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Adjunct faculty member Bob Monson will never forget that Saturday night in Casper, Wyoming. It was early evening in January at the end of a class when his Lesley students instructed Monson to buy some granola bars and go to the far reaches of town. "You'll know what to do," was all they said.
Monson, following their orders, drove to a clearing about five miles away. What happened next was one of "the weirdest experiences of my life," he recalls. Walking in the clearing, he froze in his tracks as a herd of 48 wild deer charged down a mountainside and surrounded him. Seems that in the winter months hungry free-range deer thunder down from the mountains at dusk into open range areas in search of food.
Good thing Monson packed the granolas bars. Imagine if the students hadn't liked him?
But the students do. Hundreds of Lesley students across the country, in nearly 40 courses in the past eight years, have valued what he has brought them. Decades of experience in public education - as superintendent of Independent School District 197 in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, and before that as superintendent in Westwood, Massachusetts - inform Monson's teaching in the School of Education's Curriculum and Instruction and Technology in Education programs.
Adjunct faculty like Monson play a vital role in Lesley's academic life. Women and men of diverse ethnic backgrounds, they are master classroom teachers, guidance counselors, artists, lawyers, musicians, dancers, therapists, poets, corporate leaders, nonprofit sector managers, international trainers and consultants, human service practitioners, principals and superintendents. They are working professionals who bring decades of experience and expertise to their teaching.
Adjunct faculty assure that actual on-the-job practices are incorporated into the University's professional programs. "They play a critical role in the integration of theory and practice that is central to Lesley's mission," says Associate Provost Nancy Mehlem. "Our students want to learn skills and concepts that they can immediately apply in workplace settings. Adjuncts bring practical experience and knowledge to our students in a way that complements the research-based perspectives of full-time faculty."- - -
Women and men of diverse ethnic backgrounds, they are master classroom teachers, counselors, artists, lawyers, managers, principals, poets. They are the working experts in their fields who bring decades of experience to their teaching.
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Some adjuncts teach on the Cambridge campus; others teach at off-campus sites in the 15 states across the country where Lesley runs off-campus programs, as well as at the new Lesley Extension in Israel. About 65 percent have been affiliated with particular Lesley programs for three years or more; at least 25 percent have taught for Lesley more than eight years.
Hired by Lesley program directors or school deans to meet specific needs of particular programs, adjunct faculty bring their expertise not only to students but also to the curriculum development process in all schools of the University. Their invaluable input and real-world knowledge promote changes that need to be made in college programs to keep them current with professional requirements and practice.
For students, adjunct faculty are role models who bring timely experience into the classroom and in the field when they assume the role of clinical supervisors. They also offer students practical advice on career options and expectations.
Says Monson, "I think students, especially those who are early- to mid-career people, appreciate the perspectives adjuncts bring to the courses. We are really given a cache of credibility that we may or may not deserve. Students are always looking for ways to see how theory intersects with practice."
Storyteller and poet Greg Denman has taught as an adjunct in Lesley's Creative Arts in Learning program for 12 years, traveling to sites across the country from his home in Colorado Springs. Denman, who calls himself a "free-lance educator" as well as poet and storyteller, also works directly with children in schools and conducts national seminars for teachers.- - -
For students, adjunct faculty are role models who bring timely experience into the classroom and in the field as clinical supervisors. They offer students practical advice on career options.
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Adjuncts appreciate the opportunity to contribute to students and often get just as much in return. Denman values the dedication of an entire course to integrating poetry across the curriculum. "Usually poetry is an add-on course at other colleges," he says. "The Lesley Creative Arts program is the only one I know where the poetry course is an integral part of the program. Students' eyes are opened during the course. They ask 'Why didn't I discover poetry as an undergraduate?'" Along with the joy of discovery among the students is a growing sense of confidence in their own abilities to teach through the arts.
Denman's travels as a Lesley adjunct have taken him to cities, towns and rural places. He especially enjoys teaching in rural areas, such as the small community in Montana where he taught this past spring. "I like out-of-the-way, isolated communities where students don't have a lot of exposure," he says. "Students appreciate the programs that Lesley brings to them, and I'm appreciative of what the students bring to the experience. I stretch and grow with them."
Michele Pahl Monson, a 10-year veteran adjunct in the School of Education (who is married to Bob Monson), echoes Denman. Teaching in rural areas has "broadened my horizons," she says.
