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Senior lecturers
New position provides security, recognition for temporary faculty.
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Not much has changed for the eight adjunct faculty members in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences who were promoted last spring to senior lecturers.
While it varies from instructor to instructor, from department to department,
typically most of their duties are still the same.
They teach classes.
According to Zora Zimmerman, LAS associate dean for academic affairs,
it's important for Iowa State to recognize those individuals and their
contributions to the academic mission of the institution as well as their
classroom teaching.
Eight LAS temporary instructors were promoted last spring to senior lecturers,
including four in the Department of English, and one each in the Departments
of Economics;
Foreign Languages and Literatures; Mathematics; and Psychology.
The eight were asked to apply for the new positions by their respective
departments.
"Being asked to apply for the senior lecturer position was a validation
of the work I have been doing here," said Michelle Tremmel, Department
of English. "Though temporary instructors have done fine work at
Iowa State for a long time, in many ways we were invisible under the old
system.
"This new policy is a step in the right direction."
While not much may have changed in terms of job duties for most senior
lecturers, the new title does come with a little more job security.
"The new title provides a permanency that wasn't there before,"
said K.J. (Jim) Gilchrist, senior lecturer in the Department of English.
Julie Minkler-Tsivakou, a colleague of Gilchrist's in the Department of
English, agrees.
"Security-wise our jobs are safe," she says. "When I was
a temporary instructor the best I could hope for was a yearly appointment.
Every year there was this chance the department wouldn't want you for
the next year.
"Security is a big deal for me. I don't have to worry about it. You
can teach classes and change your approach and still know you're going
to be here for five years."
That security cuts both ways according to Thomas Waldemer, senior lecturer
in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.
"Most people aren't independently wealthy and need some type of security,"
he said. "There is a definite need for security for the temporary
faculty but also a need for an institution like Iowa State to offer that
security. Faculty certainty and stability is important for the university
as well as for individuals."
That change came about in 2002 with a change in policy intended to provide
additional job stability and advancement opportunities for faculty in
temporary positions. The policy was instituted to limit the percentage
of classroom teaching by non-tenure-eligible faculty to 25 percent within
a department and to 15 percent overall at Iowa State.
Four new titles were created when the policy was implemented. Lecturers
and clinicians can be hired for up to three years at a time and their
contracts renewed up to a total of six years.
Senior lecturers and senior clinicians like Gilchrist, Minkler-Tsivakou
and Waldemer were given five-year appointments, which can be renewed indefinitely.
There is still room for improvement however.
"I don't think the salaries of the senior lecturers reflect the amount
of work we do or our responsibilities to our departments," Minkler-Tsivakou
said. "It's just the first year of the program, but I also think
it's good for these issues to be discussed."
While one of the responsibilities for the senior lecturers is classroom
instruction, many have other duties – for some of which they have been
responsible for years.
Terry Alexander has been a member of the Department of Economics' faculty
for over 10 years after coming to Iowa State from the University of California-Davis.
While he has been advising economics undergraduates for several years
now, he has added additional advising responsibilities this year.
He also teaches basic economics courses such as "Principles of Microeconomics
and Macroeconomics" along with more advanced courses ("Intermediate
Macroeconomics" and "Managerial Economics").
"In the time I have been with the department I have always viewed
myself as being able to do a number of things and fill in the holes each
semester," Alexander said. "Like many senior lecturers I can
teach across the spectrum of my discipline.
"This situation lets me do what I want to do."
Alexander admits that his situation may be different than other senior
lecturers. His spouse is a tenured faculty member on campus.
"This is a lifestyle choice for me," he said. "I enjoy
being in a University atmosphere."
Gilchrist also enjoys the atmosphere at Iowa State. The senior lecturer
in the Department of English first came to campus in 1984 and taught for
several years as a temporary instructor. After earning a Ph.D. from the
University of Kansas, Gilchrist continued working as a temporary instructor
at Iowa State before Grand View College in Des Moines hired him as an
assistant professor. A little more than a year later he came back to the
Department of English at Iowa State because he longed for the research
culture that existed here.
His latest book, C.S. Lewis' Service in World War I, is slated
to be published in February. He has also led Iowa State study abroad tours
to Belgium, France and England.
"The culture was different at Grand View," he said. "Even
as an assistant professor I had tenured faculty in my department ask me
why I was writing and publishing. That's what I found difficult and why
I ultimately decided to come back here.
"There is an opportunity for professional growth here along with
good opportunities to teach."
Heather Thompson, senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, chose
her current position instead of applying for a tenure-track slot because
of her desire to be in a classroom.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Thompson is her department's
director of graduate education for the Master of School Mathematics program
and undergraduate adviser to students seeking a mathematics education
degree. Those duties allow her to continue her affiliation with the College
of Education.
"With a recent retirement I'm the only person in the department with
a Ph.D. who has a background in secondary education," she said. "This
position frees me to teach, which is my real interest.
"It's (teaching) what I do best."
Heather Thompson
Jim Gilchrist
Julie Minkler-Tsivakou
Around LAS
February 7-20, 2005
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