When professors in positions that offer no chance of earning tenure begin to stack the faculty, campus dynamics start to change. Growing numbers of adjuncts make themselves more visible. They push for roles in governance, better pay and working conditions, and recognition for work well done. And they do so at institutions where tenured faculty,…

The author reports on the academic job market that is showing signs of turning around after a multiyear slump. Job-outlook data released by professional associations in recent months show an uptick in the number of jobs available in several fields, including history, the humanities and foreign languages, sociology, geography, and political…

Scholars who teach composition, a staple on the schedule of many a college freshman, often wind up stringing together a series of adjunct teaching jobs while keeping an eye out for that first step on the golden track to tenure. This article reports on a group of 20 people hired by St. John's University to teach in its first-year writing program,…

With the academic year just under way, many junior faculty members in search of much-needed advice and guidance have begun to make critical connections with senior colleagues. Departmental pairings are the most standard form of faculty mentoring, as is the practice of newly minted professors' tapping colleagues on their own to answer questions…

Greensboro College has many of the intimate hallmarks of a small, private, liberal-arts college. Professors give their cellphone numbers to students and routinely provide extra help to those who need it. Classes at the North Carolina institution average 14 people. One of the students featured on the college Web site is a biology major who plays on…

Faculty pay has been battered by the deepening national recession, but one cannot tell that from the American Association of University Professors' new annual report on the economic status of the profession. The average salary of a full-time faculty member rose 3.4% in 2008-2009, it says, a rate well above inflation. That would be good news, but…

Worries about a partner's finding a job are a major reason why colleges lose faculty and professional-staff recruits. Some institutions have hired people to focus largely on nonfaculty job searches. (Finding faculty jobs for spouses or partners is a more complex negotiation with the university.) But as the economy continues to dip into uncharted…

In the publish-or-perish world of colleges and universities, writing is incredibly important because without published work professors do not get promoted and never earn tenure. Some are turning to outsiders called faculty coaches to help them overcome this career killer. Faculty coaches, often clinical psychologists, focus on helping professors…

According to new research, aspiring professors' negative view of faculty life at top research institutions is common: the large study of the University of California's graduate students revealed that less than half perceive major research institutions to be family-friendly workplaces for tenure-track professors. About 8,400 Ph.D. students from…

Public colleges and universities are girding themselves to win the war for tenured talent. Some are succeeding. State budget woes and a rocky economy have shaken public colleges and universities. One of the most noticeable shudders has been a pervasive "brain drain," as many state institutions face competition for their best faculty members from…