FORUM: Issues about Part-Time and Contingent Faculty is a peer-reviewed publication concerning working conditions, professional life, activism, and perspectives of non-tenure-track faculty in college composition and communication. It is published twice annually (alternately in CCC and TETYC) and is sponsored by the Conference on College Composition and Communication. Faculty and scholars from all academic positions are welcome to contribute.
Editor
The new Forum editor, Kimberly Bain, has begun reading submissions, and the journal will resume publication in fall 2025. Submissions can be sent directly to the editor at Kimberly_Bain@pba.edu.
Call for Submissions: Special Issue on AI, Labor, and Contingency
This special issue—“AI Labor and Contingency: Issues Surrounding the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Student Work and Considerations for Part-Time and Contingent Faculty”—will be published in the fall of 2025. The submission deadline is March 15.
Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, examining the ways that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) could shift the structures of higher learning has been an ongoing practice in many academic settings. Much remains to be explored regarding the impacts that GenAI has on contingent and part-time faculty labor.
BestColleges.com reported in 2023 that “56% of college students have used AI on assignments or exams.” This high percentage comes as no surprise when considering how many papers cross a faculty member’s desk or computer screen that have been flagged for AI-generated content. In considering the varying institutional policies regarding the use of GenAI, faculty must adjust to these policy changes and enforce them accordingly.
Such considerations often mean that faculty are tasked with identifying GenAI use in student writing or restructuring the curriculum to fit policies that allow or even promote the use of GenAI. For part-time and contingent faculty, these changes may mean taking on additional pedagogical responsibilities, feeling restricted by institutional policies, or resorting to using GenAI themselves for grading and assessment purposes by providing GenAI instructor feedback.
Viable submissions for the special issue will explore current trends in GenAI usage in higher learning and consider the implications of GenAI’s use and policy trends for part-time and contingent faculty.
Submission topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
● Specific pedagogical practices using GenAI
● Issues of access in writing instruction
● Online pedagogical implications of GenAI use
● Institutional policy considerations for GenAI use
● Issues around grading and assessment practices
● Faculty training and support on GenAI use
Submission Requirements
The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2025. Submissions must be original, 1,500 to 2,000 words long, and formatted in the latest edition of MLA style.
Please send your submission to the editor as an email attachment. The cover message should include the following information:
● Your name
● Your title(s)
● Your institution(s)
● Institutional address(es) and phone number(s)
Direct all submissions to the following address with “FORUM article” in your subject line:
Kimberly Bain, PhD
Forum Editor
Kimberly_Bain@pba.edu
Proposals and general inquiries may also be directed to the editor. Forum welcomes you to submit essays related to the teaching, working conditions, professional life, activism, and perspectives of non-tenure-track faculty. Faculty and scholars from all academic positions are welcome to contribute. Essays should address theoretical and/or disciplinary debates. They will go through the standard peer-review and revision process.
