How can we help PCC students achieve their dreams?

Today the American association of Colleges and Universities unveiled a new report compiling discoveries by the institutions who have succeeded with the Achieving the Dream initiative. Not surprisingly, they note that high performing institutions have faculty and staff who understand and are engaged with the component programs of the initiative.

 Tucked into the report as an obstacle to effectiveness is this gem:

The majority of faculty members are in part-time adjunct positions. This often means they have multiple jobs at different colleges and are faced with competing priorities, low pay and workplace support, and no guarantee that they will be hired at the same college the next semester. These conditions not only result in detachment from the college’s vision and priorities, they also prevent those who are eager to get involved from doing so.

Perhaps with the new contract’s $300,000 to pay for “part-time” faculty involvement with college initiatives, along with the new form of job security provided by multi-year contracts, instructors eager to become involved in collaboration around student success at PCC will have fewer blocks to doing so..