Posing as a prospective Wesleyan student in a phone call to the Office of Admissions, this reporter’s request for information about visiting professors at the University was greeted with skepticism.
Responding to the student’s statement that some schools may be increasing their numbers of visiting professors, the Admissions officer said, “Where did you hear that? From the hallways?”
The Admissions officer then expressed his skepticism that any university in the country would be able to answer that question, adding, seemingly exasperated, that the Argus reporter try the Office of Academic Affairs.
When the same reporter inquired about the number of visiting professors at Grinnell College and Vassar College, Admissions officers immediately connected him to the information he requested—through the school’s online “Fact Book” and the dean of the faculty, respectively.
But although the University’s Office of Admissions might appear unwilling to discuss visiting professors, Wesleyan’s number of tenured faculty is substantially higher than those of Grinnell and Vassar. In a rough comparison of tenured faculty versus not tenured faculty—compiled by the Universities themselves—74 percent of Wesleyan’s faculty was tenured, compared with 41 percent and 45 percent at Vassar and Grinnell, respectively.
These numbers were compiled by the Universities themselves and not by an independent organization.
There has been a recent trend for some universities and colleges to hire more visiting professors because they are cheaper, paid on a per-course basis. This often leads to ‘gypsy professors’ that spend semester after semester visiting different institutions, explained Dean of Social Sciences and Head of the Interdisciplinary Programs Committee Donald Moon.
“Wesleyan has resisted that model,” he said.
Still, the number of visiting professors at Wesleyan has presented challenges for both professors and students, although many also expressed praise for their departments.
“I am incredibly busy because nearly all of my faculty in American Studies and most of the U.S. historians are on sabbatical,” said Claire Potter, chair of the American Studies program. “So I actually, literally, have no time [to meet] until I finish Drop/Add for my 55 advisees. And there would be 25 more, were it not for the visitors, who have graciously stepped in.”
Students who needed advising noticed the lack of permanent faculty in the American Studies department as well. During an interview with one professor from the department, a sophomore came to look for advice on declaring a major. The visiting professor was unable to help the student, citing her inexperience with Wesleyan’s system, and then pointed the student to the chair of the department, Potter.
Potter was too busy, however, and, after giving the student some brief counseling about declaring a major, suggested the student come back at a time closer to the end of Drop/ Add.
“That is the kind of analysis that I don’t know how to do,” said the visiting professor after witnessing the exchange.
According to several professors, the opportunity for tenured faculty to take sabbaticals is a central reason that the University needs to hire visiting professors.
“[Wesleyan’s sabbatical policy] is at the head of the pack,” Moon said.
Moon noted that the University’s sabbatical policy is more generous than those of other universities, explaining that Wesleyan professors are expected to be scholars in their field.
But when professors get sabbatical is another issue. That decision is worked out individually by each department, explained Chair of the Biology Deparment Janice Naegele.
“[In this department, we] try to reach a consensus in our decisions [concerning sabbaticals] as a group of faculty, and the chair’s job is to facilitate,” she said.
Although visiting faculty are often thought of as ‘gypsy professors,’ Christina Berndt, a visiting instructor in American Studies who arrived on campus only four weeks ago, disagreed.
“[There is] a very welcoming feeling, especially in the American Studies department,” she said.
She is finishing her PhD at Minnesota State—although admissions claimed that 100 percent of Wesleyan professors have a PhD or other terminal degree in their field—and has been hired to teach for a year.
Berndt also noted that tenured faculty have been helpful in providing her with many resources. The role of the visiting professor at some other universities, she explained, is more of a “workhorse.”
“I think that [becoming a ‘gypsy professor’] is a common concern for everyone coming out of grad school and going into academia right now,” she said.
While some students may have been concerned with advisors still unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the University, many students are willing to speak of their close connections with visiting professors.
“[My visiting professor] was definitely different from most professors because he wasn’t part of the department. He wasn’t afraid to trash on the department,” said one junior, who wished to remain anonymous.
Some students expressed different feelings about visiting professors. Julia Popkin ’10 said that a visiting professor she had had was unused to the pace of the school and her class wasn’t challenging.
But whether visiting faculty is a hit-or-miss experience, it is clear that their presence is necessary.
In recent years the Biology Department has had to increase the number of their sections, and thus hires more visiting professors.
As Neagele, Chair of the Biology Department, said, “That’s how we make ends meet.”
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