Use of part-time college faculty is on the rise - Bill Sizemore, The Virginian-Pilot

The pop-culture image of a college professor - pipe-smoking, clad in a rumpled tweed suit, reading Shakespeare in an armchair - doesn't reflect reality anymore, if it ever did. Part-time teachers – or adjunct faculty – are cheaper than full-time faculty. Ideally, part-timers work in a related field and bring real-life experience to the classroom. More and more college courses are being taught by part-time faculty. It's a nationwide, decades-long trend to which Virginia is no exception.