They are key contributors to student educational success, yet relatively few receive adequate professional development, write Anna Conway and Thomas J. Tobin. Some college and university adjunct instructors are fresh out of graduate studies, confident that teaching college students will be their career, while others come onto the teaching path after working in industry. Rebecca (we’ve changed her name to protect her privacy) was the latter. An attorney who had argued cases in Milwaukee and Chicago for many years, Rebecca had taken a break from practicing law to raise her daughters.