[Con]temporary Faculty | The Adjunct Co-Op
September 2 - 30, 2015 | Littman Gallery
Reception: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 | 5 - 8pm
Curated by Cass Ray + Maggie Heath
[Con]temporary Faculty showcases the work of the talented artists, art historians, and graphic designers who teach as adjuncts in PSU’s School of Art + Design, and it brings attention to the precarious situation of contingent faculty at PSU and nation wide.
In the School of Art + Design, many of the adjunct faculty don’t know each other, and our creative and scholarly pursuits are diverse, but we walk the same paths to the copy machine, faculty mailboxes, and office printers. Considering this, we invited our colleagues to utilize our common medium and contribute an 11x17 black–and–white Xerox copy, print, or paper construction for the show. Each blank sheet represents a faculty member who was unavailable to contribute during this time–frame.
Beyond showcasing the work of the dynamic and diverse educators who work in the school, the exhibition creates a visual structure through which we can begin to recognize all 90+ of our colleagues, and open discussions about our varied experiences as members of a growing workforce of part–time professors.
At one point, part–time professors taught in supplementary positions. They often worked full–time as professionals in other fields, teaching a class or two as a community service and using their adjunct salary as a secondary source of income. But today things have changed. Adjuncts make up nearly 75% of professors nationally, and each year there are more adjuncts who piece together part–time teaching work as their primary source of income.
At PSU, about 40% of student credit hours are taught by adjuncts who hold graduate degrees and are highly qualified to teach. They do so while getting paid significantly less per credit hour than their full–time peers, with no health insurance or retirement. And, adjuncts are hired, like many full–time professors as well, on short–term contracts with little to no job security. Employing part–time and contingent faculty has come to be a great cost–saving measure for university administrations.
—The Adjunct Co–Op
The Adjunct Co–op would like to thank The Littman Gallery and the Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA) for supporting this exhibition, and the staff, full–time, and part–time faculty members of the School of Art + Design who helped to make this exhibition happen.
Exhibiting artist include: Jea Alford, Rita Alves, Roya Amirsoleymani, Gordan Barnes, Steven Beatty, Graham Bell, Rob Bonds, Steve Brown, Will Bryant, Precious Bugarin, Walker Cahall, Bryna Campbell, Guestwork (Erin Charpentier and Travis Neel), Niko Courtelis, Jodi Darby, Carl Diehl, Laura Di Trapani, Lori Gilbert, Daniel Glendening, Anna Gray, Lisa Gronseth, Sabina Haque, Rachel Hibbard, Rachel Hines, Jake Holloman, Ariana Jacob, Burke Jam, Kristan Kennedy, Una Kim, Kendra Larson, BT Livermore, Michael McGovern, Sarah Morgan, Guestwork* (Erin Charpentier and Travis Neel), Chris North, Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Ralph Pugay, Kim Ray, Patrick Rock, Marika Sherman, Charles Siegfried, Michael Simmons, Ethan Allen Smith, Jason Sturgill, Shannon Wheeler, and Takahiro Yamamoto.