You can now access the online adjunct handbook: a Merry Christmas indeed!

An online adjunct handbook! A gift to you this Christmas season!

I am excited to announce that the official adjunct faculty handbook—written by and for English Department adjunct faculty—is now online. Cheers!

This was a project that my predecessor, Katie Palfreyman, spearheaded and worked hard to make happen. Katie, Ansalee Greenwood, Greyson Gurley, and I wrote the content and tried to make the organization (mostly?) intuitive. We hope that having information about professional development, teaching expectations, and university resources in one, easy-to-access location will be a boon for many of you! You can access the handbook directly with the link above or through the BYU English Faculty Commons webpage. (Note that to view the handbook, you will need to log in with your BYU credentials.)

Since department policies, payscale, and who’s who often change, the idea is that the adjunct liaison will be responsible for updating the handbook as necessary. At the moment, my plan is to update the handbook at least yearly (probably during the summer) but feel free to contact me as needed if you see any errors or have questions.

So curl up this Christmas break with the online handbook! An informative and festive read fit for the season! 😛 

December 5th Meeting

On Thursday, December 5th @ 11:00 am in 4186 JFSB, Heather & Amy will be briefing us on changes to English department full-time faculty hiring that may impact adjunct faculty course assignments in the future. (No need to panic! This is just the Department making sure we are in the know!) This is a short and optional meeting and there will be time for questions & lunch for those who RSVP by Monday, December 2.

Want to help write the new 150 textbook?

You may have heard that the University Writing Committee is planning to write a new BYU-specific textbook to replace Everyone’s an Author. It’s true! If you are interested in contributing to this textbook, please contact Amy Williams or Meridith Reed.

Workday Software Training

Make sure you complete your Workday training by December 20th! For most of us, our interaction with Workday will be fairly minimal: it will change the user interface for when we sign our teaching contracts and view our paychecks.

The training took me about 30 minutes, but that’s because I accidentally opted in for the purchases & expense training module. FYI you do not need to complete this module, but it may come in handy if you plan to travel to conferences in the future and want to familiarize yourself with the layout. However, Heather & other English Department staff will still help us with recording expenses as needed.

Stuff for your calendar

DECEMBER

December 5: Optional Adjunct Meeting & Lunch @ 11:00 am in 4186/4188 JFSB. RSVP by December 2nd if you’d like lunch. Amy & Heather will be going over some potential class assignment changes post Fall 2025.

December 11: Last Day of Class!

December 12: Student Ratings End

December 12: English Department Christmas Lunch @ 12-1:30 pm in 4088 JFSB. Come enjoy some food & festive cheer (open house style) before finals begin!

December 20: Workday Training Deadline

December 30: Grades DUE by noon

JANUARY

January 8: First Day of Class

January 15: Add/Drop Deadline

January: Writing 150 Contest Deadline! (Stay tuned for more information about this.)