For the first time in nine years, I'm not scheduled to teach a class for the University of Advancing Technology.  

In 2000 they hired me as a part-time faculty member.  I had become aware of them a few years earlier through my brief stint in a technical textbook publishing company.  During the dot.com burst I applied with their professional side to become a trainer for them.  That didn't pan out, but I did receive a call from their academic side, asking if I'd be willing to teach some non-technical courses.  

By the start of the summer term I was full-time, in which capacity I continued until the summer of 2004, when I moved to part-time adjunct status in order to move to Missouri and complete my M.Div and requirements for ordination.  At the time, I prayed that they would be able to keep me busy for at least a year or two.  God answered my prayers in spades, as I continued to teach anywhere from two to five courses year round until this past spring term, where I finished teaching a single course.  

I've had a full-time 'real job' for nearly two years now, but I've immensely enjoyed being able to continue teaching.  I think it suits my ADD nature (though in my day, I was simply labeled hyper).   I've transitioned out of the technical courses and into General Studies sorts of coursework more appropriate to my degree, and to the fact that UAT has just about wrapped up their bid for regional accreditation - a process that has been ongoing for at least five years, and which admits them into the realm of 'real' universities and colleges across the country.  It's a prestigious honor for UAT, and I'm proud of them and what they've accomplished.  They moved from being a rather vocationally oriented, CAD and other sorts of technology training, into a full-fledged university, acknowledged across the country as one of the top schools for technology degrees in arenas such as network security and video game design.  I like to think I've played a part in that transition, and that I've helped several cycles of students broaden their horizons beyond the edge of a computer screen.

I shouldn't complain if the relationship is drawing to a close.  While I don't doubt that I'll find ways to keep my toes in the instructional arena, I always hate times of transition like this.  While there's been no formal communication saying that my services are no longer needed, the economic downturn has hit enrollment figures, and it's not surprising that they want to make maximum use of their salaried full-time instructors and cut down on their part-time faculty.  Hopefully, I'll still be able to teach a course now and then.  Hopefully I'll also find other institutions that are interested in a faculty member who has more than a decade of online instructional design and delivery.  

Part of me thinks that this ought to contribute to solving my internal angst over whether or not to pursue a doctoral degree.  But I know myself better than that.  I may not be teaching for the summer, but that doesn't mean I can't have my angst.

Viva continuity!