Full Description
The American faculty is changing. Approximately 65 percent of all faculty appointments being made are now nontenure track. Despite these changes, many higher education institutions still operate as though tenure-track faculty are the norm and that non-tenure-track faculty are a supplementary workforce. This monograph provides an overview of the literature and research on non-tenure-track faculty. Who are these faculty members? What are their experiences? What does this situation mean for undergraduate instruction and students? What is the role of tenure in higher education? How did higher education attain this majority of non-tenure-track employees? Where does higher education go from here? The research focuses on the demographics of non-tenure-track faculty, differences by discipline and institutional types, historical developments, experiences of non-tenure-track faculty, and the experiences and outcomes of non-tenure-track faculty compared with those of tenured or tenure-track faculty.
Administrators and faculty can make better-informed decisions about staffing if they have some understanding about trends and research and the impact of non-tenure-track faculty on institutional outcomes. This is the fourth issue in the 36th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.
Contents
Executive Summary vii Foreword xi Introduction and Overview 1 Need for the Monograph 2 Purpose and Audience 4 Terminology 5 Background: Understanding the Conflicting Research 8 Introduction to the Players: Groups Studying Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 12 Organization of the Monograph 16 Portrait of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 19 Trends in Part-Time and Full-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 20 Historical Developments 25 The Demand for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 31 Typologies and Titles of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 33 Data and Trends Related to Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 41 Conclusion 47 Experiences of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 49 Working Conditions 51 Perspective on Faculty Life 60 Upsides of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Work 64 Concerns and Unmet Expectations 68 Conclusion 74 Plans of Action and Promising Policies 77 Broad Recommendations for Future Directions 79 Promising Practices and Policies for Professionalizing Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 85 Context-Based Examples of the Professionalization of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 92 How Do We Accomplish These Changes and Ensure Intentionality? 98 Conclusion 105 Conclusions for Practice and Suggestions for Further Research 107 Overall Conclusions and Implications 108 Future Research 112 Conclusion 115 Notes 117 References 119 Name Index 125 Subject Index 128 About the Authors 133
