My name is Melissa Michelson, and my future (career) is bleak. With a graduate degree in a highly specialized field, I consider myself a professional, but for some reason college-level instruction is not treated as a profession in this country. Now that I’m in this “career” I realize I have no future in it, and I ask myself, should I get out now while I’m still young?

    You see,  I’m an adjunct faculty, which means I have to work at several colleges to patch together a full-time job.  You’re probably thinking, “Hmm. Three schools, three salaries = three times as much money! What’s the problem?” The problem is called “the 60% law” –  I can only work a certain number of hours at any one college, which  means shuttling back and forth between campuses daily in order to make a full-time load.  In addition, I’m never guaranteed work – either I may not be offered employment or my classes may not make enrollment. I can be cancelled at any time. Every semester (or quarter, depending on where I am teaching) I have to go through the stress of wondering if ends will meet. Juggling employers and lack of job security (and don’t forget lack of comprehensive health benefits) do not a profession make.

    So why don’t I just apply for a full-time job?

    The fact is I will most likely always remain a part-timer instructor because seniority rights either are not adhered to or don’t exist, colleges are following the corporate business model of not hiring full-time employees (despite the legal mandates that community colleges hire a certain number of full-time faculty every academic year), and if by miracle there is a full-time opening, most schools tend not to hire from within.  My chances of improving my occupational status are very slim.

    I’d like to close by saying I am frustrated and tired of being treated as a non-professional, but I’m not quite ready to give up the fight. That’s why I am writing this today.