A Voice and a Vote: Meet FGCU’s First Adjunct Faculty Senators

History is being made at FGCU. In this episode of The Adjunct Files, Jon and Maggie sit down with Emily Chaikin and Jessica Carter Peer, the first adjunct faculty members ever elected to the FGCU Faculty Senate—making FGCU the first university in Florida to formally include adjunct representation in shared governance.

Emily and Jessica share their journeys at FGCU, what motivated them to step forward into this new leadership role, and why adjunct voices matter in conversations about communication, policy, teaching conditions, and student success. They discuss the opportunities—and challenges—of representing hundreds of adjunct faculty, the importance of closing feedback loops, and what success would look like at the end of their term.

Whether you’re an adjunct wondering how shared governance affects you, or a faculty member curious about how FGCU is redefining inclusion and collaboration, this episode offers an inside look at a pivotal moment for the university—and what it could mean for the future of adjunct faculty across higher education.

Theme music composed, performed and produced by James Husni. 

Adjunct Nation is a collaborative podcast under the auspices of The Lucas Center for Faculty Development at FGCU.  You can learn more by clicking on this link:

https://www.fgcu.edu/lucascenter/

Transcript

Welcome to the Adjunct Files.

We're a growing, diverse community who face challenging work in an ever-changing, higher

education landscape.

Your co-hosts for this podcast are with you in this.

I'm John Roth, adjunct since 2015 and now a coordinator for Adjunct Faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University.

I'm Maggie Hohne, adjunct since 2022 and currently work in the Office of First-Year Seminars.

Together we hope to have conversations to empower, support, and elevate Adjunct Faculty.

This conversation today is one to do just that.

Hello everyone.

Welcome back to the Adjunct Files.

John, how are you?

Good.

How are you doing?

Live in the dream.

It's summer.

I made it.

Summer A just started as of today.

A little bit of life back on campus.

The summer projects of construction are happening.

I feel like a rat in a maze.

How do you get from here to there?

I did dead end myself in the student plaza last week and the construction tape was too

high so I couldn't crawl over.

I decided to go all the way back around and I hope nobody's watching me do this right

now because this is embarrassing.

Well can you imagine working in the buildings that are getting new roofs and the pounding

that's going on?

No.

Yeah.

I would have a migraine all day.

I've talked to a couple.

It's quite crazy.

Anyways, it's great to be here in the summer and man we are making history aren't we?

We are.

At least in the state of Florida we are.

In the state of Florida we are because we are now the first university with shared governance

that includes adjunct faculty representation and today we have got the two faculty senators

who are adjunct faculty here joining us.

Is that great?

It is.

It is an amazing feat.

I wasn't sure if it was going to happen but it sure did and it was passed unanimously

by all those who voted.

I would like to give you a shout out.

You did a lot of the leg work to make it happen.

I think it's just a lot of poking and prodding.

Well, you also just keep the awareness there and just share a few facts.

We have 430 active adjunct faculty in a given year.

That's 40% of all faculty.

We teach 20% of the classes.

We impact all the metrics that we are concerned about.

Anyways, why don't we actually talk to the senators and let them just share a little bit

about themselves.

Emily, why don't you start?

Okay.

Thank you so much for having me today.

This is an exciting opportunity.

And my career at FTCU started in 2011.

And give us your full name because not everybody knows you, Emily.

Yes.

Emily Chakin.

I formally known as Emily Augustine when I first started here.

And so in 2011 I came on as a staff member for campus reservations, worked for them for

a couple of years and then transitioned over to business services.

I oversaw all the contractual agreements for the University bookstore, dining, vending,

beverage pouring rights, all those types of things.

Got to do some really exciting projects like build Dunkin' Donuts.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

Create some new bookstore and dining contracts and get a lot of unique opportunities on campus

through those things.

Along the way, I coached cheerleading for FTCU.

Wow.

During Dunk City.

Oh my goodness.

Was that she was a part of the magic.

That was exciting.

Was so exciting.

Yes.

And then, you know, watching all the other teams do some magic as well down the line, it

was all a lot of fun.

So yes, coached cheerleading for 10 seasons here while working full time.

I also went ahead and got my masters because you can get those free credits here.

So go for that masters.

