Varied backgrounds

Adjunct (part-time) faculty may not have offices but they fill an important place in the JMC curriculum. They supplement the full-time faculty by teaching classes in their area of work expertise.

Each semester there are typically 20 adjunct faculty teaching classes. “We’re lucky that Akron and Cleveland provide a cadre of professional people,” said Jeff Fruit, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Adjunct faculty includes award-winning journalists, documentary producers, executives, entrepreneurs, book authors, videographers, creative directors, newspaper editors, freelance writers or even presidents and managers of nationally renowned public relation firms and advertising agencies.

The adjunct faculty provide career contacts. “In a professional program like ours, where we’re training students for the workplace, it is very valuable to students to know people coming from a work environment," Fruit said.

Liesl Russert, a senior in Electronic Media, likes the way adjunct faculty member Davis Young, a former president of Edward Howard & Co., relates ethical issues to events that he has witnessed in the work place. “Instructors with a lot of hands-on experience can relate that to the course topics,” Russert said.

Although she likes that full-time professors teach the majority of her courses, she believes

Al Fitzpatrick speaks to his Newswriting Class. He worked at the Akron Beacon Journal for 29 years. In 1970, he directed the Beacon's coverage of the May 4 shootings, for which the paper won a Pulitzer Prize.

having some courses taught by part-time faculty offers a good balance.

Fruit also believes that balance is important. The availability of talented adjuncts affords the full-time faculty more time for advising students, pursuing research and developing classes.

Increased student demand can be met quickly with adjunct faculty, allowing more flexibility in scheduling. First year graduate student, Jerome Anderson has been pleased to be able to get into the classes he’s wanted. He thought Mitch McKinney, a deputy metro editor at the Akron Beacon Journal, brought a practical perspective to his Reporting for Mass Media class. “I would like to have continued contact with instructors that are doing ground-breaking work in their professional careers,” Anderson said.

Students benefit from the career contacts, but the faculty also get something in return...

Story by Valerie Kelly
Photos by Pat Jarrett
Design by Nick Gehring