Historically, higher education has been at the forefront of social change, not only in the United States but also in classrooms and cultures around the world. Considering the many challenges facing American universities and colleges as we navigate higher education’s relevancy and role in society and learning, how can institutions continue to promote innovation where it matters: in the trenches, with our instructors and students? The answer may rest in recognizing part-time faculty with instructional grants to support and encourage instructor-driven excellence and combat burnout and compassion fatigue.
Incentivizing Innovation: The Lure of Online Teaching Grants
Since 2017, WashU‘s Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) in St. Louis, Missouri, has annually awarded the Marion Horstmann Online Teaching Innovation Grant to one part-time instructor who has taught with CAPS for at least two semesters. This $5,000 grant aims to promote instructional creativity, excellence, and autonomy among faculty — a funding strategy colleges and universities often use “to encourage faculty investment in priority areas while promoting innovation and intellectual risk-taking and inspiring others to succeed” (Boland & Baker, 2025). To that aim, Horstmann grant proposals are judged on the following four criteria, which have evolved based on institutional priorities:
- anticipated impact on student learning, engagement, and retention;
- potential for widespread adoption across or within disciplines;
- potential for scalability; and
- the instructor’s record of outstanding teaching.
The Horstmann grant, although a relatively modest investment in the aggregate, goes a long way in inspiring instructors to effect meaningful change for students while faculty design, or often re-design, online and hybrid courses. This grant also serves as a means for administrators to identify teaching trends and instructor interests in teaching and learning best practices. The grant was established with funds bequeathed to WashU by Marion E. Horstmann, an alumna who graduated in 1966 and was also an active member of WashU’s Lifelong Learning Institute before her passing in August 2012. Each year, a CAPS grant committee composed of instructional designers, instructors, and the Vice Dean awards the Horstmann grant to an instructor to support innovation in resource, program, and/or course development. Examples of previous Horstmann grant projects include developing a set of best practices for discussion-based applied mathematics content, a service-learning project for a gender and crime course, and curating a perpetual resource library for students in a non-profit management program. Resources created using grant funding are shared in an annual “faculty show and share” event as well as highlighted in a digital teaching hub, so multiple courses, instructors, and groups of students reap the benefits of Horstmann Grant recipient’s work. Award winners represent diverse subjects as well: drawing and watercolor, quantitative reasoning, international affairs, writing, nonprofit management, and more.
Prioritizing Part-Time Faculty Development
The use of instructional development grants as catalysts for teaching innovation and student retention didn’t begin in earnest in many U.S. colleges and universities until the late 20th to early 21st centuries (Watson, 2019). In fact, before the 1960s, “faculty development comprised sabbatical leave, guest lectures, financial assistance to attend conferences, aid to complete advanced degrees, and research support,” most of which was financial support for full-time, tenure-track faculty (Watson, 2019). Presently, course releases, grants, fellowships, and more serve as carrots to instructors committed to deepening and refining teaching and educational technology usage in higher education.
Oftentimes, though not always, innovation incentives cater to tenure-track faculty versus contingent, or part-time, instructors. Part of the disparity in funding adjunct-centered instructional development revolves around constricted budgets, the privileges institutions often bestow upon tenure-track instructors, and the perception that many adjuncts do not teach at a college or university for a sustained period of time, which may reinforce the mistaken conclusion that an institution’s funding and resources should only be given to full-time faculty members.
But for continuing and professional schools such as WashU CAPS, which depend on the teaching expertise of adjunct instructors, funding teaching innovation not only includes adjuncts but also centers on providing instructional support specifically designed for this important teaching population. Of the 116 instructors teaching at CAPS for the fall 2025 semester, most are part-time faculty, with two notable exceptions for full-time academic directors and tenure-track instructors who teach elsewhere.
Program Evaluation Insights: The Critical Contributions of Adjuncts
To measure the efficacy of the Horstmann grant, we conducted our first program evaluation of the Horstmann grant in the summer of 2025. In terms of methods, our three-person instructional design team sent a brief Qualtrics survey to the last nine recipients of the grant, all of whom are or were adjunct instructors at CAPS. Five Horstmann grant winners completed the survey and provided the instructional design team with valuable insight into the process of implementing their grant proposals. When asked, “Which of the following factors motivated you to apply and then implement a time-intensive Horstmann grant project?”, many respondents indicated that the opportunity to enhance their course, to support their students with additional resources, and the excitement of trying something new motivated their decision to apply for the Horstmann grant.
