The role of part-time faculty within higher education has been one of great interest to administrators. While the use of part-time faculty is on the rise throughout the country for various reasons, the concerns with their use has become a topic of great debate. Much of the research focusing on part-time faculty is available at the community college level and in areas other than within the health science arena. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the use of part-time faculty within specific health science programs and particularly in dietetics education.

The purpose of this study was to identify directors' perceptions of the role and responsibilities of part-time faculty in dietetics education programs across the country. This study also identified the reasons why dietetics education programs use part-time faculty and how they utilize them within their departments, as well as their concerns with the use of these faculty members. A third purpose was to determine the strategies that dietetics education programs use to assist part-time faculty members. Lastly, this study determined what differences there are in directors' perception of the role of part-time faculty in dietetics education programs based on their institutional characteristics.

The population consisted of 222 program directors of undergraduate dietetics education across the country. An online survey tool was used to gain information from the program directors. A majority of respondents were females from public institutions, with many from doctoral/research institutions. Program directors reported that part-time faculty most often taught courses, specifically basic nutrition courses, and less often participated in research activities. Many of the part-time faculty members were used to add teaching staff with specialized knowledge to the department which provided practitioner knowledge and expertise. The program directors reported concerns with the use of part-time faculty including lack of availability for student advising and "buy-in" into the department. In addition, little significance was found in the various factors of part-time faculty based on institutional characteristics.