Information for Current English Graduate Students
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English Department Lecturers
The English Department at UNCG employs instructors in three different categories, each with different terms of employment and duties, who hold the title "lecturer."
Continuing lecturers are those who hold renewable contracts for a one, two or three year term, and whose positions are defined by a combination of administrative and teaching duties (teaching loads vary). The Director and Assistant Director of the MFA Program, the Director and Assistant Director of the Writing Center, and the Director of English Education are the positions currently defined in this way. These lecturers are subject to the department's annual review process, the results of which determine their eligibility for raises, and their contracts are renewed on the basis of their continued success in the performance of their duties. There is no limit on the number of times that a continuing lecturer may be renewed.
Full-time lecturers, who usually hold the MFA or PhD, are employed for a single year, with benefits, and teach four courses per semester. Current lecturers who have served for one or two years are also eligible to apply for another one-year term. Preference will ordinarily be given to qualified candidates applying for the first or second time. Individuals who have already served three years in a full-time capacity at UNCG are not ordinarily eligible for further full-time appointments, although they may occasionally be considered for adjunct work up to a total of five years (ten semesters) as full or part-time lecturers in the department. These lecturers receive a set annual salary ($28,000 in 2008-09) and are not eligible for salary increase, even if hired for additional years. They are supervised and evaluated by the Associate Head of the department, and are limited to two academic years of full-time employment.
It is the department's policy to prefer applicants who have just completed their MFA or PhD degree at UNCG. However, full-time lectureships are not an extension of graduate assistantships and are by no means guaranteed. The hiring process is competitive, and applicants must present evidence of thorough preparation for teaching, including evaluated teaching experience either through internship or assistantship. If they are re-applying for full-time employment, their performance in prior years will be a primary consideration. Under some circumstances, the department may hire properly qualified applicants without a UNCG degree as full-time lecturers.
Applications for full-time lectureships are usually due in mid-February. The department's elected Advisory Committee and the Head, with the further advice of the Director of the MFA Program, the Director of Composition, and the Director of the Writing Center, select the following year's lecturers. Offers are usually made in early April.
Adjunct lecturers, who usually hold the MFA or PhD, are employed and paid on a course-by-course basis. Even if they are ultimately assigned four courses a semester for two semesters, they are not eligible for benefits. Adjunct lecturers are also supervised and evaluated by the Associate Head, and may be given course-by-course assignments for a maximum of five academic years. For instance, if an adjunct lecturer has taught both semesters for four academic years, but teaches only the fall semester of the fifth, that person has reached the five-year limit. This limit applies to FMS courses as well as to those in English, when the lecturer has been hired directly by the English department .
Former full-time lecturers may apply for adjunct work, to a maximum of five total academic years of employment. That is, if a lecturer taught full-time for two years, then course-by course employment may be available for a maximum of three additional academic years.
There are two exceptions to the time limit on employment for adjunct lecturers. (1) We employ a small group of professional writers who regularly teach 300-level writing courses, mostly in journalism. These writers usually teach one or two courses per year, and there is no time limit on their eligibility for continued teaching. (2) The department also provides an administrative home for a small number of lecturers recruited for specific programs which are not themselves academic units and so cannot hire faculty—for instance, the Freshman Seminar program, or the residential colleges. These lecturers, though technically on the English department payroll, are in fact selected and paid from outside the department; they are supervised by the recruiting program, which determines the duration of their employment.
Full-time and adjunct lecturers, although not tenure-track instructors, are professionals employed through competitive hiring on the basis of their qualifications. Their work as teachers at UNCG often forms the first layer of their post-graduate dossier. The department hires lecturers with the expectation of fully professional conduct, and hopes to be able to provide strong supporting recommendations at the end of their successful employment at UNCG.
