This year’s Congress theme encourages us to consider what–or perhaps who–is @the edge in Humanities scholarship. For the last several decades, that edge has accreted an increasingly large percentage of the labour force, who help sustain university programs as adjunct/contingent/sessional faculty. Despite the rapid growth of this professional demographic, however (or perhaps more accurately because of it), too little has been done to address the exploitative conditions within which this labour force operates. As with any profoundly unbalanced system, this platform is becoming increasingly precarious and untenable.

Indeed, while it’s hardly news to those of us working in university teaching, increasing media coverage of the disproportionately rapid growth and presence of adjunct and non-tenure-track faculty suggests that this is an exigent moment to address the predicament. Unless a sizable jump in tenure-track positions miraculously materializes, the increasing presence of adjunct faculty isn’t likely to diminish anytime soon.

As a relatively large professional organization in the humanities, ACCUTE could be instrumental in directing even more attention to this professional imbalance and helping to lay the strategic foundations for a more equitable and sustainable integration of adjunct faculty into humanities departments.

As ACCUTE’s sessional rep, I am hoping you will join us for this special session to support ACCUTE’s adjunct faculty initiative. The emphasis of this session will be on formulating ideas and mandates for action that we can bring forward and follow through within ACCUTE and beyond. If you have ….

* ever worked as adjunct/sessional faculty…

* suspected you might have to work as adjunct/sessional faculty after graduation…

* worked in a department that hired sessional/adjunct faculty…

* hired sessional/adjunct faculty as a department chair…

then we need your input. This is a session about sessionals, but it isn’t only for sessional members: the implications of a pervasive adjunct faculty presence affect the entire professoriate, and we need support from all constituencies in order to address it.

Please join us on Monday 3 June from 11-12:15 in Clearihue A-311 for this critical session.

Best wishes,

Dorothy Hadfield