Universities are hiring temporary instructors in increasing numbers, for reasons ranging from less available funding to smaller class sizes.

The foreign language department at Iowa State has an abundance of temporary instructors currently on staff.

“The foreign language department currently has eight temps in Spanish and several in other languages,” said Tia Huggins, a temporary Spanish instructor..

Huggins, who is in her fifth year at ISU, has found after most temporary instructors finish their fifth year, they will no longer be employed here on a full-time basis. This leaves temporary instructors looking for other options, she said.

Students may not know many of their instructors are hired on a temporary, year-by-year basis, Huggins said.

There are vast differences between temporary instructors and tenured professors.

One difference is tenured-track professors have been in a program which involves several evaluations through the course of the program to determine how well they are teaching and of what value they are to the department. Tenured-track professors generally have their doctorates as well.

Temporary instructors, who are usually hired with a master’s degree, have contracts that are renewed every year. After five years, the temporary instructor will either look for another job or continue to work at 80 percent time as opposed to full-time, Madeleine Henry, chairwoman of the foreign language department, said.

“Having temporary people is not bad. Some of our best teachers are temps, but just because they’re good doesn’t mean they can stay,” Henry said.

Whether the temporary instructors stay after five years is determined by reviews and performance. Also important is their willingness to go to part-time or forfeit their benefits.

Henry said having temporary people can be beneficial. If a tenured professor goes on leave to write a book or do research, a temporary professor can be hired for a year to fill in for the tenured professor.

Temporary hiring gives the instructor experience and allows that particular class to continue, she said.

“Unfortunately, when universities hire too many temporary people, the temps don’t have a stake in the university, they can’t vote, and they are essentially like migrant workers,” Henry said.

Ed Lewis, associate provost, said, “We want to make sure everyone who becomes tenured undergoes a very thorough review and there is a positive decision.”

Lewis said the university does not want people to make a career out of being on a full-time temporary basis. He said the program encourages people to get involved in the extensive tenure-track program.

Nicholas Manjoine, a temporary French instructor, said he believes if the department had its choice, they would hire more adjunct positions and more tenured-track professors.

“I think it’s mostly a central-administration thing,” he said.

Manjoine said he likes the mobility temporary teaching gives him while he is getting valuable experience in an academic environment.

He does feel, however, temporary professors are exploited in some ways, with more classes to teach and less diversity of classes.

“We’re basically just relegated to lower-level classes. The classes that are undervalued by tenured-track professors are given to us,” Manjoine said.

He said the reason there are more temporary instructors in the foreign language department is due to the smaller classes and lower funding for the department.

“This type of thing is more prevalent in foreign language because the classes are smaller for better communication, and so there are more sections to teach,” Manjoine said.

The university does not see the importance of foreign language as a department, Manjoine said, so the department is underfunded.

This lack of funds forces the department to hire more temporary people as opposed to adjunct or tenure-track professors.