Title of Dissertation: STAINED GLASS CANTATAS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF ADJUNCT FACULTY PARTICIPATING IN A COMMUNITY-BUILDING EXPERIENCE

This study is my exploration of the experiences of eight experienced adjunct faculty members participating in conversations around the theme of community and its role in their relationships to peers and to the university. The text for this study is based upon individual conversations with the participants, and upon conversations held in four group seminar sessions focused on community and community-building. The question guiding this inquiry is the following: “What is it like for adjunct faculty to participate in a community-building experience? ” The hermeneutic phenomenological approach to my research is grounded in the phenomenological philosophies of Martin Heidegger (1953/1996) and Han-Georg Gadamer (1960/2003). Max van Manen (2003) provides the methodological framework for the research activities. Poetry, stories, and literature from the disciplines of education, community development, and ways of being are used to open up new ways of thinking about the adjunct faculty experiences as shared in the conversational text. The stained glass cantata and the rose window are the metaphors that come forward through reflections on my own experiences of community and the experiences o