(Photo by Jessica Weisel)Last month, ASU released new guidelines that will be used to determine teacher pay and promotion criteria.
The guidelines will go into effect August 2016, University Provost Robert E. Page Jr. said in a press release.
ASU spokesman Mark Johnson said the change in guidelines and pay scale is a step forward for the University and its employees, “showing how ASU is moving forward in providing a career path for instructional faculty.”
These guidelines were announced on Feb. 25, corresponding with National Adjunct Walkout Day, when adjunct faculty across the nation staged public walkouts to protest wages and job security.
ASU faculty did not participate in any walkouts, but did try and spark conversation within their classes, holding “teach-ins” to try and educate students about how much of their tuition actually goes back to teachers, said an ASU non-tenure track full-time instructor of English, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
Full-time faculty are divided into different categories, based on education and experience. Within each category are different levels, which also vary by experience level.
Tenure-track faculty, who are reaching for a permanent job contract, are on the top rung, followed by lecturers and then instructors. The new minimum pay for an instructor, according to the guidelines, is $36,000 per year. Part-time faculty are called adjuncts, or faculty associates, and are paid per credit hour they teach. The new minimum for them is $1,100 per credit hour.
Pay minimums, as outlined in the revised guidelines, differ with the different categories. Individual colleges may choose to offer a person higher compensation but must comply with University minimums.
The new guidelines also outline basic requirements for faculty members to receive a promotion and pay raise.
The guidelines leave it to individual colleges to decide specific promotion criteria, but require a person wishing to move from a lower rank within their category to complete five years of experience at that level before requesting the promotion. A person wishing to move up a category must complete seven years in the previous level, as well as all minimum education requirements.
One of the issues the instructor and other faculty who participated in walkouts across the nation cited was job security.
“Adjuncts have no contract,” the instructor said. “They are given their classes after all the full-time faculty are scheduled. Instructors have a contract on a yearly basis. Contracts usually come late in the year, around July, and you don’t know if they will be renewed until then.”
The new employment guidelines do not specify what time of year the contracts will be offered. However, they dictate that instructors will continue to receive one-year contracts only.
“Instructor appointments may be renewed for subsequent terms of appointment, but will not be eligible for multi-year appointments,” the guidelines say.
Lecturer positions and clinical assistant professors are also given on a year-to-year basis, the guidelines say, but a person promoted to a senior lecturer can be eligible for a three-year contract.
Adjunct teacher Joel Smith, who teaches English at UA, was one of the walkout organizers. He said increasing workloads and lack of long-term contracts led to the dissent among faculty members, both at ASU and UA.
It is unknown if UA intends to revise payment guidelines in the future.
According to a press release from Page, the changes are coming now as a result of the economic recession, which interrupted the University’s ability to hire teachers and offer raises.
“ASU’s recovery from that downturn through renewed hiring of instructional faculty members has varied by college and department,” the press release said. “The new policies will provide consistency and professional continuity through a common platform of expectations for the years to come.”
Reach the reporter at cvanek@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @CorinaVanek.
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