And in my masters, educational leadership program, you had to do two internships.

So finding time to do an internship on top of everything was interesting.

But my mentor, Dr. Roberts, said, why don't you come, assistant teach colloquium.

And when you're in your masters, you are not required to take colloquium.

It's an undergrad requirement.

So I had never had to take it, but this was the best way possible to be immersed into

all that is FGCU.

So colloquium was a unique experience.

And I got immersed into that by assistant teaching it.

And then probably a year after I completed my masters and did that internship, I said,

I'd really actually like to teach that on my own.

So I taught colloquium for seven years as an adjunct.

Oh, wow.

And that's a beast of a class for people who don't know.

Listen, I've been out in that swamp.

Waste deep water.

I just think of snakes and alligators.

I will say, it is the biggest animal out there.

Twenty five seasons.

They are so students can play about it.

But the class is awesome.

Yeah.

The class is so cool.

It was one of my favorite classes here.

Really?

Mm hmm.

Because we don't have anything else like it.

I was a criminal justice major.

Why would I be out swimming through the swamps?

Well, why would I?

I mean, now I have a reason and I can say I did.

I'll be the first to volunteer to take you out there.

The coolest part about that class is you really see a transition.

You've got students from every area of campus.

And the first day of class don't know why they're there.

And by the end of it, they have totally transformed

into someone a little bit more sustainability conscious

and aware of their surroundings and understanding

their sense of place for Fort Myers and FGCU.

And it's a really, really great positive thing.

So I really enjoyed that time.

And then just this past semester, I

got kind of poached by the entrepreneurship school

to come over and teach social entrepreneurship, which

has similar foundations as far as sustainability and ethics

goes, but in an entrepreneurship lens.

So this will be my second semester teaching there,

teaching one virtual and one in-person course as an adjunct.

And I feel really appreciated and happy where I'm at now.

Awesome.

And beyond adjuncting, what else is going on in your life?

Yeah.

So I gave up my full-time position in business services

when I had twins prematurely in the pandemic.

Oh, my goodness.

No big deal.

Yeah.

You're just a superhero.

So they are my main job, my six-year-old twins.

And then I'm also a guardian adl item through Collier County.

Wow.

Amazing program.

Yeah.

So that has been a labor of love.

It definitely pulls on your heartstrings

but is something that's incredibly important.

So I'm happy to be an advocate for children

in the justice system and then volunteer at my church

and handle the household and all those good things.

Emily, do you live down in Collier County then?

I do.

Yep.

My husband and I are down in April.

Cool.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you.

We've got another athlete here.

Everybody was involved in sports at FGCU.

It's amazing.

Somewhere or another.

Somewhere or another, not me.

But OK.

Jessica.

Yes.

Yeah.

I'm excited to be serving alongside such talent in so many ways.

And just some, what, a little bit about me in the drug space?

First year full name.

Sorry, yes.

So Jessica Carter-Pierre, doctor.

Without the hyphen.

Doctor Jessica Carter-Pierre.

Doctor Jessica Carter-Pierre, graduate of FGCU.

Double Eagle.

Boop, boop, boop.

Played softball for the university.

So what really brought me down here originally?

So Native Floridian got to experience the transition

from being a seasonal Floridian resident.

So moving from North Florida to South Florida.

It's been an interesting time to be down in South

Florida and being a part of FGCU.

In so many ways, she touched on the fact

that the athletics teams and all the ways

have made an impact.

Right.

So it was really cool to be a part of that transition.

Then going through life, graduating,

and then spending some time outside in the careers,

came back and became a doctor of physical therapy

as a physical therapist.

And I have been working in that field space.

And I was asked by my mentor, actually, Dr. Silvus.

So Dr. Cala.

Yeah.

Silvus and Dr. Cala from the anatomy and physiology.

So Merib College of Health and Human Services.

They had asked to, if I wanted to reach out

and start teaching, the anatomy and physiology level.

And so I already saw that as an opportunity being

that I am in the field teaching patients

in the patient education space, but then

to bring that real world experience into the classroom

for the students in their experiences pre-med.

So you teach the lab or the lecture or both?

This fast semester was my first time teaching both.

Wow.

