In this article, the authors discuss the hidden epidemic in higher education. They describe the stigma of chronic illness and argue that the invisibility of chronic illness may elicit particularly problematic responses from others, especially when faculty work in a context where people are expected to be highly productive and have unlimited…

The use of contingent faculty in higher education in the United States has grown tremendously over the past three decades. In 1975, only 30.2 percent of faculty were employed part time; by 2005, according to data compiled by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS),…

The effects of reliance on part-time faculty in higher education have been much discussed of late. Most observers now agree that the increasing reliance on contingent academic labor has worrisome consequences for both students and faculty. The authors recently attempted to provide needed analysis of what drives the current reliance on part-time…

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. With a duration of eighteen months, this recession was almost double the length of the average post-World War II economic downturn. Although the worst recession since the Great Depression is now technically over, this analysis…

This article reports the findings of a 1999 survey conducted by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW), a group of higher education and disciplinary associations concerned about the dramatic rise in contingent faculty, to examine the staffing practices across eleven humanities and social science disciplines. The comprehensive report showed…

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)

The typical affirmative-action-mandated procedure for filling new tenure-track openings in humanities departments, together with the typical organization of service-course programs, puts women faculty members at a disadvantage. It often draws new faculty from outside the institution, generally passing over women already within the institution.…

The implications for the careers of junior faculty members of the trend toward creating tenure-track appointments that are tenure-track in name only, without any real security, are examined. (MSE)

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…

The American Association of University Professors statement concerns policies and practices that open senior academic appointments to persons with reduced workloads and salaries without loss of status. (MSE)

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 growing bulge in the age distribution of California State University faculty and its potential effects on the status and distribution of full-time, part-time, tenured, and probationary appointments in the institution are examined. (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)