This position paper from the Conference on College Composition and Communication offers guidelines for faculty embarking on careers in the field of composition and rhetoric. The paper addresses the following: terms of employment; conditions of employment; issues of reappointment, promotion, and permanent status; and issues of professionalism and…

A tenured teacher at the University of Minnesota at Duluth examines institutional policy of hiring non-tenure-track faculty for its writing program. He argues that underfunding and understaffing created a backlog that was then passed on to full-time "temporary" teachers, at the same time administrative costs were increasing. (MSE)

This paper argues that the high output demands of the information age necessitate that higher education salary administration be shifted from political systems, where subjective evaluation makes patronage a criterion of success, to management systems which employ objective analysis to allocate remuneration according to productivity. The paper…

Three myths about tenure are discussed: (1) that tenure is responsible for the increasing cost of education; (2) that the solution to increasing costs is to run a college like a business; and (3) that university presidents and administrators need flexibility to hire and fire professionals to achieve both cost containment and their new vision of…

In light of public opinion concerning tenure, academic freedom, and role of college faculty, a new approach is proposed, incorporating these principles: return to concept of tenure as a lifelong contract awarded in the thirties, education of public concerning tenure, and active support for limited teaching contracts to replace tenure awards to…

Two part-time faculty members and two full-time faculty members express their personal and professional concerns and attitudes about the trend toward increased and prolonged use of temporary and part-time faculty employment by institutions. (MSE)

A junior faculty member reflects on the dilemma of that professional position, noting that its anxieties fall into two categories: "Is this all there is?" and "What if we lose it?" She examines problems with, and prohibitions against, speaking one's mind in that position, sees solutions as being institutional or individual, and examines how…

When a large group of nontenured part-time English department faculty were summarily dismissed, a significant segment of the English curriculum was left largely unattended, and other problems arose throughout the institution. (MSE)

Australia's efforts to restructure college personnel remuneration represent more than changes in salaries. They are an attempt to reform an outdated hierarchy of jobs, lack of recognition of job skills, limited access to promotion, and minimal professional development and to offer better opportunities and a fairer and more consistent…

A discussion of faculty tenure focuses on the system used at Colby College (Maine). Policies and practices are described, with attention given to the four evaluations made before tenure is awarded, efforts to ensure instructional quality and research productivity after the tenure decision, and the balance of teaching and scholarship in the faculty…

Conflicts of interest that may arise from faculty consulting (professional services or advice to a client) are considered, with attention to issues such as time for consulting; competition with private practice; conflict of obligations; use of the university name, facilities, and resources; income considerations; and reporting and monitoring of…

New Mexico State University addressed the trend toward employing non-tenure-track faculty (NTTs) by capping the proportion of NTTs; acceptance of a two-tiered faculty with differentiated responsibilities; extension of professional rights to NTTs; full and regular NTT evaluation, participation in merit pay, and promotion opportunities; and…

Issues arising from the increasing use of part-time college faculty as an institutional cost-management strategy are discussed, including implications for faculty joining unions, tenure, governance and administrative hierarchy, faculty workload, quality of education, and public confidence in higher education. The trend is seen as ultimately…

A celebrated economist discusses the employment of college faculty in the modern university focusing on two primary issues: (1) tenure and promotion; and (2) recruitment, payment, and retention. Additional issues addressed include the role of faculty, academic authority, democracy in the classroom, and allocation of society's resources for higher…

Ways in which colleges can meet the needs of part-time faculty are suggested, based upon the experiences of community colleges. Recommendations concern basic needs, orientation, and staff development and evaluation. Advice for institutions includes: establish a salary scale for part-time faculty equal to that for full-time faculty teaching…