So I got to teach lecture and lab,

but I've been a lab professor for about, I would say,

for years.

Feels like 10.

It does.

It's like dog years?

Yeah.

So for Dr. Randy Burkel.

So we've been serving.

Oh, great.

Very nice.

Maggie, what quality high level senators

they're going to be?

Absolutely.

I think I'm so excited that the two of you

put your names forward to serve, and you all

know the university, you know the area, quote unquote,

done your time.

You kind of know what's going on.

But you two are both accomplished and passionate

in your own rights and your own fields.

And I think it's so cool you were able to go from university

colloquium over to entrepreneurship, right?

Like in my mind, I'd be like, why do I need to go over there?

But when you explain the sustainability and ethics

behind it and the businesses, that's

a really unique opportunity.

MUSIC

What motivated you all to put your name

forward to serve as an adjunct faculty

senator, especially knowing this is a brand new role

under our revised bylaws, the first in the state of Florida.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the podcast,

what kind of inspired you all?

I think having an opportunity to be

on the cusp with something new and innovative and great at FDCU

is always something I'm going to jump at.

Jessica and I were just talking about very similarly

to everyone else on campus right now.

You're bumping into walls and barriers and red tape

and things like that.

And I said, what is going on on campus?

They're obviously doing some renovations across campus.

And in the past, being in business services,

I knew about everything.

I was in the know for everything that was changing

and going on between regulations,

between construction projects, anything going on,

I knew about it.

And now in your adjunct world, you come and go to campus

maybe once or twice a week.

And you're not always in that loop.

And so having the opportunity to actually be on the faculty

since it was a huge opportunity.

An opportunity not just to be in the know,

but to be a part of the know.

And to be a part of that change that is coming

and to be able to be a voice within that was

definitely a no-brainer for me.

I'll add, of course, we play such a big role for FDCU

and it felt like it was an important time to step up

certainly as an exciting opportunity.

But coming from a history of shared governance

and being a part of boards and having a voice

to say, hey, these are some changes that we can hopefully

instill, I think it's a really exciting opportunity

to be at the table.

Going off that, from your perspective,

what are some of those important issues

or opportunities facing our faculty right now?

I think when it comes down to, like you said,

when we talk about the communication,

strengthening that communication is key

being able to make the connections

and allow for information to flow

so that they feel informed and being connected

to that process because we are.

So many out there doing other jobs and working

so for me, clinically in a space and so staying focused

in those roles, but then to be effective either

in our respective roles as an adjunct

and the teaching experience for students,

but to hopefully now highlight any changes

that can impact those of us that aren't here full time.

Yeah, I think to be, to make the biggest impact

on students, adjunct have to feel included, safe, comfortable,

and that makes it much easier for us to teach

and feel like we own this part, we own this class

and we have the ability to really do those things

that we need to be doing and helping students

find their footing and get through these courses.

And sometimes as adjuncts, you're like,

okay, where am I allowed to park

and how do I print something out?

And there's just all sorts of logistical challenges

that we face on a day-to-day basis.

Just having adjuncts feel like they do have a voice

and that can be through us, you know,

over the course of the next year or two,

making sure everyone feels like we're a part of the big picture.

What amazed me going to Senate for the last year,

year and a half, it was just not on the awareness

or on the event horizon of what was going on,

number one, knowing as an adjunct,

when you're going to be there,

I think you're going like,

you're gonna be doing a lot of,

hey, wait a minute, do you realize how that could impact

this population?

Secondly, though, I was amazed as well as that was the first place.

Some things were communicated to the entire university,

at least to most faculty.

For instance, this last year we did a plus plus attendance.

The only way I heard that was being at

faculty Senate two weeks before it started to have to be introduced

and it was like, whoa, that's kind of short time period.

Simple syllabus?

Absolutely.

The whole ADA requirements.

Oh my goodness.

They were just moving with deadlines for simple syllabi

and who needs to submit what for which tournament.

And they were all struggling with this.

You're gonna be in the middle of those conversations

and how they're communicated to everyone.

So I think in the past, communication to adjunct faculty

has been just that, to the adjunct faculty.

There hasn't been the communication loop back

from the adjunct faculty to the university much.

I think your role is gonna be vital to that.

Don't you, Maggie?

