Adjunct Junction: Time to Get Involved

by Julie Gamberg

Guild Second Vice President-Adjunct Faculty Representative

My Adjunct sisters and brothers: It’s time to get involved in shared governance at Glendale Community College (GCC)! I realize that many of you are commuting from campus to campus and are employees of several different institutions – each with their own administrative expectations, course outlines, texts, SLO’s, classroom and online technology, and institutional culture. I realize that a freeway-flyer schedule may not allow you to stay on campus for much longer than the time you teach class and hold office hours. I also know that you may do your prep and grading away from the college, in the evenings or even, as I often do, in the post-child-bedtime very late night hours.

And, importantly, I know that there is clear inequity built into the adjunct pay scale that needs to be addressed – not just here but nationwide as well.  Your former adjunct representatives, your former Guild presidents, your former negotiating teams, and your current representatives on the Guild have been, and are working to improve the conditions of adjunct faculty on the GCC campus, including working on the issue of pay inequity.

In 2004, the Guild and the college established the Ancillary Activity Stipend fund. The establishment and maintenance of this fund is an exemplary move on the part of GCC, and your use of the fund will help the entire college – including you – in myriad ways.

When you apply for funding for activities that fall outside of adjunct faculty duties, you are helping to close the equity gap in our pay scales; you are relieving full-time faculty of some of their often very heavy workloads; you may be bringing in more recent outside-of-academia experience – useful to developing relevant programs; you gain experience working in shared governance to improve student learning, conditions for staff, and legal compliance; you have the opportunity to develop, or work on, innovations in learning; you can write new course outlines and curriculum; you can lead staff development activities; and, you connect with colleagues in your department or division by working on needed department projects and serving on committees.

My brothers and sisters, this fund is for you! The college benefits immeasurably from having you participating in shared governance and professional activities. And you, in turn, benefit from active participation. 

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