Emily Schuck

Candidate statement

Adjunct Instructor, University of La Verne; ABD, Claremont Graduate University
As an adjunct instructor for nearly a decade while balancing demands as a PhD candidate, I understand the struggles that face contingent faculty, and how they intersect with graduate-student instructors. Throughout my academic career, I have experienced supportive and detrimental environments for contingent faculty and how these structures affect performance of our demographic. Providing support for this population promises to be rewarding work; direct infrastructure is needed to diversify the scholarly community and offer strength to one of the most vulnerable demographics in our field. As the contingent faculty representative, I will build and expand on previous work: the contingent faculty caucus, a panel/workshop at the conference, a spring remote event, and updating the advocacy handbook; all would be focused on practical skills and tools—running a successful writing group, encouraging networking groups year-round, working to increase financial access through internal funding, and resources for approaching institutional departments for additional funding. I will increase outreach through social media and direct communication to university departments. Addressing precarity benefits the overall quality of research and teaching across the discipline. My experiences—from adjunct faculty and graduate-student instructor to program administrator and fundraiser—make me an ideal candidate for the CFR at MSA.