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The Relationship Between Adjunct Faculty Staffing And College Student Retention And Graduation, Stephen R. Deutsch

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The rise of non-tenure track, part-time faculty, referred to as adjuncts, has brought a significant shift to the academic workforce. The count of part-time faculty on campuses has followed an upward trend for the last few decades and now part-time faculty form half of the total faculty workforce. This begs the question, in the face of institutional policies that favor increasing the proportion of adjuncts on faculty rosters: Has the use of adjuncts negatively impacted the student experience and quality of education, leading to lower persistence and graduation rates? This dissertation examines the relationship between adjunct faculty and student outcomes …