March 23rd, 2015
Will it hurt my chances for a
tenure-track job to have adjunct work on my record?
There is a lot of anxiety out there
about that question, and a lot of what I consider undue paranoia. Adjunct
teaching does not typically harm anyone’s chances of getting a tenure-track
job, at least in the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, at this point,
adjuncting may well be almost an expected part of a successful candidate’s
record.
Despite its terrible reputation,
adjunct work is evidence that you’ve taught a course entirely on your own, and
that type of experience is a critical element of a competitive candidate’s
record. No amount of TA-ing, even at highly ranked universities, will
substitute. The fact is, teaching one course on your own at a local college
counts for far more on your record than four semesters of TA work at your
doctoral institution. Because TA-ing is, fundamentally, not teaching. (Unless
of course your institution is one where TAs actually teach a whole course on
their own, in which case that experience is as valuable as any other
sole-teaching experience. If that is your situation, make sure your application
materials identify you as the instructor of record for those “TA-ed” courses.).
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