[Itech] Fwd: TP Msg. #951 The Disappearing Tenure-Track Job
Teresa Franklin
franklit at ohio.edu
Mon Jun 1 10:28:42 EDT 2009
Hello Faculty and IT Graduate Students,
I thought you might be interested in this article from Stanford University.
Thanks,
Teresa Franklin
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rick Reis <reis at stanford.edu>
Date: Fri, May 29, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Subject: TP Msg. #951 The Disappearing Tenure-Track Job
To: tomorrows-professor at lists.stanford.edu
"The overall number of faculty and instructor slots grew from 1997 to 2007,
but nearly two-thirds of that growth was in "contingent" positions --
meaning those off of the tenure track. Over all, those jobs increased from
two-thirds to nearly three-quarters of instructional positions."
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Folks:
The posting below by Scott Jaschik, looks at the decrease in tenure-track
jobs over the last 10 years. It is from the May 12, 2009 issue of INSIDE
HIGHER ED, an excellent - and free - online source for news, opinion and
jobs for all of higher education. You can subscribe by going to:
http://insidehighered.com/. Also for a free daily update from Inside Higher
Ed, e-mail [scott.jaschik at insidehighered.com]. Copyright © 2009 Inside
Higher Ed Reprinted with permission.
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis at stanford.edu
Tomorrow's Academia
------------------------------------ 750 words
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The Disappearing Tenure-Track Job
Year by year, various federal data sets are released, and document the
steady growth of adjunct positions and decline of tenure-track jobs in the
academic work force.
In an attempt to draw more attention to these shifts over time, the American
Federation of Teachers is today releasing a 10-year analysis of the data,
showing just how much the tenure-track professor has disappeared. The
overall number of faculty and instructor slots grew from 1997 to 2007, but
nearly two-thirds of that growth was in "contingent" positions -- meaning
those off of the tenure track. Over all, those jobs increased from
two-thirds to nearly three-quarters of instructional positions.
The growth in these jobs -- and the decline in tenure-track positions -- was
found in all sectors of higher education, but was most apparent at community
colleges. However, one of the most notable shifts was at public four-year
colleges and universities, where over the period studied, tenured and
tenure-track faculty members went from being a slight majority to less than
40 percent of faculty members. At the end point of the AFT study, tenured
and tenure-track faculty members do not make a majority of faculties in any
sector.
"What was shocking to me, even though I think about this all the time, was
that the percentage of tenure and tenure-track faculty has shrunk to almost
a quarter," said Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff
Congress, the AFT chapter at the City University of New York. "The
deterioration of staffing has reached a crisis point when only a quarter are
tenured or tenure-track."
National discussions about higher education have focused on issues of cost,
and Bowen said that it was important to involve students and parents in
looking at academic staffing and its impact on the quality of education.
"Part-time faculty have done an amazing job, especially under the
circumstances that they work," Bowen said. "But I think parents and students
are beginning to see the difficulty when the part-time faculty member you
loved for English 101 is no longer there for English 201, or to write a
recommendation. You don't have that continuity."
The AFT is in fact preparing a brochure that it will be distributing to high
schools, encouraging students and parents looking at colleges to "just ask"
about the faculty work force. "We want people to ask 'What are the chances
I'm going to be taught by a full-time faculty member?' or 'What kind of
salaries do your faculty get?' " said Lawrence N. Gold, director of higher
education at the AFT. "In terms of achieving our goals, consumer pressure
has got to be part of it."
Given the competition among colleges for students, Gold said that
institutions could be motivated to change if the people who talk to
prospective students "report back that this is what they asked about."
Both Gold and Bowen -- clearly aware that some adjunct leaders have
criticized the AFT's efforts as focused too much on the creation of new
tenure-track jobs -- stressed dual goals. They said that they wanted to see
a far greater percentage of jobs go to tenure-track faculty members. But
they also said that those who teach off the tenure track must have better
salaries and benefits. The AFT's campaign on these issues is called FACE,
for Faculty and College Excellence.
Here are the numbers from the report, which come from the federal data
prepared by the Education Department's National Center for Education
Statistics
Distribution of Teaching Positions in Higher Education, 1997 and 2007
Job Type 1997 2007
All Institutions
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 33.1% 27.3%
--Full time, non-tenure track 14.2% 14.9%
--Part time 34.1% 36.9%
--Graduate assistants 18.6% 20.9%
Public doctoral granting universities
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 34.1% 28.9%
--Full time, non-tenure track 14.1% 14.4%
--Part time 14.3% 15.8%
--Graduate assistants 37.5% 41.0%
Public four-year colleges and universities
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 51.0% 39.0%
--Full time, non-tenure track 9.0% 10.9%
--Part time 33.6%
43.9%
--Graduate assistants 5.7% 6.3%
Public community colleges
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 20.6% 17.5%
--Full time, non-tenure track 13.4% 13.8%
--Part time 64.7%
68.6%
--Graduate assistants 1.2% 0.0%
Private doctoral-granting universities
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 34.9% 29.2%
--Full time, non-tenure track 17.3% 17.9%
--Part time 29.9%
31.3%
--Graduate assistants 17.9% 21.6%
Private four-year colleges and universities
--Full time, tenured or tenure track 39.3% 29%
--Full time, non-tenure track 15.6% 17.2%
--Part time 42.3% 52.2%
--Graduate assistants 2.9% 1.6%
* * * * * * *
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Dr. Teresa Franklin
Associate Professor
Instructional Technology
Educational Studies Dept.
313D McCracken Hall
College of Education
Ohio University
PH: 740-593-4561
Fax: 740-593-0477
franklit at ohio.edu
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