My name is Mary Whitfield and I have been a FT faculty member at Edmonds since 2024.
Today I am here to talk about staffing levels at the college and our desperate need for more FTF. At the last meeting the president reported that we have 120 FTF. This number is hard to interpret without looking at it in context, so I’ve analyzed the data by looking at both college supplied FTE data, and system wide data publicly available on the SBCTC website.
These data show that since fall of 2018, our enrollment has recovered to near pre-pandemic levels, while the number of full-time faculty has dropped by over 10%. Furthermore, of these 120 FTF, many are diverted into necessary administrative roles including serving as department heads. This means that the number actually teaching students is much less.
The implications of this trend are clear. With fewer FT faculty and constant enrollment, there is a greater reliance on Associate faculty and on FTF moonlighting. Looking at Fall 2025 data supplied by the college, I found that in Fall of 2025, only 38% of the total FTE was taught by full time faculty as part of their regular load. Meanwhile, 57% of the total FTE was assigned to Associate faculty. That means that 57% of our course load was taught by a faculty member who is not obligated to hold office hours. [As you may know, our college does not require Associate faculty to hold office hours]. This has obvious implications for student success.
How does Edmonds compare system-wide? This data is publicly available on the SBCTC website. If we look at the data for the 2024-25 year, Edmonds is dead last among ALL colleges in the system when we look at the percent of full-time teaching faculty. Only 10% of our employees are FTF, while the system wide average is 17%. Put another way, we are 40% below average. The new FTF approved for next year will only barely replace those lost to retirement, and will not move this needle much.
The other way that we make up for the shortage of teaching faculty is by FT faculty moonlighting. In Fall of 2025, 9% of our FTEF was assigned as moonlight. This is not necessarily a bad thing, unless the extra teaching load becomes excessive. This is why the VPI issued an operational memorandum stating that the maximum teaching load should not exceed 150% of full time - already a very high number. Yet in Fall of 2025, 14% of the FT teaching faculty were teaching at over 160 % of a FT load. Some of these were faculty still in the tenure process, which seems like a bad idea. Several faculty have reported that they accepted these very high loads when faced with the choice between working excessive overtime or cancelling classes and turning away students. This is not a choice we should have to make.
The data are clear. We do not have enough FTF. Accreditation standard 2.F.3 requires that “the institution employs faculty, staff, and administrators sufficient in role, number, and qualifications to ……ensure the integrity and continuity of its academic programs”. With numbers like these, we cannot claim to be meeting that standard. We urge the college to hire more FTF so that it can remain responsive to its core mission of academic excellence and student success.