I think so.

And you all, like you were talking about,

you see the physical and invisible barriers

that adjunct faculty may run into, right?

So I think you all have a great perspective,

especially to knowing the university in your unique roles now

and even in your quote unquote past lives.

I think it's fantastic

because you kind of understand how we work.

But in terms of you two having a seat at the table,

what does that feedback loop look like?

Because all the other representatives,

they go report back to their colleges, their units.

Like how, I guess the three of you,

how do you envision this role?

Yeah, I think thanks to John.

I mean, Maggie, I've kind of led this pathway of a podcast

being able to sit down and discuss hot, but topics.

But I think just being a connector in a bridge way

on campus, even when we're here,

I mean, some of us, when we talked about like scheduling,

yeah, one or two days a week,

we'd certainly welcome an open table,

sit down conversation to hear any feedback.

I'd love for the two of you to have a regular column

in the newsletter that we put out.

Yeah, for sure.

Magic faculty news, it comes out twice a month.

That's perfect, because faculty senate meets twice a month.

Twice a month, yeah.

So I think that would be a good thing.

And then to have, even we could create some type of a form

that could be filled out by someone, if they have a question.

Yeah, I was thinking when we were coming into this meeting

to actually catch you offline, but this works also.

So yeah, go ahead.

Leave any feedback in the comments, y'all.

But Jess, can I both spoke before this meeting

and totally agree where we want to be that voice for adjunct.

And if there's someone that wants to be vocal

and give us feedback or questions,

then we want to be able to address those

and help take those two senate.

And so if there is a feedback link that can

be disseminated to us regularly,

or we're happy to just give our email addresses,

if that's the preferred method of contact.

And then we did find out our schedules line a little bit

were Monday, Wednesday classes, and then Friday senate.

So if we wanted to do an open forum or coffee with the...

That'd be great.

Adjunct senate, yeah.

We're totally down for that.

You'll have your own office hours.

That's right.

Drop insides.

I do not have an office, but I love that hours.

Einstein.

You can use the fourth floor.

We got the adjunct space.

And there's free coffee there.

And there's a printer.

And a printer.

Just have a coat, everyone.

Yeah.

That'd be a great way to just...

That'd be a great place to have a hangout

with anyone who wants to bring anything up.

But we thought maybe a good hard launch would be that

adjunct faculty reception that typically happens in the fall.

Yes.

It's going to happen in September,

but I haven't gotten a date yet from the Provost's office.

So if we could say we're both going to be there,

like to meet everyone, then you kind of get face to face.

I know we've met quite a few adjuncts over the years,

but they really want to get to know us.

And that's a good starting point.

That'd be a great place to be.

Absolutely.

MUSIC

I think there's a sense that what many adjuncts feel

a little disconnected.

I will say depending on the area.

Correct.

Depending on the area.

But the majority.

But the majority overall, there's a bell curve.

There are some that are very connected.

But there is a group that doesn't have much connection

either to their department or their unit.

Or they just don't see a lot of others.

And so having a few more gatherings,

like the reception in the fall,

but maybe a little more just a time to say,

hey, let's get together and talk.

And it doesn't have to be a business meeting,

but just make those connections and create a little more

community I think would be helpful too.

One of my favorite parts of the adjunct academy,

which I completed last year, was the time that we actually

collaborated on topics and discussions.

So maybe we could throw a discussion topic on the board

each time.

And because that just felt so productive and really

energized thought processes.

And I know that everyone in the course had all said

that was our favorite part.

And you couldn't get us to stop chatting when the time,

when the buzzer went off.

It actually works better to just let them go.

Yeah.

They are teaching each other a lot more effectively

than anything we could present in front.

Well, that's the best part of, in my opinion,

like the Lucas Center workshops.

The information is great.

But just being able to have that dialogue with other people

who aren't in your bubble, who asks those prompting follow

up clarifying question.

What do you mean by this?

Oh, well, I mean, XYZ.

Like just having that feedback is fantastic, right?

It helps you view everything in a new lens.

And you all alluded to this at the beginning of the podcast.

You have 50 jobs, paid, unpaid, emotional,

unemotional, all the things.

So how do your experiences outside of FGCU

shape how you think about advocacy shared governance

or academic work more broadly?

