Says one professor, “It looks like an attempt to outsource work to unpaid labor.” I agree. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is looking for alumni with terminal degrees to serve as what the school calls “volunteer adjuncts”:
In an email to department chairs, Michael R. Molino, associate dean for research, budget, and personnel, asked for help in finding alumni with terminal degrees who would apply “to join the SIU Graduate Faculty in a zero-time (adjunct) status.“I suggest that Associate Dean Molino visit the SIU School of Medicine and have his head examined.
Alumni who accepted the three-year positions might serve on graduate students’ thesis committees, teach graduate or undergraduate lectures, or collaborate on research projects, according to Molino’s e-mail.
comments: 4
Gives a new meaning to "terminal" degrees:
now a diagnosis.
Ha!
This bit: "The program, it said, would help alumni who 'are eager to give back to their university' an opportunity to serve as role models and professional contacts for graduate students."
Oh my! How insulting!
If I were a faculty member there, I’d be outraged. If I were a student, I’d be outraged. I hope that faculty and students at SIU can put this proposal to rest.
One thing I didn’t realize at first: the terminal degree need not be from SIU. So some of this volunteering would probably bring in faraway alums serving as thesis readers and so on.
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