How I Became Adjunct Faculty as a Practicing SLP

Many people think speech-language pathologists need their Ph.D. or SLP-D to work in higher education… but adjunct positions are a great way to get involved in academia with your Master's Degree

How did I get a university adjunct position?

Adjunct positions exist at all universities to fill positions on a short-term basis. I was really lucky to snag one last fall at Florida State as a clinical instructor. I'd always thought that this was the path I wanted to take in my career and the adjunct opportunity allowed me to try it on for size.

I got a call in August from the clinical director at FSU about the possibility of an adjunct position being available. This is someone who I have built a friendly relationship with over the past couple of years, and she knew that I was interested in clinical supervision. By the end of that week, I had accepted and the semester was starting the next week! It was a whirlwind… but I fell in love with the job, and it helped me to feel passionate about being an SLP again.

What did I do as adjunct clinical faculty?

People hired as adjunct faculty are typically part-time (but not always) and work on semester contracts. My contract was for the fall semester and I worked 30 hours per week at a set hourly rate. I won't share my rate here, but I will tell you it was more than what I made as a school-based SLP.

I was also able to continue working on my part-time project manager position. Because of the number of hours that I worked, I qualified for health insurance, which was actually huge because we had been paying high out-of-pocket premiums for insurance since my husband and I were both self-employed.

During those 30 hours, I was in charge of a team of 6 first-year graduate students and their treatment and diagnostic experiences in our campus clinic. The clients on our caseload ranged from school age up to adults with a range of services from phonological processes to AAC to how to make friends as an autistic college student.

I had previously supervised grad students but it was always one at a time. With these students, we met twice a week for 2 hours each as a group to discuss various topics related to evaluations and therapy. Additionally, each of them had 2 clients they saw for an hour a week that I supervised and we did a few evaluations sprinkled in. I had office hours each week as well, where they could drop in and chat or ask questions. I learned so much and really enjoyed the teaching aspect. I came to really care about these students of mine and the relationships we built are so special.

I really knew early on in the semester that this was going to be the job that would get me working full-time again! I ended up going through that process and accepting a full-time position at the end of the fall semester… I'll be back to share more about that later!

What are the benefits of being an adjunct employee?

• part-time work allowing you to do other things or try it out before committing to a role in academic
• easier hiring process
• many adjunct teaching positions can be remote, so you don't have to live in the same city as the university
• fewer responsibilities than a full-time faculty member – I didn't have to attend faculty meetings, serve on committees, etc

How can you find adjunct positions?

• Join higher education SLP groups on social media – they often advertise in these groups
• Reach out to chairpersons or directors of the program you are interested in working in sharing your interest in this type of work
• Peruse university job listings and sign up for notifications
• ASHA Career Portal
• State association websites

Any other questions about being an adjunct faculty member? Feel free to comment or send me an email, I'm always happy to share more!