The Harper team working on their action plan at the Teaching and Learning National Institute.

In June 2016, the Academy received a two-year, $160,000 grant from Achieving the Dream (ATD), to support adjunct faculty engagement. Harper College was one of six community colleges selected to receive this prestigious award.

The initiative, titled “Engaging Adjunct Faculty in the Student Success Movement”, sought proposals that would work toward “engaging and improving the experience and effectiveness of adjunct faculty, both inside and outside the classroom.” The Academy proposed engaging adjunct faculty in communities of practice with full-time faculty, as well as incentivizing a body of professional development work. “We felt we had a pretty robust support network already for adjuncts, and we wanted to make more of an impact in the classroom with the professional development we’re doing,” said Mike Bates, Associate Dean of the Academy for Teaching Excellence, in an interview with Inside Higher Ed.

In July 2016, a team of full-time and adjunct faculty, which included Michelle Frack (Biology), Khursheed Ichhaporia (Biology), Geoffrey Fogleman (English), Amy Babinec (Art), Kim Jaeger (Chair, World Languages), Pearl Ratunil (English), and Mike Bates, attended the Teaching and Learning National Institute: Using Evidence for Improvement at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. During the intensive four-day conference, the team met with Achieving the Dream coaches to draft an action plan for implementing adjunct faculty engagement at Harper. “With direct input from adjunct faculty, we were able to craft a plan that was more specific than the proposal,” said Pearl Ratunil, Chair, Academy for Teaching Excellence.

During the fall semester, the team of full-time and adjunct faculty will continue to meet and select projects that will support adjunct faculty engagement and impact student success.

Read more about the ATD Grant.

Questions? Please contact the Academy at 847.925.6174, academy@harpercollege.edu.