Colleges and universities increasingly employ temporary instructors. Researchers in higher education have voiced strong concerns about this trend because of its impact on educational outcomes, operations of academic institutions, and the composition of academic workforce. To enhance our understanding of this employment practice, this article makes…

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…

This qualitative study is an examination of how 20 tenure-seeking Women of Color and White women academics at a public research-intensive university define collegiality and its perceived role in rank advancement. By engaging culture of hegemonic collegiality, we identified two salient themes: (a) collegiality is defined through weapon and survival…

Research on first-year college students (FYCS) indicate that faculty, including part-time, non-tenure track faculty (PTNTTF), play a vital role in meeting the academic needs of FYCS to facilitate their academic success. However, the literature on PTNTTF suggests that the departmental culture they experience may impact their ability to meet…

VITAL faculty, also known as non-tenure-track instructors at colleges and universities in the United States, play critical roles in educating students but are often excluded from professional development and community-building opportunities that support their growth and development as instructors. In this article, we describe how we addressed…

Using data with detailed instructor employment information from a state college system, this study examines disciplinary variations in the characteristics and effects of non-tenure-track faculty hired through temporary and long-term employment. We identify substantial differences in demographic and employment characteristics between the two types…

In an extensive study of part-time academic faculty, Gappa and Leslie ("The Invisible Faculty: Improving the Status of Part-Timers in Higher Education." San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993) developed a typology consisting of four employment profiles based primarily on academic background, employment history, and career motivations:…

The employee-organisation relationship between academics and universities is a critical issue in higher education (HE) human resource management. Previous studies have mainly investigated the segmentation between full-time and part-time academics, or academics working in different countries. However, few studies have explored academics'…

The rise in numbers of non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) and the impact on student success is not a simple causal relationship. Rather, it is a complex formula of academic supports, strategic staffing, and professional socialization that drives student retention and, inevitably, graduation. At the center of the administration, policies, students,…

This inquiry into the nature of feminist solidarity in the academic sciences is guided by the intra-activity of gendered bodies in teaching-intensive faculty positions. It uses diffractive methodology to examine how response-able research practice can account for enactment of social discourse through agential cuts. Over the course of a two-year…

Many research studies have found that faculty value collaborative professional development (PD) activities that provide practical applications. Faculty seek out PD for improved skills and career support, including advancements. To acquire promotions in higher education, these employees must complete high-stakes evaluations through annual reviews,…

Attaining the rank of faculty in higher education is much like being inducted into a secret society. Institutional and professional knowledge are shared like secret passwords and handshakes…to new tenure-track faculty. Those on the tenure track receive orientation and participate in mentoring and professional development programs during their…

This national qualitative exploratory study utilizes a critical social class lens to analyze how nontenured part-time faculty members' relationships with their tenured/tenure-track colleagues and management shape their attitudes and behaviors toward their employment in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 54 participants were…

This chapter uses a descriptive methodology that focuses on how the undergraduate team at a large multi-campus research university located in a mid-Atlantic state advocates and provides support for the scholarship of teaching and learning for non-tenure nursing teaching faculty from a variety of perspectives.

Despite efforts to attract Black women in the professoriate, higher education has historically excluded marginalized populations, specifically Black women. This qualitative case study investigated the problem of insufficient representation of tenured Black women in the academy at Historically White Colleges and Universities (HWCUs). Additionally,…