{"id":118393,"date":"2021-03-10T12:49:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T17:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=118393"},"modified":"2021-03-15T12:22:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:22:32","slug":"industry-adjunct-faculty-the-x-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/industry-adjunct-faculty-the-x-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry Adjunct Faculty: The X Factor\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adjunct faculty represent 57 percent of university instructional employees nationally.<\/p>\n

What often gets overlooked by some, however, is the value this demographic adds to many stakeholders, most importantly the student academic and professional-development experience. But there are many important investments that adjuncts bring to higher education.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that adjunct faculty from the corporate real world help us bridge theory and practice in a very important way.<\/p>\n

Adjuncts from industry are subject-matter experts of best practices. While theory drives practice, practice brings life and experience to theoretical frameworks that too often sit in peer review journals gathering dust on shelves.<\/p>\n

Practitioners have lived the workforce realities that students eagerly seek to learn about and apply to their future opportunities as they pay their dues and eventually move up the career ladder.<\/p>\n

Adjuncts also have the opportunity to recommend and hire our students for internships via the classroom access and interaction with today\u2019s college students.<\/p>\n

Knowledge for knowledge sake is great in theory but in terms of practice, college students usually come to campus to ultimately graduate and land a job.<\/p>\n

Adjuncts from the industry create this synergy which is a win\/win.<\/p>\n

Finally, adjuncts facilitate experiential learning in terms of real-world experience projects, case studies from benchmarks during their career wins, and access to their organizational network during on-site visits to their locations. Just in Florida alone this has included students and faculty spending a day or more at the Orlando Magic, NASCAR, Orlando City Soccer, EA Sports and many others from Tampa to Miami to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Industry adjuncts give us access and this leads to success.<\/p>\n

The following illustrates some collaborative efforts between the industry and higher education with adjuncts and full-time faculty on various campuses across the United States. This snapshot shows the great impact hiring and collaborating with the industry adjuncts can have on our students and the curriculum.<\/p>\n

Classes with Master Teachers Part 1: Team Teaching<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n