In Spring 2023 the Miramar Academic Senate sponsored the circulation of the “Miramar College Adjunct Check-In & Miramar 2.0 Transition Survey”. Following a presentation of the survey results, the A.S. voted to approve the formation of an adjunct workgroup to organize and address key issues revealed in the survey data. In the Spring of 2024, this workgroup succeeded in accomplishing three primary goals. First, we became an official committee – The Adjunct Success, Retention, and Equity Committee [ASRE] with a full membership roster to include 10 adjunct representatives. Second, we petitioned the Professional Development Committee to amend their charter and add a designated position for an adjunct representative. Official amendment of their charter will begin in the Fall of 2024. Lastly, ASRE drafted a resolution promoting ancillary compensation for additional tasks assigned to adjuncts as part of the college’s effort to achieve its new strategic plan goals. ASRE’s resolution did not pass in the Academic Senate. However, the A.S. proposed and voted for a counter motion to form a joint task force of full-time and adjunct faculty to address concerns around equity, access, and compensation issues related to adjunct staff development and professional development that were presented in the original survey data. Adjuncts at Miramar are hopeful that this joint task force can find ways to accomplish the core intentions of the resolution.
The task force will begin meeting in the Fall to arrive at a list of recommendations to bring to the A.S. to endorse and then forward to the College Council. If you are an adjunct instructor or full-time faculty at Miramar College interested in joining the task force, or you are experienced in actualizing these goals on your campus we would love to hear from you. Please contact Pablo Martin pmartin@sdccd.edu or Kristen Everhart keverhart@sdccd.edu with any comments or questions.
We are particularly interested in inviting experts in select areas who may help the task force develop strategies to accomplish the following:
- Chairs/Full-Time – advocate for adjunct SD/PD compensation find funding, when possible, reflect on extra tasks and workload of adjunct, encourage utilizing voluntary language when appropriate, and create a set of ‘best practices’ for chair working with adjuncts.
- AFT – work to clarify the adjunct scope of work more clearly and create a reporting process.
- Professional Development Committee – work to improve PD accessibility for adjuncts, create a spotlight series of PD to prep adjuncts for strategic plan goals, and balance training with community/contact engagement opportunities.
- Part-Time – explore strategies to disseminate and educate them on the contract, the scope of their job, how to request ancillary compensation, the process for submitting the ancillary compensation form, and who to contact for reporting.