NPR: Adjunct Life Difficult Path to Full-time Employment

In the second of a two-part series on adjunct professors, 90.7 WFAE's Gwendolyn Glenn interviews Davidson adjunct professor of political science Ron Schmidt. Schmidt, who retired from the California State University, Long Beach after serving as a longtime department chair, offers advice to those considering academic careers.

The series was inspired by recent efforts by adjunct and non-tenure track faculty at Duke University to unionize. Today, more than 50 percent of college faculty are part-time adjunct professors, according to the American Association of University Professors. Glenn notes that at Davidson, where adjuncts are hired mainly to fill in for faculty who are on leave or sabbatical, adjuncts receive higher wages and a lower course load than at other institutions.

Listen to part one: Colleges Increasingly Replacing Full-Time Faculty With Adjuncts

Listen to part two: Adjunct Life Difficult Path to Full-Time Employment