Increase in Visiting Faculty Spurs Changes

Author: Tom Drescher

Middlebury College annually hires a host of visiting instructors to teach Winter Term courses. This year, the College will be implementing a mini-orientation program to acquaint visiting faculty with the school's policies as a means of limiting adminstrative problems and possible grievances. The orientation was conceived as the result of numerous complaints last year regarding Winter Term visiting faculty's teaching style, grading and general classroom policies.
Winter Term began over 30 years ago and remains a popular feature of the academic year. However, since 1986 it has become increasingly unpopular with the faculty, according to Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Chemistry Jim Larrabee. As a result, Middlebury faculty members are now only asked to teach a Winter Term course every other year, as opposed to their original obligation to teach one every year.
This innovation met the demands of the faculty but created a new problem as the College was forced to seek help elsewhere. Thus emerged the concept of inviting faculty to teach at the College in January.
In selecting the visiting faculty, the Curriculum Committee, headed by Larrabee, relies heavily on recommendations from current faculty members. "Referrals are the dominant method of recruiting J-Term faculty," said Larrabee. "Selection is performed on an informal and ad-hoc basis."
In an effort to maintain a varied and interesting course selection for Winter Term, the committee selects new visiting faculty members each year, although some are invited back for more than one term.
The committee treats each Winter Term proposal just as it would a proposal from a Middlebury professor. Sometimes it is necessary to refer to a specific department to decide if a course is appropriate for Winter Term. Studio art is extremely popular in January, and it is undoubtedly difficult to decide which proposed courses would be the best fit.
According to Larrabee, the College does not necessarily seek extensive academic experience among its Winter Term visiting faculty; any individual with knowledge to offer is welcome to submit a proposal. Through this process, an eclectic course selection can develop. This year, Ambassador Madeleine Kunin and historian Josh Sherman are teaching a class on altruism, and attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who organized the Sept. 11 victim settlement, will also teach a course.
In reference to last January's complaints, Larrabee explained that the Curriculum Committee examined student course evaluations extensively and found no discernable difference in the quality of teaching of the Middlebury faculty and visiting faculty. There were a few complaints from administrators, who balked at visiting faculty's unfamiliarity with Middlebury grading, policies and procedures. These previous problems should be remedied with the implementation of a mini-orientation for visiting faculty.
Middlebury is currently offering 121 Winter Term courses, but a few may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Forty-one of the instructors are visiting faculty, 37 are senior faculty, 55 are junior faculty and five are staff members.