Standards and Guidelines
Guidelines for Part-Time Professional Employment
Adopted by the CAA Board of Directors on February 21, 1996; revised by the Part-Time Employment Task Force and adopted by the CAA Board of Directors on February 22, 2004.
The College Art Association establishes the following guidelines regarding part-time professional employees. The guidelines appear on the CAA website and may be updated from time to time by the appropriate CAA committee.
Given the great range of missions and expectations in institutions, it is essential that they provide all part-time professional employees with as much information as possible about their workplace.
These standards apply to professionals in art and art history with other than full-time employment.
The terms used for part-time faculty include lecturer, adjunct, graduate assistant, and teaching assistant (TA).
Statement on the Use of Part-Time Professional Employees
Part-time professional employees play a critical role within the art world, specifically in academia, museums, galleries, and other arts institutions. They provide an essential role in higher education and contribute with their expertise in specialized areas and/or leadership in institutional programming.
Some individuals may prefer this status for professional and/or personal reasons. While there are some distinct advantages to both employees and employers in using part-time employees, excessive reliance upon them or inappropriate use of them may damage or weaken the educational and professional objectives of institutions and may violate ethical business standards.
CAA encourages institutions to improve conditions for part-time professionals. Among key areas of concern are: equitable compensation; employment stability; access to employee benefits; access to professional development; and safe and adequate working conditions.
Within academia, tenured and tenure-track positions should be considered the standard by which the compensation and working conditions of part-time employees are established.
Categories of Part-Time Salaried Employees in Educational Institutions and Museums
It is common practice for colleges, universities, art institutes, art museums, and galleries to hire professional part-time employees. These employees generally fall into three categories:
1. Adjunct professors, consultants, guest curators, and other professionals who provide expertise in a specialized area and may be hired on an irregular or transitory basis to meet the special or temporary needs of an institution.
2. Regular faculty members and/or museum personnel who may, for personal or professional reasons, work for a period of time at a reduced workload.
3. Graduate teaching or research assistants and/or interns who may be hired as part-time staff while they are completing their studies.
Status of Part-Time Employees
1. Part-time employees are professionals in their fields. Their rights, responsibilities, and obligations should be commensurate with those for full-time employees in the same institution.
2. Part-time employees should receive the same protections as full-time employees in the exercise of freedom of expression and inquiry.
3. Part-time employees should receive a written employment contract, with scope, terms, type of work, and compensation clearly set forth. Part-time employees should not be asked to provide services other than those directly stated in the employment contract by the employing institution at the time of employment. If additional services or activities are requested by the employer, additional compensation should be offered.
4. Criteria similar to those used for the hiring, retention, and promotion of full-time employees and or tenure/tenure-track faculty should be used for part-time employees. Part-time employees should be informed of these criteria at the time of hiring.
5. Part-time faculty are entitled to safe, secure, and appropriate teaching and office spaces, and should be protected by the same standards as full-time faculty and staff.
Guidelines for the Employment of Part-Time Professional Personnel
1. Institutions should consider with great care the ratio between part- and full-time faculty/staff and objectively evaluate what would best serve their professional environment and educational effectiveness.
2. Within academia, the tenured and tenure-track positions should be considered the standard by which the compensation and working conditions of all faculty are established.
3. CAA recommends that, in replacing tenured faculty who leave or retire, departments should give consideration to existing part-time faculty whenever possible.
4. Part-time professionals are experts and should be so treated. Departments should develop specific guidelines for them. Institutions should make these matters as clear as possible, in writing, prior to signing of the contract. Guidelines should be as discipline-specific as possible. While expectations and needs may vary among institutions, such guidelines should always address the following points. Part-time employees should receive:
A. Adequate administrative support (such as access to mailboxes, office space, telephone services, clerical support, library facilities, computer support, access to audio-visual equipment, etc.)
