Trying to find some information on this subject but so far, to no avail. Turning to CC for whatever insight anyone might have.
Can any current students (or parents of students) share experiences at USC when it comes to part-time or adjunct professors? More specifically, to what extent are undergraduate studies taught by adjuncts vs. full time professors, with the later engaged in USC funded research outside classroom to which students may participate?
Based upon quick review of faculty members within university directory, it appears as though use of adjuncts professors can vary from department to department, but overall from just a cursory review it appears roughly in the neighborhood of 25% of adjuncts vs. full time associate or tenured professors. Does that seem about right?
Also, to what extent are TA’s employed and what are their roles at USC during undergrad study, specifically as it pertains to instruction?
Negative or positive, any feedback is appreciated.
Lastly, when it comes to the honors college and honors studies, is there any differences in assignment of professors (adjunct vs. full time)?
I know that honors college does not use TA’s to teach classes. Usually you have the best of the professors in the department. Now I do have a friend who is adjunct who has taught honors business once and have seen another honors class taught be business professional but not professor but that may be slightly unique to Business school. Honors students might have TAs that grade or run extra lab section but for Ds science she had a professor for lab also (which might be an exception for a lab). Honors also has advantage in accounting. For most students it is mostly an on-line class, but the honors section is a professor.
D has only had one class taught by grad student in 4 years - music appreciation. Again she is in HC so that might not help you.
scmom - Thanks for info as D has been admitted into HC and wanted to get an idea of what roles of TA, adjuncts and associate or tenured professors were within HC and in those course taken outside HC.
This is really, really dependent on the department. In my major/minor courses, I’ve had a grad student teach only two courses . One of those was a one hour class with a native speaker, so it was more beneficial anyways. (I’m a French major.) I can only think of a couple of classes where I’ve even had a TA as an assistant and they’ve all been 100-level general education courses. I’d say the large majority of my classes were taught by tenured faculty.
I’m not in the Honors College, if that helps. From what I can understand, most courses that use TA’s have a tenured professor teach the lecture and then a grad student runs a lab/discussion section. The tenured professor always has office hours available though, so if you’re interested in getting to know the professor, that’s totally doable. For me, almost all of my major/minor courses are under 25 students in each class, so having a professor and a TA is not really a feasible option.
I did have a grad student teach my English 102 class and one of my 100-level foreign language courses.
My student’s experience has been very similar to AUGirls. However, my student is a language major as well so don’t know if this info is additionally helpful.
Thanks to those in the know on perspective. USC is a big school and with trend of similar size public schools facing budget cuts, the frequency of which TAs or part time professors are employed seems to be increasing. Good to know however, that individual experiences posted here from those at USC not indicating its a particular problem. Thanks again for info.