Current literature shows a trend away from hiring faculty on a tenure line and instead hiring full-time non-tenure track faculty. Full-time non-tenure track faculty are becoming the majority base of the full-time faculty. It is unclear how this new majority of full-time non-tenure track faculty perceive shared governance at their respective…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, the professoriate is now comprised of mostly non-tenure-track faculty. In 1969, tenured and tenure-track positions made up approximately 78.3% of the faculty and…

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. With a duration of eighteen months, this recession was almost double the length of the average post-World War II economic downturn. Although the worst recession since the Great Depression is now technically over, this analysis…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, more than two-thirds of the professoriate in non-profit postsecondary education is now comprised of non-tenure-track faculty. New hires across all institutional types are now…

For decades it has been happening everywhere in academe, but nowhere in particular. The sweeping shift toward non-tenure-track academic labor has been one of the most worried-over trends in American higher education. But it has been charted mostly with broad-brush data, which give little indication of the trend's progress at the institutional…

This article reports the findings of a 1999 survey conducted by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW), a group of higher education and disciplinary associations concerned about the dramatic rise in contingent faculty, to examine the staffing practices across eleven humanities and social science disciplines. The comprehensive report showed…

In most institutions, the faculty hiring process discourages affirmative action. The determination of top administrators is a key factor in success. (MSE)

Because of attitudes and policies, women academics are clustered in service rather than career areas of their professions. The social and academic results of this underrepresentation include the loss of valuable contributions from women. Policy areas needing change are employment conditions, inclusion in decision making, and child care. (MSE)

A critical piece of information in the selection process for academic positions is the letter of recommendation. A study was conducted to determine if differences exist in the letters written for female versus male candidates for academic positions. Using letters which were retyped to avoid personal, institutional, and sex-specific identification,…

Reviews trends in the employment of part-time faculty, sources of part timers, and rationales for hiring them. Summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of employing part-time faculty, concluding that financial constraints will ensure their continued place in higher education. Advocates the development of appropriate recruitment, orientation,…

A survey of department heads in 101 research and doctorate-granting universities investigated career movements before becoming the chair, length of tenure, first and second career moves of their predecessors in the chair, and the relationship of variables such as discipline, department size, age, gender, hiring practices, and previous…

Describes a study examining factors influencing the numbers of minority full-time faculty at community colleges. Finds the presence of a minority vice-president of academic affairs, chief academic administrators with degrees in fine arts, and minorities on boards of trustees positively related to the percentage of minority faculty. (26 citations).…

Current employment patterns of and policies concerning part-time college faculty are outlined, and the advantages and disadvantages of using a high percentage of part-time faculty are discussed. (MSE)

Issues in the increased use of temporary appointments for full-time faculty are discussed, including curricular flexibility, compensation policies, productivity, image within the academic community, academic freedom, and accreditation problems. (MSE)

A growing component of the instructional workforce in higher education, graduate teaching and research assistants are frequently viewed by university administrators and trustees as students rather than employees, according to this American Federation of Teachers (AFT) report. As the number of new full-time faculty hired decreases, an increased…