The nature and characteristics of part-time faculty members in the state of Ohio were studied, based on a survey of 22 institutions, including four-year public and private and two-year or community colleges. Questionnaire responses were analyzed from 1,590 part-time faculty members and 335 administrators. Case studies also were conducted to obtain additional and primarily nonquantifiable information regarding part-time faculty employment in five selected representative institutions, and 13 administrators in the selected case study institutions were interviewed. The issues examined regarding administrators' perspectives about part-time faculty employment include: the most important reason(s) for hiring part-time faculty, advantages and disadvantages of employing part-timers, and projected trends in part-time faculty hiring. An attempt is made to identify patterns in hiring and institutional treatment of part-time faculty among the public and private participating institutions. The issues addressed regarding part-time faculty members' perspectives include: the nature and scope of part-time teaching assignment; rank, tenure, academic preparation, and experience; expectations and evaluation; recruitment; reasons for part-time teaching; other employment; average salaries and determinants of salaries; fringe benefit coverage; services, facilities, or activities available; attitudes toward part-time teaching; and job satisfaction. The case studies involved two state-assisted universities, a private university, a private college, and a community college. Appendices include sample questionnaires and comments by respondents. (SW)