B. Access to mentoring programs and centers for improvement of teaching
C. Consideration for promotion in rank, retention, and tenure, if available at the institution. Those who meet the traditional requirements demanded of full-time employees should be given every consideration if they become applicants for an available full-time position
D. A thorough introduction/orientation to the mission of the department, institution, teaching assignments, and responsibilities to the department and institution
E. A prorated salary equivalent to that of a comparable full-time faculty position
F. Benefits such as health insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, leave time for major illnesses and family and medical emergencies. The availability and cost of benefits should be clearly outlined for part-time professional staff prior to employment
G. The right to be represented by a union
H. Eligibility for professional-development support (research and travel funds, etc.), for merit raises, and, where applicable, for sabbatical and/or research leaves on a prorated basis (to full-time faculty). Appropriate reductions in teaching loads are warranted to support research, managing and maintaining classroom or studio facilities, administrative duties, gallery management, etc.
I. Access to the institution’s governance mechanisms, for example, for submitting employment grievances, appeals, etc., and eligibility, where appropriate, to participate in departmental/university/institutional governance. The employee should not, however, expect release time for such activities prorated on the basis of teaching load, but should be compensated for this extra work when possible
J. Teaching assistants, when warranted
5. Conferences between the appropriate administrator(s) and the part-time employee(s) should be held regularly.
6. Standards for measuring performance and scholarly quality should be the same for part-time and full-time personnel.
7. Class size for part-time faculty should be the same as for full-time faculty.
8. Workload equity: In no case should a graduate assistant be given teaching assignments in excess of one-half the normal teaching load. A graduate assistant should not teach upper-division or graduate courses within his or her own department before receiving the master’s degree.
Visiting or Guest Appointments
1. If occasional hiring of an individual in a guest appointment recurs on a regular basis, that individual should be offered a regular appointment.
2. A visiting or guest appointee should receive a salary and benefit package equal to that, prorated, of a full-time appointee of comparable experience and qualifications holding the same or an equivalent position. The contract for a guest appointment should clearly state whether it does or does not carry the expectation of tenure consideration, sabbatical accrual, or other perquisites of a full-time appointment.
3. An employment contract outlining all duties, expectations, and benefits should be negotiated and signed before the starting date of employment. Negotiations should be conducted within a reasonable time.
4. If the position is dependent upon external factors (for example, if the offering of a course is dependent upon a minimum enrollment), those circumstances should be disclosed in the contract, together with a schedule for notification of cancellation of the offer.
At the Time of Employment, the Terms of the Contract Should Include the Following
1. A written statement of the institutional/departmental mission or philosophy.
2. A full description of the position, including course descriptions, numbers of sections, class size, and maximum number of contact hours per week. If these items are unknown at that time or are to be shaped to the candidate’s strengths, this too should be stated.
3. Description of responsibilities related to advising, supervision of graduate students, gallery responsibilities, shop and classroom maintenance, office hours, administrative or committee obligations, work hours, etc.
4. For visual-arts faculty, description of studio space.
5. Description of office space and support services.
6. Description of financial support and resources available for research and professional development through the department, the university, the community, etc.
7. Relative weight of teaching, research, and service as they apply to institutional standards for renewal, promotion, and tenure.
8. Description of the professional activities and honors that are considered important for regular progress toward renewal, promotion, tenure, retention, salary increases, etc.
9. Description of procedures and evaluation process used in making decisions of professional advancement: for example, periodic meetings with chair or dean, written peer or student reviews, external referees or reviewers, classroom visits, etc.
10. Description of the types of benefits offered.
11. Description of the position’s dependence upon external factors that might lead to a modification or cancellation of the contract.
12. Compensation offered to the terminated employee for preparation time if the contract is cancelled or modified due to external factors.
13. Description of access to participation in university governance, grievance system, and ombudsman.
Other CAA Recommendations
1. The standards of excellence defined for visual-arts programs by institutions should be founded upon realistic criteria. Research expectations should be commensurate with teaching loads, service to the institution, professional support, geographical setting of the institution, etc. Teaching expectations should be commensurate with class size, facilities, teaching loads, etc.
2. Professional expectations for part-time employees should take into consideration changes in academia, the commercial marketplace, the discipline in question, etc.
3. Personal and environmental safety of all employees, whether permanent or temporary, part-time or full-time, should be a major concern. Institutional standards and policies related to safety should be communicated to all part-time and full-time faculty, staff, student techs and teachers, and students. Institutions should meet all EPA and OSHA guidelines for the safety of all employees.