Being able to go to places such as even Tallahassee,

even DC to see the advocacy standpoints.

But I think when you look at it from a local organic level,

you can really hone in and become like a little pilot

of governance that could hopefully really spark the change

in that space.

So I'm hopeful just taking in that experience previous

to then just be a learner at this local level

and just be an advocate for us.

I think sometimes FGCU, when you're really ingrained here,

you feel like you're in a little bit of a bubble.

We're on our own island and we kind of run it as we see.

You're just driving on Ben Hill and you're like,

ah, there's university here.

Oh, OK.

But at the end of the day, everything that we're doing

is affecting the community.

We have these little waves and ripples

and they're affecting student success and driving change

and every little implementation that we're

going to do or policy revision or faculty initiative

does affect the students and affects the staff

and affects the community.

And so just to look at it at a larger scale,

what we're doing isn't so bubble,

but it's really going to be touching a lot of different lives

and things.

I love that.

And I mean, that's our mission, right?

We are a regional comprehensive university.

You're here mutually symbiotic with the community.

Make sure we're all doing good.

So I guess looking ahead into this upcoming academic year,

what would success look like for the both of you

at the end of your term?

Yeah, I think actually you just touched on a little bit of that,

right?

Just kind of setting up a strong foundation

for that future at John faculty senators

so that they can build on it.

Yeah.

As we are in that piloting stages of it, all in all,

we hope that adjuncts feel more connected and more informed

and just more confident that their voices are being heard

at the table.

Standardized things a little bit.

These are our channels.

Yes.

I'm finding us.

I think Jessica and I have a really big opportunity

to represent the adjunct faculty to the full-time faculty

as well.

I think they'll get a little bit of a taste

of our professionalism and our interest

in these initiatives and wanting to be a part of it

and hopefully paving a positive path for that.

A year sounds so quick.

And so I hope we can find our footing quickly

just so that year is impactful.

And then if there's opportunity to go on,

then hopefully we're still wanting to do that.

And hopefully everyone will still have us to do that as well,

just because I do think it takes a little bit of time

to make this groundwork.

Is there anything y'all are nervous about?

The time commitment.

I am so very much looking forward to being in more

of a full-time role and capacity and back on campus

and ingrained a lot more than I have been.

But it also comes at where does that stand as far as all

my other duties and responsibilities and things.

So I want to really savor this and do a great job

for the adjuncts and for faculty senate and for myself.

Also holding all the balls in the air.

Well, I think adjuncts are very good at that.

Absolutely.

Because we have to.

Right.

Yep.

And I echo that sentiment, of course.

Being a mom and I'm like, is that manager of any part of it?

I think it's just being a woman.

Sorry, John.

But a little different responsibilities.

Yeah, just to you.

Multitasking.

Yeah.

In so many ways.

But no, I hope actually what the faculty senate and even

just faculty feel that we're just them.

We're similar in that way.

And that we just show up in a different role.

But we're just equals in that partnership

for student success.

I really have used a framework from John Carter's book called

Leading Change for a number of years.

It's in the back of my mind often when we deal with change

initiatives.

John Carter is a professor at Harvard Business School.

And he says most change initiatives don't work.

And it's because, and he gives eight reasons.

Usually there's not a sense of urgency.

I think we created the urgency by just sharing with the full-time

faculty was amazing.

When they heard there were 430 adjunct faculty that

teach 20% of the classes.

A couple of the senators said, hey, wake up people.

Do you understand this is a large percentage?

And they're not being represented at all.

And so it's like we need to include them.

So there was that sense just from the size and scope

to create a guiding coalition where

you have a broader sense of buy-in from across an organization.

And I think we're doing that.

The third is to have a vision of a future that

can be shared by others and is clear enough

that they understand why.

And the shared vision here is student success

and that adjunct teaching conditions

are student learning conditions.

And so that's enough to get that far.

The fourth is to communicate 10 times more than you think

you need to.

And we're still working on that.

Because I think there's still adjuncts

that feel a little left out and haven't quite understood things.

Then the short-term wins, which we've had a number.

And then you start getting into the longer term.

We need to right now still.

And I think this is the move here with you two.

Embed the gains into the culture of the organization.

