Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Educational Administration
Department
Educational Administration
Major Professor
Broadhurst, Chris
Second Advisor
Beabout, Brian
Third Advisor
Newman, Liv
Abstract
Instructors in higher education often do not study or practice teaching before entering the classroom (Flaherty, 2019; McMurtie, 2021). Instead, instructors may develop their teaching knowledge and skills in a variety of ways (Hora & Smolarek, 2018; Kennedy, 2016; McCrickerd, 2012; Oleson & Hora, 2014). Despite this haphazard approach, instructor development is particularly important in higher education given that effective teaching practices improve success outcomes for students (Kilgo et al., 2015; Loes et al., 2019; Umbach & Wawrzynski, 2005). Researchers have focused on the impact of introductory courses on students’ long-term success in a given subject or major (Xu, 2019). These courses are more likely to be taught by non-tenure track, contingent faculty (Miller & Struve, 2020), who make up over two thirds of the higher education teaching force (AAUP, 2025). Contingent faculty often experience different working conditions that may impact their teaching and development (Rhoades, 2020), and research shows that contingent instruction in introductory courses can lead to lower success measures for students (Umbach, 2007; Xu, 2019).
This hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 2014) of contingent faculty experiences developing their teaching skills used semi-structured interviews 8 full-time, contingent faculty who regularly teach introductory courses. Using Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg et al., 1959) as a framework for coding and analysis, the study identified four themes: the impact of formal training, avenues for informal training, the effect of unplanned twists, and sources of faculty dissatisfaction. Based on these themes, the study offers implications for university leaders and faculty development staff.
Recommended Citation
Ogburn, Anne, "Careers that Feel Like Plinko and a Labor of Love: A Phenomenology of Full-Time Contingent Faculty’s Development as Instructors at a University in Transition" (2026). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3366.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3366
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.