment is great. Hardest part of the job is dealing with personalities and individuals that do not take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof and want to make their problem yours. But that is all a part of providing customer service. Most enjoyable part of the job are the benefits of workshops, self -help groups, being in higher education as a whole is good vibe for me.

I enjoyed the work, which included answering questions, checking excel tables, and creating translations for many forms of media, but there were copious amounts of downtime. The responsibility was somewhat overwhelming. Because the staff was small (two coworkers and one supervisor), the division of labor was nonexistent. That meant that even if a small task was overlooked or forgotten, it would unravel the system and there were heavy consequences. I wouldn't work in my department again, but for someone who can adapt to an ever shifting calm-busy work environment, and likes double and triple checking their work, it is a rewarding job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Adjunct faculty 58 salaries reported	$1,044 per week
Administrative assistant 15 salaries reported	$17.80 per hour
Education specialist 23 salaries reported	$29.89 per hour
Program coordinator 22 salaries reported	$20.36 per hour
Proctor 5 salaries reported	$16.33 per hour

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