Neoliberal reform of the university sector has resulted in increasing numbers of academics employed on casual or fixed-term contracts. While there is an emergent body of literature on issues of precarity in the academy, relatively little attention has been paid to the roles and responsibilities of those tenured academics who employ and…

This study updates and expands upon past work on how tenure-track hiring committees evaluate teaching effectiveness to provide centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) current data as they support graduate students and postdocs navigating the academic hiring process. In this study, 166 hiring committee chairs from nine academic disciplines and a…

This article is a discussion of the role of the University Counsel (sometimes called the General Counsel) as "adviser, officer, administrator, and agent" in the university setting. The article discusses the nature of the "fiduciary duty" in university governance and describes several of the substantive areas of the law with…

In this article, the authors discuss the aim of their book, "The Humanities, Higher Education, and Academic Freedom: Three Necessary Arguments" (2015). The authors provide an account of the dire employment conditions that have weakened North American universities as professional institutions of teaching and learning. They believe that…

The article analyzes the practice and experience of faculty management at the University of Pennsylvania and its implications for Chinese universities from the perspective of management systems and operation mechanisms. Recent reforms and innovation of faculty management at Sichuan University are described.

Most institutions of higher education require evidence of effective teaching as part of the review process for reappointment and for tenure/promotion. This study examines the relative importance of various documents placed in the teaching section of the dossier as rated by pre-tenured faculty members and review committee members. Results indicate…

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects institution-level data from postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other jurisdictions, such as Puerto Rico. This First Look presents data from the Winter 2008-09 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS),…

Of all full-time faculty members in the United States, approximately 75% are White males, and the gap in the percentage of tenured men compared with the percentage of tenured women has not changed in 30 years (Trower & Chait, 2002). A number of studies have been conducted over the past 5 decades examining the factors influencing the recruitment…

This "First Look" presents findings from the Human Resources (HR) Component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) winter 2009-10 data collection. The HR component consists of the following three sections: Employees by Assigned Position (EAP) and Fall Staff (S) for fall 2009 and Salaries (SA) for academic year…

This volume collects essays Rob Jenkins originally wrote for "The Two-Year Track" column in "The Chronicle of Higher Education". Drawing on his own experience, Rob has, for many years, been dispensing much-appreciated advice from the frontline--to those considering a community college career as well as those who desire to move up the ranks. This…

This memorandum sets forth the regulations and procedures affecting appointments to the instructional faculty of Franklin Pierce College. Part A: General Provisions, includes information on faculty ranks, the procedure of appointment, the regular review, and normal retirement. Part B deals with the terms and conditions of appointment, including…

Discusses Recommendation No. 20 of the report of the Commission on Academic Tenure headed by W. Rea Keast and John Macy. It recommends establishing ratios for tenured and nontenured faculty. (TO)

In the 1990s at Appalachian State University, as at many other colleges and universities, the balance shifted in the writing program. Before then, English composition courses had been taught by tenure-track faculty members, but now most composition courses are taught by non-tenure-track faculty members. In this article, the authors describe how…

Four arguments against tenure: it works against the interests of nontenured faculty; it retards the academic quality of an institution; it inhibits rather than preserves academic freedom; it generates conflict by dividing the faculty. (HS)