Submerged in financial unrest, educational institutions nationwide have increasingly turned to one thing to help juggle swelling enrollment and limited budgets: adjunct faculty.

According to the American Association of University Professors, the hire of full-time, non-tenure-track positions increased by 35.5 percent between 1998 and 2001. In the fall of 2005, 62.6 percent of faculty across the country were part-time and full-time non-tenure-track.

John Curtis, AAUP director of research and public policy, said no data for the nation's system of higher education has provided a solution to the problem, but has rather tracked its development.

"I'm still somewhat of an idealist and that it's not necessarily a solution that anyone came up with," he said. "But that it's something that's happened over time."

It's a rising trend at schools of all sizes, and Central Michigan University may not be exempt.

Gary Shapiro, dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, said it would "change the nature of the university," should its balancing of tenure and temporary systems begin to resemble the national trend.

"But I don't anticipate it will go that way," Shapiro said. "I don't think we're going to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of the extreme reliance on temporary faculty of some universities."

The number of adjunct, or temporary, faculty positions on CMU's campus grew by 19.5 percent between the fall semesters of 2003 and 2008, according to data kept by faculty personnel services. Comparatively, the number of regular faculty positions fell by 4.6 percent.

Since the fall of 2001, temporary numbers have decreased in both the College of Communication and Fine Arts and the College of Science and Technology. In the other four academic colleges, there has been a steady climb of temporary faculty.

At CMU, the reasons for the shift are many and vary by college.

Growing popularity

In the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions, regular faculty numbers remained consistent, from 55 to 59 between the falls of 2001 and 2008. However, temporary faculty positions have seen a 33.3 percent increase.

Interim Dean Thomas Masterson said the college has seen enrollment grow by 23 percent over the last five years and that temporaries were added to accommodate the course demand.

"For the number of students, we are trying to match the increase in interest and the students with what we can provide as far as classes," Masterson said in a November interview.

The College of Education and Human Services has experienced similar increases in student enrollment. The college has not only seen a 68.6 percent increase of temporaries, but also a 20 percent increase in tenured positions, to meet the demand.

Popularity of individual classes has also been cause for so many temporaries in departments like English, where multiple introductory courses are based.

Department chairwoman Marcy Taylor said temporaries are hired often to instruct ENG 101: Freshman Composition and ENG 201: Intermediate Composition, classes students must take to graduate.

"No regular faculty member teaches that much composition," she said. "The number of students in a section hasn't gone up because of hiring temporary faculty."

Prognosis tenure

Shapiro said the reason more temporary positions have been added in the CHSBS is because of an uncommon number of regular faculty leaving CMU within the last couple of years.

Numbers of regular positions in Humanities have typically fluctuated, but between fall 2005 and last semester, the number of faculty suddenly decreased by 6.3 percent, he said.

"We had some retirements. We had some people with better career opportunities," he said. "So I don't think the fact that many people left is in any way a negative reflection." The College of Business Administration has witnessed a 27.9 percent increase in temporary positions since the later part of 2005.

Aside from the typical reasons of enrollment and restricted finances, College of Business and Administration Dean Michael Fields said the college has had more regular faculty than usual leaving for semester or year-long sabbaticals.

Two sabbaticals, which regular faculty members use as paid leave for research, were taken in 2005, he said. This year, more than five were taken.

Faculty members have the option of taking a sabbatical one semester or being paid about half of their salary and taking a sabbatical for a whole year. Fields said this occurred twice in the last year.

"So you not only have the traditional requirement to cover (tenured faculty's) needs while they're on sabbatical, but also the other semester that they've chosen not to be here," he said.

Kevin Love, management chairman, is currently on sabbatical, but said the number of sabaticals taken does not heavily impact the number of temporaries brought in to replace regular faculty.

"I don't care how many faculty members are on sabbatical. That does not account for what has happened," he said. "There are not more sabbaticals today than there were 15 years ago."

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