<p>intparent,
I’m not sure that the MLA data you posted is really fine-grained enough to be useful, and it may be misleading in the case of UChicago. </p>
<p>First, let’s consider non-tenure track full time faculty members. At most universities, such people would be lecturers. UChicago has a group known as Harper-Schmidt fellows who are not tenure track, but have 4-year appointments as Collegiate Assistant Professors and teach in the core. The H-S fellows are up and coming scholars and there is no reason to object to these folks as instructors at all, yet they would be lumped with lecturers in the data. I also have no problem at all with plain old lecturers teaching lower level courses. Lecturers can be hired based solely on their teaching ability, and can be fired (no tenure) if they are not doing a good job. As a result, they are usually very good teachers. It might be a problem if lecturers were doing all the undergrad teaching (which is certainly not true at UChicago), but that is another factor, one can’t deduce from the numbers given. </p>
<p>Now, consider the part-time adjuncts. The stereotype is the exploited adjunct hired instead of regular faculty to teach regular courses in order to save money. However, there is another type of adjunct–people who are successful in their profession and enjoy teaching a course in their area of expertise, which is usually different from the regular faculty. However, the MLA data doesn’t tell them apart. As anecdotal evidence, my (third-years) S has had two courses taught by adjuncts and both fall into the latter category–one was a researcher at the Field Museum who taught one of the bio special topics courses in his area of research. Another was a theater-related course taught by the founder of one of the professional theater companies in Chicago. Neither course was inferior because the instructure was not a tenure track faculty member–quite the opposite–the opportunity to take such courses are one of the selling points of the university and its location in Chicago. </p>
<p>Best wishes to your daughter in this important decision.</p>