Non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty--typically contingent faculty hired on fixed-term contracts--know that budgets tightened during the pandemic likely mean fewer jobs, with little or no hope of professional advancement. Cost-conscious administrators often resist extending benefits to such instructors or look to trim those already in place, leaving…

Why are so many non-tenure-track faculty being hired? The answer may at first seem so obvious as to make the question itself seem absurd. Most department chairs, deans, and tenured or tenure-track faculty members would likely point to budget shortfalls, last-minute increases in enrollments, and the inability to win approval for new tenure-track…

Faculty members who work directly to advance the institutional mission of teaching, learning, and at some institutions, research, represent the core human resource of higher education. They are the stewards of campus leadership and decision making. While the faculty role has changed over time, leadership has remained critical to innovation in…

Analyzes data from a survey of full-time non-tenure-track faculty at 88 colleges, as well as federal surveys of college faculty. Finds an increase in new staffing patterns that use full-time faculty on term contracts at both two- and four-year institutions. Identifies forces stimulating these changes, but notes worrisome evidence of a two-class…

The development of professional and career-oriented programs within the traditional liberal arts college is discussed, along with the impact such programs might have on the character and climate of the institution and on the jobs of untenured classics professors. (Author/LBH)