1

I have a prof who is teaching between five universities, full-time at one and adjunct at the others. This semester alone they're teaching over 35 credit hours, which is double a regular full-time teaching load. They are not organized and sometimes don't give helpful feedback.

Who can I report them to? This is too much of a load to properly teach.

0

3 Answers 3

8

Well… it is quite possible in the current academic context that some instructors need to stitch together multiple jobs.

Is this person tenured or tenure-track? It would be unusual for this person to be tenure-track as such a workload would affect other conditions required for tenure (v.g committee work, supervision, research etc). If this person is tenured it will be harder for the university to do much unless the instructor is in breach of contract, i.e. obviously does a poor job or is explicitly forbidden to hold a position outside of their current institution.

Keep in mind it is entirely possible for one to have a full-time limited-time contract position at one place without this restricting work outside of the contract. In particular, it could well be that this person does not want to abandon courses taught elsewhere so that, once the contract runs out, they have multiple cushions for a soft landing.

Ultimately the only thing you can do is provide constructive but critical comments at the course evaluation. While these are not necessarily available to the Dean, they at least point to the issue.

11

There seem to be two different issues. First, you say that there are problems that you have experienced with aspects of the instructor's teaching; for example, that the instructor does not give good feedback. Additionally, you indirectly assert that the cause of the poor teaching is the number of hours that the person is working.

What is it you are really concerned about: the poor quality teaching, or what you infer to be the cause? I suggest that you focus on the problem and its possible solutions and not on your beliefs about the cause.

8

Any administrator, such as a department head or dean, would do. It is possibly contrary to their full-time contract. But, before you make any report, make sure your information is accurate. Hearsay can be very damaging.

It is possible, however, that at some institutions this would be within the bounds, if unusual. It is hard for me to see how they could be fulfilling their contract with so much outside employment, even if it isn't teaching elsewhere.

Ask for confidentiality if you decide to report it. It is up to the institution to investigate and issue appropriate sanctions if warranted. It is even possible hat they have permission and some special need. But it is also possible that you need a better institution if this is within bounds.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .