Roads Scholars: Part-Time Faculty Job Satisfaction in Community Colleges

Abstract

Are part-time faculty members satisfied with their roles in higher education? Data from part-time faculty responses regarding their experiences in higher education vary. Valadez and Antony (2001) analyzed data from 6,811 part-time faculty collected from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) 1992–1993 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF). They concluded two-year part-time faculty members are satisfied with their roles, but they are concerned with issues regarding salary, benefits, and long-term job security. Similar findings were published by Leslie and Gappa (2002). Other researchers, however, have found dissimilar results (Townsend & Hauss, 2002; Jacoby, 2005). The paradoxical findings from these surveys suggest there are unanswered questions regarding part-time faculty job satisfaction in community colleges. Using survey responses from part-time faculty teaching at the 13 community colleges comprising the Colorado Community College System (CCCS), this study identified statistically significant factors associated with job satisfaction and proposed policy recommendations for improving part-time faculty job satisfaction. A total of 405 respondents (N = 405) answered the part-time faculty satisfaction survey to varying degrees of completion. This was a survey response rate of approximately 12% of the total population of part-time faculty who taught in the CCCS during the 2008 calendar year. Recommendations for improving part-time faculty job satisfaction in the CCCS include increasing part-time faculty salaries, offering health insurance benefits, offering additional inexpensive benefits, establishing a seniority system, offering increased opportunities for online teaching, and offering annual teaching contracts.