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Robert Gagne, design coordinator for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority, team teaches Engineering Computer Graphics with David Shacochis.
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Adjuncts Bring Expertise to the Classroom, Reap Benefits in Return
By Elena Barbre, Robin
Herron, and Michelle Nery
From high-profile professionals to technical experts with years of industry
experience, adjuncts at George Mason bring an added dimension to the classroom
and provide an enhanced educational experience for students, administrators say.
At the same time, adjuncts assert they get personal satisfaction from the exchange.
About 41 percent of the George Mason faculty is part time, a percentage that
has remained nearly stable over the past 10 years. "Relatively high use of
adjuncts reflects both budget and our opportunities to tap a substantial and much-appreciated
talent pool in the region," says Provost Peter Stearns. "We have many
adjuncts who've been with us a long time and whose devotion to good teaching and
special expertise bring real benefits to the educational program."
One professor who fits this profile is the School of Law's Douglas H. Ginsburg,
an adjunct since 1988. The judge draws on his 15 years of experience on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to enrich classroom discussions
during "Readings in Legal Thought," a seminar he teaches each spring.
"The students and I both benefit from the experience," says Ginsburg,
who has also taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard, and Columbia. "My
judicial experience does bring a new perspective to bear upon issues dealt with
in the academic literature."
Kenneth Nidiffer is a long-term adjunct who teaches in the School of Information
Technology and Engineering (IT&E). Nidiffer has been with George Mason for 14
years and worked on the original delivery of the course he teaches, "Software
Project Management." Nidiffer is vice president of member programs and new
business at Software Productivity Consortium, a nonprofit organization whose members
include more than 100 high-tech companies, government agencies, and academic institutions.
IT&E relies heavily on adjuncts to keep the content fresh in its rapidly changing
fields. Dean Lloyd Griffiths says, "We have about 100 full-time faculty and
nearly 75 adjuncts. We could not run our program without them." Jeremy Allnutt,
director of the M.S. in Telecommunications program, declares, "Without adjuncts,
the program would not exist. On the strength of our adjunct faculty, we have gone
from 6 credit hours of courses and 1 adjunct in fall 2000 to 43.5 credit hours
and 12 adjuncts this spring."
Department chairs and program coordinators are uniformly grateful for adjuncts
and pleased that highly credentialed professionals continue to offer their services
despite the low pay. Mark Houck, chair of the Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure
Engineering (CEIE) Department, says about the only perk he can afford is to treat
his eight adjuncts to lunch once in a while. "We hardly give them enough
to pay for parking."
Yet even without a financial incentive, adjuncts are eager to teach at George
Mason. Particularly in the engineering fields, mentoring is part of the professional
code, and many take that responsibility seriously. Says David Shacochis, global
program manager for Cable & Wireless who team teaches a freshman-level CEIE course
with a fellow alumni, "Teaching is a great way to give something back to
both my degree program and the university." President of Mason's civil engineering
alumni chapter, Shacochis is confident that he could call on another alum to step
into his teaching spot if he could no longer do it.
Nidiffer also stresses the giving-back aspect of teaching, but adds, "It's
rewarding to teach about the state of the profession and best practices in a two-way
exchange mode, because I learn from the students, too. I get feedback after every
class. That's richness in itself."
Other adjuncts admit they simply enjoy teaching. Robert Rogowsky teaches "International
Trade Relations" in the School of Public Policy's International Commerce
and Policy program - an appropriate course for someone whose day job is director
of operations for the U.S. International Trade Commission. Rogowsky says his favorite
part of teaching is his interaction with the students. He marvels at the diversity
of the Mason community and the students in his class. "There is always an
international flavor to my classes," he says.
John Matusik, branch manager for the Engineering Groupe who teaches the senior
design project class in CEIE, says, "My motivation is that I find teaching
fun. I like communicating with students, and I think students connect well with
somebody who's not in the so-called ivory tower." Matusik also calls on friends,
colleagues, and consultants he's worked with to guest lecture in his class, a
benefit for students that Houck, head of CEIE, says would be nearly impossible
to provide without him.
Houck is also thrilled to have adjuncts of the caliber of David Binning, director
of the Planning and Engineering Division of the Fairfax County Water Authority.
"I love this guy," Houck says. "Who better to teach a class on
hydraulics? He's in charge of a $200 million capital construction program and
can take the class on a field trip to the Water Authority giving them access to
everything."
In New Century College (NCC), Chryssa Zizos, founder and president of Live
Wire Media Relations LLC in Alexandria, brings her journalistic and public relations
experience in industry and government to her class, "Workforce Effectiveness
Skills: Handling Conflicts in the Culturally Diverse Workplace." Next fall,
she will also teach "Power of Influence," which explores how the media
influences people to buy products, vote, and make political decisions. "I
love to teach. In public and media relations, I teach my clients the best way
to position themselves, but I'm not affecting their lives. It is tremendously
powerful when you can mold and influence students' lives."
While some adjuncts arrived at George Mason serendipitously, others were definitely
courted, and personal connections provided the key.
For example, law professor Robert Anthony drew on his friendship with Kenneth
Starr to bring the former independent prosecutor to the Law School's adjunct faculty
in 1999. Starr has been involved in a variety of activities at the school, including
organizing moot court sessions and teaching a seminar on "Current Constitutional
Issues." Though he has devoted this semester to his law practice at Kirkland
& Ellis, Starr emphasizes that "even when I'm not teaching, I like to attend
events at the Law School and be involved and supportive in every way I can."
It was President Alan Merten, a friend of Charles Robb's from when they served
as Johnson administration White House military aides, who first approached Robb
about teaching at George Mason last year. Robb, under a joint appointment with
the School of Law and the School of Public Policy, taught a course last semester
that touched on lawmaking and policy formulation, national security, international
relations, and "hot topics on the domestic agenda."
Robb is teaching in the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School
of Government this spring, but he hopes to return to Mason next year. "It's
been a rewarding experience, and I've learned from it," he says.
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