An interesting finding from this survey was how the Horstmann grant impacted instructor motivation after completion. When asked, “After completing the Horstmann grant, how did this project change or impact your teaching practice?” four out of five participants indicated that their project renewed their “sense of creativity about what’s possible in a class or educational context.” Especially in today’s sometimes bleak climate for higher education, this discovery reinforces, especially now, the significance of supporting instructors, especially those who do not always receive institutional support.
Ultimately, the survey results from previous winners of the Horstmann grant show us that while it can be time-consuming to write a proposal and then develop a proposed project, the grant process overall is an enjoyable experience that helps faculty enhance teaching praxis and motivate and challenge their students. All respondents of the survey shared that they would encourage other faculty to pursue this grant.
Perhaps another key takeaway of providing grant initiative such as this one is that supporting contingent faculty with financial support and recognition reinforces the critical contributions of adjunct instructors. Many times, adjuncts are not always eligible for the full programming, funding, and enrichment efforts of traditional centers of teaching and learning. According to the TIAA Institute, adjunct instructors make up 47 percent of the U.S. academic workforce, or one-third of all faculty (Yakoboski, 2018). In fact, “across U.S. colleges and universities, there are more than 650,000 adjunct faculty,” whose median pay is $1,166, with the median pay for an academic term totaling $4,998 (Johnson & Fuesting, 2026). We hope that initiatives such as the Horstmann grant are further emulated, discussed, and funded because, as Van Davis, executive director, WCET & Vice President, Digital Learning, WICHE, wrote in 2022, “As institutions strive to provide students with a variety of high-quality educational experiences, they should carefully consider their relationship with online adjunct faculty, paying particular attention to how they can support this critical faculty population.”
We couldn’t agree more about recognizing and valuing the significant teaching and learning contributions of part-time instructors.
Note: If you offer instructional development grants and opportunities designed specifically for part-time instructors at your institution, regardless of teaching modality, we would love to learn more about other institutional initiatives in the comments.
Cole Palmer, MEd, is an Instructional Specialist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Cole is also a former K-12 teacher and currently mentors local teachers through WashU’s Institute for School Partnership.
Michaella Thornton, MFA, is an Instructional Specialist and adjunct writing instructor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She also writes and publishes creative writing and teaches humor writing, first-year composition, and interdisciplinary studies.
References
Boland, L.M., & Baker, V.L. (2025). “Beyond recognition: Faculty awards as catalysts for professional growth and institutional success.” Academic Leader. Retrieved from https://www.academic-leader.com/topics/faculty-development/beyond-recognition-faculty-awards-as-catalysts-for-professional-growth-and-institutional-success/
Davis, V. (2022). “New online adjunct faculty survey results released from WCET, OLC, and every learner everywhere.” WCET Frontiers. Retrieved from https://wcet.wiche.edu/frontiers/2022/02/17/new-online-adjunct-faculty-survey-results-released-from-wcet-olc-and-every-learner-everywhere/
Johnson, B., & Fuesting, M. (2026). “Adjunct faculty in the higher education workforce.” College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). Retrieved from https://www.cupahr.org/resource/adjunct-faculty-in-the-higher-education-workforce/
Kimmel, K., & Schwartz, L. (2025). Editorial: “Creating a culture of recognition: Faculty recognition as faculty development.” The Journal of Faculty Development, 39(3), 80-81. Retrieved from https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/magna/jfd/2025/00000039/00000003/art00010;jsessionid=1kotgj53o9h8h.x-ic-live-02
Watson, C. E. (2019). “Faculty development’s evolution: It’s time for investment in higher education’s greatest resource.” Peer Review, 21(4), 4+. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634680358/AONE?u=anon~7055202e&sid=googleScholar&xid=1fd61dcc
Yakoboski, P. (2018). “Adjunct faculty: Who they are and what is their experience?” TIAA Institute. Retrieved from https://www.tiaa.org/public/institute/publication/2018/adjunct-faculty-survey-2018
Young, C., & Mitchell-Yellin, B. (2025). “The impact of teaching innovation grants on faculty effectiveness and student retention.” College Teaching, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2025.2559948