Adjunct professors have largely been the topic of conversation in academia for the past several years, their pay being one of the largest conversations.
On average, prior to the recent increase from ETSU, adjunct faculty made around $700 per credit hour according to a report by United Campus Workers. So, a typical three credit hour class would provide the adjunct faculty with around $2,100 for the semester, or fifteen weeks.
In ETSU’s newest pay plan, each adjunct makes around $800 per credit hour. The new semesterly pay is around $2,400. These wage increases also included a one-time $500 bonus for all current ETSU employees who were employed during the months of April and May.
Adjuncts are typically temporary professors that teach on a as-needed basis. For example, if there are five sections of introduction to psychology open and only three people to teach these classes, the psychology department may hire an adjunct professor to teach the one or two remaining classes that need a professor.
Adjunct professors can also have multiple classes that they are teaching. An adjunct professor may teach intro to psychology, design and analysis and social psychology based on the department’s need to have those classes filled. They are paid on a scale of how much time is spent solely teaching and does not take into account the amount of time they work on their classes, meet with students or do other university activities and obligations.
By increasing their pay, you are paying them for all of the work that they do, seen and unseen. You are also increasing the chances of good professors, with strong academic backgrounds and connections, coming to the university to teach a specialty class or adjunct for a class they are specialized in. Overall, increasing the pay for adjunct professors is the equal and just thing to do.
