Maricopa Community College system relying more on adjunct instructors
The Arizona Republic
August 22, 2011
For the 140,000 students who are taking community-college classes this fall, chances are good that the person at the front of the room is a part-time teacher rather than a full-time professor.
The proportion of part-time, or adjunct, faculty at the Maricopa Community Colleges has increased steadily over the last five years and this semester will likely surpass the 82 percent reached in the 2010-11 school year, district officials say. Part-time teachers made up 73 percent of the total in 2006-07.
The 6,236 adjuncts taught about two-thirds of the courses offered at the 10 colleges last year. There were 1,340 full-time teachers, or residential faculty.
