Published in the January 31, 2014 Santa Maria Times. Tests going back to 1998 tell the same story—American students at all levels are seriously deficient in writing skills. Only 3 percent possess advanced or superior abilities when it comes to writing. This is no surprise to a writing instructor. For almost two decades I have […]

Happy New Year to everyone! Welcome to 2014! 2013 turned out to be an exceptionally good year for the Part-Time Faculty Association. I am writing this in the hope that 2014 will be even better. Just for starters, last year we increased our membership by more than 40%. We moved to a new office, won […]

Published in the January 24, 2014 Santa Maria Times. “History,” said Henry Ford, “is more or less bunk.” Fortunately, Henry Ford was an industrialist, not an educator. But knowledge of history is the basis upon which today’s decisions are made. Our educational system, locally and nationally, needs to spend more time teaching the important lessons […]

Published in the December 27, 2013 Santa Maria Times. A comment overheard recently — made only partly in jest — asserted that an application for a part-time, or adjunct, faculty position in U.S. higher education today should be accompanied by an application for food stamps. In other words, adjunct faculty can expect to be poor. […]