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Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct faculty (part-time faculty) bring their special expertise to the classroom and are an important part of academic life at AUC. Below you can find information about the principles and procedures that govern adjunct faculty life at AUC, such as academic freedom, adjunct faculty appointments, criteria for promotions instructional responsibilities, and other important policies relevant to members of the adjunct faculty. 

Policies and Procedures

Hiring:  Recommendations for the hiring of part-time or adjunct faculty are initiated by the departments, and interested faculty should contact the departments directly.

New Hires: The Adjunct Information Form  is required in order to be assigned an AUC ID and to be set up on the payroll. The school or department will issue a contract for each adjunct to sign during the first weeks of school in order to be paid based on teaching load.

Faculty Expectations: The American University in Cairo expects faculty to support our liberal education philosophy and conduct all classes and lectures in English.

No adjunct or affiliate faculty member may teach a full-time load, which is three courses in a single semester.

Liberal education is the hallmark of the educational system at AUC. Liberal in this regard relates to freedom; the freedom to think one’s own thoughts and develop one’s own point of view. This involves the ability to analyze opinions and assumptions -- one’s own as well as those of others. With liberal education, the stress is not on rote learning or mere memorization of facts, but on critical thinking and a creative approach to problem solving.

Institutional expectations in teaching are summarized here:

  1. Faculty are expected to prepare and distribute a course outline and syllabus at the beginning of the course.
  2. Faculty are expected to hold classes regularly. The department chair should be informed if the instructor plans to miss two or more consecutive classes.
  3. Faculty should be punctual starting and finishing classes.
  4. Faculty are expected to teach in English. Lecturing in Arabic is counter to AUC policy (some Arabic classes are obvious exceptions to this).
  5. Faculty should encourage student questions and participation in class discussions.
  6. Faculty are expected to hold regular office hours and make themselves available for student consultation. Some faculty members find it also convenient to communicate with their students by email or through classroom support software (Canvas, for example).
  7. Attendance and participation by students in class and laboratory sessions are essential to the process of education at AUC. The instructor determines the effect of absences on a student’s grade in the course.

Part-time faculty are expected to conform to teaching and professional conduct policies as laid out in the Faculty Handbook. See especially Chapter VI. Faculty Rights and Responsibilities, Section 2 and Chapter VIII. Professional Conduct and Academic Integrity.

Adjunct Faculty Evaluation:  Assessment of teaching, including student evaluations, should be reviewed after each semester of teaching by the department chair prior to renewal of adjunct faculty contracts. Weak assessment should first be used to counsel and refer adjunct faculty for training.

Title and Rank: Part-time faculty with PhDs who are teaching or have taught elsewhere will be titled according to their most recent ranks at their home institutions (e.g. Adjunct Assistant Professor, Adjunct Associate Professor, Adjunct Professor). Part-time faculty without PhDs will be titled as Adjunct Instructor. Rank at AUC is based on level of academic degree attained, title and years in title or rank. After at least two years of teaching at a level of two courses each semester and demonstrating significant contribution to the department, an adjunct faculty member may be eligible to be recommended for the status of Affiliate, with a commensurate increase of pay.

Adjunct Faculty Pay: Adjunct faculty are paid per three credit hour course according to rank. Payment for an actual course may be adjusted based on enrollment and/or actual contact hours. Please see the department chair for a description of this process for a specific department.

Payroll Information:  Adjunct faculty will receive contracts to sign from the department after the end of the drop-add period at the beginning of each semester. Part-time faculty who have received contracts for teaching during a given semester (and whose contracts are received by stated deadlines in the Office of the Provost from the school or department) will start receiving their payments at the end of the first month of the semester and in equal amounts monthly thereafter through the end of the semester. If the part-time faculty contract is submitted after the first deadline, there will be a double payment in the second month of the semester. All payments are in Egyptian pounds.

Payments will be deposited directly to the bank account as long as we receive correct bank information on the Adjunct Information Form. Adjunct faculty may use their AUC ID cards (or get a letter from the provost's office) to set up a CIB bank account on campus for this purpose if necessary. If we do not have a bank account number, then the first payments will be in the form of checks to be picked up in the payroll office at AUC.

AUC Email: Each adjunct faculty member needs to set up an @aucegypt.edu email account in order to be included on the adjunct faculty, staff/faculty, and all AUC email lists. These emails provide updates about school-related events, so it is important to sign up for an email. New adjuncts should see their departments in order to be assigned an email account.

The following benefits are provided to part-time faculty:

  • Office space adequate to perform tasks for which they are hired. This will generally be shared space
  • Access to, and training on, classroom support software (Canvas, Moodle)
  • Library privileges (see http://libguides.aucegypt.edu/?b=s)
  • Access to parking and bus transportation
  • Access to gym and athletic facilities at the same fee schedule as full-time faculty
  • Access to the medical center for emergency care on campus
  • AUC business cards stating the appropriate adjunct title issued for any year in which the adjunct teaches at AUC
  • AUC academic calendars

Orientation and Training: Adjunct faculty are invited to attend sessions at the faculty orientation programs in August and February where sessions will cover academic computing, classroom technologies and library resources. In addition, or if they are unable to attend orientation, adjuncts may request or attend training offered by the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT).