Assurance Services Manager Andrew Azer discusses the satisfaction of being an adjunct accounting professor in SUM News, the flagship publication of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs.
SUM News
Excerpt:
Growing up in a home where both my parents were teachers, I always understood and appreciated the importance of lifelong learning and sharing my experiences and knowledge to help others. As a tutor in high school and college, I was overjoyed to watch struggling students get their “aha’ moment when everything comes together. However, during my college years I quickly learned that practicing accounting, rather than pursuing a PhD and a career in education, was financially the right choice forme. Several years later, I found my way back to education and became an adjunct professor at the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University.
Over the past 30 years, colleges and universities have transitioned to employ a higher percentage of parttune adjunct professors, leading to a high demand for CPAs in higher education (SumNews, Summer II 2015). A 2013 study by the AAUP Research Office highlighted that the percentage of part-time faculty members had jumped significantly from approximately 30% in 1975 to just over 50% in 2011 (This national study included all academic areas and may not reflect trends at the business schools of colleges/universities in Massachusetts). In addition, although the number of part-time faculty members now exceeds 50%, full-time professors teach three to five courses per semester, with adjuncts usually teaching just one or two.
