A Proposed NCA Temporary Faculty Caucus

Sign the electronic petition to form this caucus View the formal petition  View the NCA Affirmative Action Statement

It is proposed that temporary faculty members in the field of communication form a Temporary Faculty Caucus within the National Communication Association (NCA). The core of the group's purpose would be to act as a mutual support and advocacy group for temporary or contingent faculty within the field of communication. This category of faculty includes scholars working under such job titles as adjunct professor, visiting professor, and instructor, but covers any annual and semester-to-semester term employment in the field. Many temporary faculty their status as a stigma that makes them second class citizens in the departments they support and less competitive in job searches than new Ph.D.'s, tenured and tenure-track professors, and new ABD's, even when they are keeping up with the literature, are actively publishing and presenting a conferences, and have above average teaching evaluations. They are treated as a marginalized group in the same spirit as other minorities named in the "NCA Affirmative Action Statement". Many temporary professors teach on a temporary basis not because of any lack in their teaching abilities, credentials, or research program, but because of the varying demands of the communication marketplace, in which there can be an oversupply in some specialties much as there can be an undersupply in others. Their reward for remaining in the discipline is low pay, a lack of support for their ongoing research programs, a lack of support for their membership in and attendence at the meetings of regional and national communication organizations, and no health insurance, retirement, or other benefits. An organizing meeting for this proposed caucus was held at NCA on Saturday, November 19 from 5:00pm to 6:15pm in the 3rd Floor Atrium Lounge of the Marriott Copley Place. After some minor glitches (the hotel didn't know we were scheduled to use the space) the meeting was held. During the meeting we agreed, among other things, to formally petition NCA to establish the caucus. We are currently circulating an electronic petition to form this caucus. If you support the caucus, please sign our petition survey. The former hosting provider for this caucus has gone out of business.  I am working on recovering the discussion group data, but do not, as yet have it.  I look forward to re-establishing the discussion group at an early date. If you know someone else who might be interested in joining this caucus, please point them at this web site: http://www.commsites.org/tempfac.