the adjunct
a supportive blog.
We are excited to launch The Adjunct Blog! For our first few entries, we are pleased to present an in-depth, multi-episode interview with author Herb Childress.
Childress has published several helpful monographs on navigating the adjunct faculty world. In these texts, Childress brings to light the harsh realities of adjunct life: chronically unstable employment, lack of administrative support, and a firmly entrenched status as second-class members of the academic community.
While the picture Childress paints is bleak, he offers a helpful diagnosis of the adjunct predicament with an eye on the history of the adjunct crisis in the United States and with personal reflections on his exit from the adjuncting world.
The Adjunct Underclass: How America’s Colleges Betrayed Their Teachers, Their Students, and Their Mission (2019, University of Chicago Press).
The PhDictionary: A Glossary of Things You Don’t Know (but Should) About Doctoral and Faculty Life (2016, University of Chicago Press).
A Conversation with Herb Childress
Episode One: Why Do Origins and Pedigree Matter So Much in Academia?
Childress discusses the role pedigree and personal background play in perceived ability, hiring practices, and more generally whom is allowed entrance into the ranks of permanent faculty.
Episode Two: From Student to Adjunct
Childress discusses the disconnect between the life of a graduate student and the professional academic world they are about to enter.
Episode Three: Writing a New Story
Childress discusses narrative and identity in the transition out of academia.
Episode Four: Life Outside Academia
Childress discusses the important differences between life inside and outside of academia, and what academics should expect upon exiting the academic machine.