Calling out to the college professors here...

[Nechums]

I'm really interested in teaching at the college level, but I don't even know where to begin my pursuit. For an adjunct position at a community college, what are the degree requirements? Is it a Ph.D in your field of expertise or would a master's degree suffice? Better yet, would I even need to have completed my master's degree or would a certain amount of graduate study hours (plus tutoring experience) suffice?

How would I even go about searching for an adjunct position?

[cvanbrunt]

What's your area? I can't imagine teaching at that level without at least a master's degree. In some fields, like the humanities, the competition for faculty jobs is so intense that PhDs are finding themselves teaching intro classes as adjuncts for years before landing a full time job.

[Nechums]

Sorry -- should have specified more. I'm working on my master's in statistics (it's taking a little while because I decided to have DS along the way) and am interested in teaching a basic introduction to statistics course at the community college level as an adjunct.

[lfp2n]

The community colleges in our area will definitely take people with Masters, for Biology teaching with no prior experience. They often sign up our graduate students (who have a default Masters for passing the Qualifying exam of their Ph.D) on a course by course basis. They have no teaching experience as they don't even TA here. Its getting competitive to get a lot of work, and nearly impossible to get a permanent position.

HIH

[mmommy]

Generally they'll hire you without a terminal degree if you are currently pursuing one and if they are needy. Simply to email your cv and a brief cover letter to the chair of the department you want to teach for. They'll contact you if they're interested.

[JElaineB]

I have taught adjunct in the past at 2 different community colleges. Here they require a master's or higher and a certain number of graduate hours in the field (I want to say 18 semester hours?) So if you majored or minored in something they teach you could generally teach that. If you have that many hours in already it may be possible that they would take someone working on a master's, you should check with the school(s) you are thinking of. Right now is a great time to try this, at least here community college enrollment is exploding because of the economy coupled with rising tution at 4-year schools.

ETA: To search for a position just look on the employment part of the website for the cc you are thinking of, or contact the dean of the college's office or the specific department office, depending on the size of the college. I also have been employed by a distance learning program at one of the colleges; they hired for themselves rather than through the departments (I taught over interactive television rather than online, though).

[o_mom]

I was able to teach when I was a MS student. It was the bottom of the barrel remedial classes and I had a strong science degree already, but I didn't have to have a MS yet to do it. I know plenty of HS math teachers here who teach part-time at the local university, most probably have a MS, but not all. Math teachers are always in high demand, at least here anyway. After teaching the class I know why (ummm... how did you graduate HS without being able to add, subtract, multiply and divide?... and no, it's not my fault you got a 40% on the first test which only covered those topics and which my 11 yo niece can do). Teaching an intro to stats class may be a bit harder to get into, depending on the demand for the class and how many sections they need to fill.

[cvanbrunt]

Hopefully Beth will chime in. She's the one with the masters in stats. In terms of looking for a position, searching the HR department site of the school will work. The rules associated with hiring faculty (as I have expereinced them) mean the search is very public. So the jobs are posted in multiple places. Good Luck! I'm going to teach undergrad stats in my department (psychology) next year and I'm nervous and excited about it. But a masters in stats? You have a big wrinkly brain! The theoretical stuff just kills me.....

[egoldber]

Have you talked to your department chair? When I was in grad school (a century ago....) local community colleges and smaller universities contacted our chair for recommendations for grad students to teach their less popular courses, typically nighttime intro classes. I did that several semesters for extra money.

Of course, these days, there may be no such thing as a less popular time slot to teach in! But these classes were often VERY challenging because of the types of things mentioned by o_mom. It was very difficult for me to deal with students who had no or poor basic math skills and were struggling in my class. And then they would get angry with me for not being willing to tutor them in basic math and basic algebra.

[lowrioh]

I think degree requirements vary a lot by location. My DH adjuncts around here and all the schools require a MA/MS and lot require you to be ABD. I think that part of it is that there is a really high density of PhDs in the DC metro area and they don't have a problem finding people to work for slave wages.
I agree about contacting your department. DH found both adjunct jobs through his department and probably got the jobs through their recommendation.