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LESLEY ADJUNCTS Rudy Crew, chancellor of the New York City Public Schools Jacqueline Sonnabend, executive vice president of Sonesta Hotels Joe Carter, chief of police, Martha's Vineyard Frank Cooper, superintendent of schools in Canyon City, Colorado Miriam Kronish, school principal and nationally-known music educator Jon Lipsky, playwright and director Fernando Quezada, executive director, Biotechnology Center of Excellence Corp. Stan Strickland, international jazz musician Richard M. Costa, immigration lawyer Louise Pascale, director of Very Special Arts Massachusetts Robert Kohls, cross-cultural trainer and senior research fellow for the Global Vision Group Joan Ditzion, social worker and co-author of Our Bodies Ourselves Richard Rogers, graphic designer and illustrator Wilson Flight, science teacher, Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Richard Lockwood, president and technical director of Lockwood Nutrition and Food Sciences Joan Klagsbrun, psychotherapist, co-founder and director of Wellspring Center for Life Enhancement |
Becky Joseph, an adjunct in the Intercultural Relations program, is a practicing anthropologist. In her job as manager of the Applied Ethnography Program for the National Park Service in Boston, she balances the needs and interests of the national parks and those of the communities they serve. Her work involves mediating disputes and providing technical assistance, organizational training and development and socio-cultural research data as well as a range of other professional services.
"Intercultural Relations is a new field, and depth in the areas of culture and human communication is essential," says Joseph, who holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and co-designed the graduate and undergraduate applied anthropology programs at California State University in Long Beach. What distinguishes Lesley's Intercultural Relations program is its focus on the human dimensions of intercultural interactions. At the heart of the program is understanding major theories of communication and culture and their application in interpersonal, intergroup and international relations. "Learning about culture and communication requires students to bring higher-level skills to their work, which in turn improves their professional practices," she says.
Actual cases from Joseph's work are often used in class. For example, Joseph is currently investigating "persistent claims" among many African Americans going back generations that there was a first version of the Statue of Liberty - the original gift from France was a Black figure monument - and that the U.S. Government sent it back. "We will look for any evidence that exists in French or English documents to support or refute the claim," Joseph says.
But the factual evidence is only one dimension of this sensitive project. "Whether we find evidence to support the claim or not," says Joseph, "the persistence of the belief tells us a lot about race in our society and the assumptions that people bring to considerations of evidence. Whatever is found, the meaning of our findings must be interpreted and addressed on many levels."
Joseph enjoys working with Intercultural Relations students on an ongoing basis. In so many other schools and colleges, she points out, practitioners are invited to classes to give a lecture or two, but they don't work long-term with students. "That Lesley recognizes the importance of having practitioners work with students on an ongoing basis is very much to the University's credit," she says.- - -
"I don't think my work in the schools would be as good without my work with Lesley, and my work with teachers wouldn't be as effective without my own classroom practice. The two feed each other."
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But what does teaching for Lesley mean in the context of the lives of the adjuncts? Of what value is the experience to their professional work?
Denman talks about "a symbiotic relationship" between his work with children - performing and teaching writing and poetry - and his work teaching teachers to successfully do those things with their own students. "I don't think my work in the schools would be as good without my work with Lesley, and my work with teachers wouldn't be as effective without my own classroom experience," Denman says. "The two feed each other."
In addition, Denman believes that his work with children and teachers enriches his own art. He has published a collection of his own poetry, as well as books and articles on poetry and storytelling.
Monson believes that adjunct teaching makes him a more effective superintendent. "Superintendents deal with one reality, but it's not necessarily the same as the reality for teachers." He finds that interactions with teachers from suburban, urban, and rural school districts, large and small, rich and poor, in all sections of the country also broadens his perspectives on issues in public education.
"Teaching allows me to practice what I preach during the week," says Monson. "I have enjoyed some success, some failure, but the experience is always valuable in terms of what I bring back to my work."
Family, professional careers, adjunct teaching, community service - a full plate for Lesley adjuncts. Bob and Michele Monson try to schedule their Lesley teaching assignments on different weekends, although on at least three occasions they found themselves teaching in different parts of the Seattle metro area on the same weekend.
"It is a challenge." Becky Joseph laughs. "Ever hear of Houdini? No matter how you tie me up I'll manage to survive it." She says it helps to be well organized and it helps to enjoy the work. "My family comes first and keeping the house clean is at the bottom." But adjunct teaching is up there on the list. "It is extremely satisfying to be part of a community of adult learners at Lesley."
Claudia Christie is director of the Division of Interdisciplinary and Individualized Studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences.
