A consortial community for VITAL faculty: fostering community, sense of belonging, & teaching excellence

ABSTRACT

VITAL faculty, also known as non-tenure-track instructors at colleges and universities in the United States, play critical roles in educating students but are often excluded from professional development and community-building opportunities that support their growth and development as instructors. In this article, we describe how we addressed these inequities as a consortium of institutions with differing missions, strategic goals, and student populations, by facilitating collaborative initiatives for our VITAL faculty. We apply various conceptual frameworks, theories, and research-supported principles to this work, including academic development as community development, social network theory, and professional development as critical to improving student outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Adjunct faculty
• community of practice
• non-tenure-track faculty
• part-time faculty
• professional development
• teaching and learning

Acknowledgments

We extend a special thanks to the staff of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges who also in part supported this work. We are appreciative of their assistance in gathering email lists of VITAL faculty across the consortium, promoting and coordinating some of the events.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges Community of Practice Grant.

Notes on contributors

Tracie Marcella Addy

Tracie Marcella Addy is formerly the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning and Director of the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning and Scholarship at Lafayette College. She is responsible for working with instructors across all divisions and ranks to develop and administer programming and offer services in support of the teacher-scholar model. In addition to these roles, she actively performs scholarship on teaching and learning and educational development, primarily focusing on learner-centered practices including active learning and inclusive teaching.

Mark J. Sciutto

Mark J. Sciutto is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Muhlenberg Center for Teaching and Learning (MCTL) at Muhlenberg College. Central to the mission of MCTL is to support a culture of reflection on teaching and learning on campus. As director, he facilitates a range of programming and support services for faculty and teaching staff with all levels of experience and institutional history. Aside from this role, he is actively engaged in a range of scholarly projects on topics including community-engaged teaching and scholarship, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and issues related to neurodiversity in education and the workplace.

Eric J. Hagan

Eric J. Hagan is the Dean of Online Education at DeSales University. In this role, he is responsible for the university’s educational technology and instructional design functions as well as shaping policy on online and hybrid learning. He is also a lecturer in ethics and technology.