College America
Stevens-Heneger College Faculty Treated Poorly, poor management, unethical behavio

I worked at the school for a year in 2009 as adjunct faculty. No training was ever given, and no performance reviews ever written, nor did anyone sit in on classes. The director only has a bachelor's degree, yet he is running the school, which is unheard of in normal academic arenas. Awards are given out to admin staff, but I never saw any instructors included. A new dean of education was hired and she decided I was a threat to her position because I had been considered for her position (I voluntarily withdrew my application prior to any decision being made because of a surgery). As an aside, I later found out the paltry amount the position paid and was glad to have withdrawn.
After a year of positive student relationships, where I had received four bonuses for high student critiques, and full course loads to teach, I suddenly wasn't being given any courses to teach shortly after I had complained about the dean regarding an issue with my pay. I also noticed 9 new adjuncts were hired, several in fields I was normally an instructor in, and they had courses, but I did not. I went to see the director only to find he had been fed information by the dean such as that I had high student absences/drops in my classes and had a hard time controlling my classes, which wasn't true and he had no documentation of any kind to support his statements. He also had a problem with the fact that I had complained when my pay was messed up even though the dean had not returned my phone calls or emails for three days, making my pay late.
I complained at the front desk, but only in front of staff, and only that one time like that, so it shouldn't have been an issue. I could have worked for any of the local colleges - I have a PhD - but I enjoyed the students there because they needed me in my opinion, however even though I was the highest educated there, with large amounts of experience, I was treated poorly. After I made my point to the director defending myself against the dean's allegations about not having control of my courses, etc., with no documentation, he told me not to come back (although I had already made it clear I wouldn't be returning unless things changed). Because I had had stellar performance, I asked for a letter of recommendation and he refused, stating that I shouldn't have complained. My complaints, aside from the one about pay, were private conversations to him and they were all valid and only recent.
They included: no classroom preparation for instructors, i.E. No dry erase pens, no erasers for the boards, no overheads in certain classrooms, sometimes classes with no books, not giving proper time to prepare prior to being told you have a course to teach, no instructor materials and no time prior to class starting to acquire them, no training on company methodologies, no formal recognition for instructors on achievements, no performance evaluations or progress reports, no long-term schedule so that instructors could at least prepare their work/life schedules, and the list goes on, too many to fully iterate here. All of the complaints were failures of the dean. I do believe that their treatment of me was against the law, as well, even though I was an adjunct, based on Colorado labor laws concering adjunct type employment, but I am not of a mind to sue because of the monetary outlay. I honestly hope the director is replaced by someone with more integrity whose concern is for quality instructors rather than a dean who does all his work for him and his subsequent repayment by defending her and her tactics at the expense of everyone else.
He is a coward who takes the path of least resistance and the dean, by doing most of his job for him (another reason I withdrew) has made herself valuable, but at what cost? I notice he leaves on time every evening while she stays and he has little to no interaction with the students and has never taught in his life. He likes her because he can continue with this practice while she takes over everything for him. I now notice on the job boards that they are losing the very instructors they just hired since they are hiring again, and it serves them right. No one will want to teach for the dean the way she runs things with no complaints allowed and poor treatment of instructors as well as terrible management practices. What comes around goes around. It's a shame for the students, as well as the faculty, and they deserve better.

Company: College America
Country: USA
State: Colorado
City: Fort Collins
Address: Mason Street
Site: collegeamerica.edu

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