I was just getting such on that, actually.

You just look key concept that you just brought up.

It was actually perspective that they all are looking in it.

So coming from governance, it's actually important

to look to that future and see what the mission driving

the strategy in the direction is.

So I'm very excited to be a part of something

within that context of what is the future going to look

like for education space.

Yeah, boy, there's so much going on.

It's a very fluid time.

And as far as just, I don't know if you know this about Senate,

but there are subcommittees as well.

And there are potential ways that you can be involved

in just helping shape policy or shape different aspects of it.

So hopefully, you'll find some way

to be able to be plugged into that on the side.

I think those are much easier to do on teams or Zoom or whatever

and not have to be always on campus to accomplish that.

Yeah, we were on the Senate website

and actually saw those and said, oh, there's

more opportunity to be even more involved

and in different areas that we already currently

work within or touch on.

So there's definitely an interest there.

We were looking at the list of senators and saying, OK,

who do we know and who can we contact?

And who can we reach out to just so that we know their expectations

of us because we weren't in the room like you or John

for those meetings and for those votes and things.

And to call those concerns and stuff,

we just want to represent right off the bat.

I mean, if anyone's looking at the trajectory

that adjunct faculty is on, it's only increasing.

It's only going to go up.

And budget cuts and things like that

are going to mean that we do have to rely on adjunct faculty more

and more as time goes on.

Our programs are expanding.

So our numbers will probably expand.

And yet, we do need the full-time faculty.

And we need to also, personal plug here,

we need to start compensating adjunct faculty appropriately.

Outside of the classroom as well.

Yeah.

Well, we also had a chat about that.

And the only way to get an increase

is to do the Academy, which is fantastic.

But we've done that.

So what's our next step?

Where can we go from here?

Because as much as I love engaging with students,

and it's my passion to be a part of their future

and their goals and all the life-changing things

that happen to them, what about my future and my goals and things?

So I want to continually be motivated and challenged,

which is great that I'm getting this opportunity to do that.

This will satisfy me for a few years here.

But then after that, what's next?

What's next?

Emily, my long-term goal, I've only

got a few more years before I'm not

going to be in this position anymore.

Because I think three years or so.

And I'm just about ready to fully retire.

And at that point, I want to have a scaffolded system

in place that both looks at years of experience

in teaching and higher ed and professional development

so that there is a scale of a pay and compensation that

goes with it, rewarding people who've been here as long

as the two of you have and are doing an excellent job,

and that there is a reasonable path forward for that.

I don't think that's asking too much, but yes,

that's going to be one of the hardest things to bring about here.

But I think you'll be able to advocate for something

like that over time.

Anything else?

Are we missing anything, Maggie?

I don't think so.

I'm sure we'll have you all back, probably, in fall, just

to check in, give some big updates, how the experience has been.

Don't know if we could ever have a call and show.

That would be kind of cool.

Ask a senator.

Yes.

We can solicit questions, though, ahead of time.

We can solicit questions ahead of time and do one of those.

That would be kind of cool.

That would be great.

Yeah.

Transparency.

Yeah.

Good governance.

You keep brainstorming the two of you on what can be done,

because this is wet cement.

Right now, you can create the impression

that we'll solidify into what these roles are for the future.

And I think that's really cool.

Maybe not even being the pilot just on our own level

of adjunct senators, but maybe being a pilot for many senators.

Yeah, because I don't think they do that kind of.

They don't do podcasts that I know of.

Do you know?

No, not that I know of.

If there is, we'd love to collab.

Yeah.

Let us know.

Any other thoughts?

You were coming into this podcast, probably not knowing

what the heck is in there.

Listen, we might or might not have

chatted with chat GPT before showing up.

But we can never do that.

We can never prepare for where the conversation is going to go.

No, not especially with Maggie.

I just have a thought.

And I'm like, oh, this is where we're going right now.

But this has been great.

And I'm so excited.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Looking forward to a great year with a voice and a vote.

A voice and a vote.

We'll get you guys t-shirts.

All right.

Representing adjunct faculty.

Add it to the budget.

Yes.

Bye-bye now.

Bye, y'all.

Theme music composed, performed and produced by James Husney.

Theme music composed, performed and produced by James Husney.