This Digest discusses issues related to full-time, nontenure track, contract college faculty, sometimes called contingent faculty. Recent data from several sources show that the opportunities for tenure are declining, while the numbers of nontenure positions are increasing. Part of the increase in full-time nontenure faculty is due to the decrease…

Surveys English department chairs nationwide, examining the status of full-time non-tenure-track teachers in English departments of PhD-granting institutions. Finds that universities commonly hire short-term lecturers to teach when regular faculty members are "too expensive" for the job. Reports a plan adopted by Texas Tech University to deal with…

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…

Examines how women's representation on the faculty of mathematical science departments has changed across ranks and institutional settings in the 1990s. Finds that the proportion of women faculty has increased but the proportion of tenure-track and tenured women has not grown. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/WRM)

Many colleges and universities are hiring full-time faculty on contract instead of on tenure tracks, saying alternatives to lifetime job security are needed to control costs and assure flexibility. The number of full-time non-tenure-track professors almost doubled between 1975 and 1995, while full-time faculty on tenure tracks fell 12%. (MSE)

Increasing use of non-tenure-track, full-time college professors, which some thought a temporary solution to institutional budgeting, has become common policy, according to a study of existing data for 88 four-year institutions. While administrators find flexibility and savings in the practice, faculty accuse institutions of exploiting Ph.D.s and…

This collection of papers addresses nine key areas of faculty employment: academic freedom; probationary periods; the definition and locus of tenure; faculty ranks and titles; promotion policies; post-tenure review; dismissal for cause and lesser sanctions; financial exigency and program discontinuance; and employment provisions at institutions…

A study used available data to develop a profile of non-tenure-track college faculty (n=132) and compare it with a similarly derived profile of untenured but tenure-track faculty (n=587). The research explored the relationship between employment status and selected demographic, career orientation, career circumstance, and work environment…

Learning communities are becoming important components of faculty teaching responsibilities. This study addresses faculty's perceptions of its role as learning community participants. A survey administered in December 1998 to faculty (n=67) at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Florida focused on how they viewed…

The proportions of tenure-track faculty appointments in doctoral-level, comprehensive, general baccalaureate, specialized, and two-year public, private, and church-related colleges are tabulated for each academic rank. (MSE)

Non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty represent a significant and growing element of the American academic profession. In the fall of 1992 there were 110,227 full-time faculty working in non-tenure eligible positions. Data from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-93) illustrate where and in what program areas NTT faculty work, and…

Tables and text summarize differences and trends in gender differences among full-time non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty. Five tables present data on: (1) change in faculty distribution by gender and tenure status, fall 1975-fall 1993; (2) gender distribution of full-time NTT faculty across types of institutions, fall 1992; (3) percent distribution…

This collection of charts, graphs, and text; part of a series describing the public colleges and universities in Virginia, are intended to examine what the faculty in Virginia's public colleges and universities do, who they are, and how they are supported, evaluated, and rewarded. In most charts, institutions are grouped by mission doctoral…

Educational Research Information Center (ERIC) Trends are analyses of higher education literature contained in the ERIC database, describing major concerns in institutional practice. There has been little real change in the literature on faculty in the last 5 years. Workload for faculty remains higher than many professions, and faculty often…

A study of college faculty stressors attempted to address limitations in previous research by extending the variables measured to include both on- and off-campus sources of stress and by testing the implicit assumption that all faculty perceive the same dimensions of stress, albeit at different levels. Data were drawn from a 1989-90 national…