The University of Maryland at College Park is poised to embark on an unprecedented effort to improve the conditions of its faculty members who are off the tenure track. The campus's University Senate, which represents faculty members, administrators, students, and staff members, is scheduled to vote on an internal task-force report that…

Greensboro College has many of the intimate hallmarks of a small, private, liberal-arts college. Professors give their cellphone numbers to students and routinely provide extra help to those who need it. Classes at the North Carolina institution average 14 people. One of the students featured on the college Web site is a biology major who plays on…

Faculty pay has been battered by the deepening national recession, but one cannot tell that from the American Association of University Professors' new annual report on the economic status of the profession. The average salary of a full-time faculty member rose 3.4% in 2008-2009, it says, a rate well above inflation. That would be good news, but…

Adjuncting is the way of the future. In 20 years, there won't exist more than a handful of tenured professors. Universities want cheap, cheap labor, as much of it as they can get. While many lament that state of affairs, the author embraces it and invites other graduate students and newly minted untouchables to do the same. The writer shares how…

At a time when some are critical of higher education's increasing reliance on part-time and adjunct faculty, many of those faculty do not seek tenure or full-time teaching positions. While they would like better pay and benefits, they prefer part-time work so they can pursue other jobs or interests and enjoy the teaching they do. (MSE)

The Supreme Court has ruled that statistical evidence about the effects of an employer's policies can be used to prove discrimination in situations where a variety of imprecise criteria are used. The decision is applicable to faculty salary and tenure disputes. (MSE)

Data charts show trends in investment gains for college faculty retirement funds in the stock market, 1990-93; distribution by rank, average salary, fringe benefits, and tenure status of two- and four-year college faculty in 1992-93; and the relationship between faculty salaries and the cost of living, 1986-87 to 1992-93. (MSE)

A report released by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce based on a survey of departments in 10 social science and humanities fields shows that part-time and adjunct professors receive far less pay and fewer benefits than their peers. In many institutions, nontenure-track instructors make up almost half of the teaching staff. (SLD)

A special committee studying possible changes in Texas higher education is considering a variety of politically troubling alternatives including institutional reclassifications, faculty salary and tenure changes, funding alternatives, restructured governance, and mergers and closings. (MSE)

Administrators at small colleges are devising innovative policies to compete with recruiters from corporations and large universities to attract computer-science professors and hold on to them. Williams College offers higher salaries, while Middlebury College pays computer-science instructors as administrators on 11-month contracts. (MLW)

Faculty at nonprofit colleges and universities are concerned about the quality of faculty at the for-profit University of Phoenix, and about the personnel policies that support them. This institution's faculty lacks tenure, and most teach part time. Ninety percent are fully employed elsewhere. The fast-paced courses and regimented curriculum are…

On campuses around the country, part-time and temporary instructors are pushing for power, and many see unions as the most likely way to get results. At issue are salaries, benefits, terms of appointment, etc. (MLW)

Hoping to gain prestige and financial support for research, many four-year institutions have toughened faculty tenure and promotion standards to require more and better research. Some older faculty have been surpassed in salary and perquisites by younger, more aggressive scholars. Morale problems and concern over evaluation criteria have resulted.…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for colleges and university faculty members and administrators. This April 23, 2004 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Academe Must Work with the Intelligence Community" (Rindskopf, Elizabeth); (2) "Masked and Explicated:…