MCC Board Approves New Part-Time Faculty Contract

A press release from McHenry County College:

MCC BOARD APPROVES NEW ADJUNCT FACULTY CONTRACT

[July 28, 2011. Crystal Lake, IL] The MCC Adjunct Faculty Association and the McHenry County College (MCC) Board of Trustees reached an agreement on a four-year contract beginning in August 2011 and extending through the 2015 summer semester. This agreement covers approximately 180 adjunct faculty employees at the College. The association voting membership ratified this agreement, and it was approved by the Board of Trustees on Thursday, July 28, 2011.

“We are pleased to have come to this agreement that will allow MCC to continue to attract and retain exceptional adjunct faculty who are dedicated to the College and its emphasis on excellence in teaching and learning,” Mary Miller, Chair of the Board of Trustees, remarked. “Moreover, we are appreciative of the collaboration that served both the Adjunct Faculty Association and the Board of Trustees well in reaching this agreement.”

The new contract includes a salary increase, which will help MCC become a more competitive employer for adjunct faculty, enabling the College to retain valuable employees and not lose them to other community colleges in the area.

Right now, the average salary per three-credit course paid to adjuncts is well below the average paid at other community colleges within the geographic area. This is indicated by information provided from the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) for Elgin Community College, Harper College, College of Lake County, and Rock Valley College. The average salary for a three-credit hour course at these colleges is currently reported as $2,505 – while average pay at MCC is only $1,707 per course.

In order to remedy this situation, the new contract provides for a salary increase (spread over the four years of the contract) that makes average pay at MCC competitive with these nearby colleges. The salary increase will have a total financial impact in FY 2012 of approximately $390,000 – only 1% of the College’s Educational Fund budget. Yet the improved retention of adjunct faculty initiated by these salary adjustments will lead to more continuity for MCC students and a better opportunity for students to get the faculty support they need. Longer retention of well-qualified and experienced adjuncts will also help better integrate their educational efforts with those of the full-time faculty.

In addition to the salary increase, greater professional development opportunities will be available to adjunct faculty, a more effective formal evaluation process will be put in place, and adjuncts will have more flexibility on how many hours they can teach each year. These and other amendments to the current contract will significantly enhance and strengthen MCC’s focus on excellence in teaching and learning.

Peter Ponzio, Vice-President of the Adjunct Faculty Association, stated, “We are pleased with the outcome of our negotiations and feel that we have a new contract which will benefit adjunct faculty and the College, and ultimately the students at MCC. The process has been lengthy, extensive, and challenging at times, so we appreciate everyone’s patience, and want to thank our members for the assistance they have provided to the negotiating team. We also thank the Board of Trustees and the administration for their diligence and cooperation in reaching this agreement.”


Comments

MCC Board Approves New Part-Time Faculty Contract — 2 Comments

  1. It is so hard to find people who can be placed in these positions these days…any one consider the local salary average may be a little high?

    Oh yeah I guess there are no junior college instructor wannabes out there willing to do the job for less….you don’t need an increase in salary to buy a decent home these days….you simply need the stability of the cash flow stream….go on the McHenry County web site and look up cases and punch in BOA or wells fargo and look at the stuff just filed in McHenry County for forclosure..that stuff is still in the belly of the bad news snake.

    the cost of living is drastically reduced in McHenry County at the entry level. That wells fargo BOA realestate will have to move and it will move at next to nothing….Apparently, the 64% of us that did not chose to work for the government in one way or another, really missed the life boat…I told you this would happen Cal….

  2. Everyone is overpaid in the area except for us…solution, let us be overpaid also! Taxpayers lose, again!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *