The disproportion of women to men at the top tier in the academic hierarchy, concerns politicians, academic leaders, students, and other stakeholders. A popular explanation for the gender imbalance in elite positions is that potential female candidates lack ambition and therefore do not have sufficient drive to make it to the top. In this study,…

Tenure positions have come under increasing attack in American higher education institutions. Some have called for the total abolishment of tenure, while others have advocated strengthening higher education tenure practices. Non-tenured positions have increased the challenges to higher education tenure systems, while tenure-track and tenured…

The careers of faculty members pass through transitional stages, during which they may receive mentoring; develop competence; fulfill their institutionally specific responsibilities in teaching, research, and service; achieve career aspirations; and, hopefully, maintain enthusiasm for and commitment to their professional endeavors. The importance…

This study examines the purposes for which leaders in universities use academic career systems. It focuses on the tenure track system which is new to Finland. Tenure track represents a newly established internal career path in a situation in which Finnish universities' organizational autonomy increased via new legislation from 2010. Drawing…

Expectations around success in academia vary, and early career academics often receive conflicting messages about what they should concentrate on to achieve promotion or tenure. Taking a social constructionist approach, this paper considers the constructs of objective and subjective career success in academia and shares the perspectives of early…

The number of postdoctoral researchers has increased dramatically in the past decade. Because of the limited number of academic staff openings and the general levels of salary, the role and value of the postdoctoral appointment are changing. Using a sample of respondents with continuous data in the 1999 through 2008 "Survey of Doctoral…

Casual observers of academic environments might conclude that women's problems in higher education have been resolved. Colleges enroll more women than men on an overall basis. There is gender parity in entry-level faculty hires, and the number of women in senior administrative positions continues to rise. A closer look however at the work, lives,…

Nationwide, over half of higher education faculty are mid-career. While they play vital roles sustaining their institutions, relatively little systematic attention has been paid to meeting their particular needs. This paper describes a professional renewal retreat program tailored to this "keystone" group of faculty (Chang, 2006). It is…

This study sought to uncover the career readiness and professional development needs of Ph.D. students at a large, Midwestern research university. Findings indicate that career goals of graduate students change over time, skill preparation for academic and non-academic careers continues to be inadequate for many students and professional…

The purpose of this study was to describe women's experiences and challenges encountered during the tenure process at one institution, if and how they overcame those challenges, and if the challenges are consistent with those that appear in the literature. Higher education is comprised of a majority of male faculty members and administrators, but…

African American women are underrepresented in computer technology disciplines in institutions of higher education throughout the United States. Although equitable gender representation is progressing in most fields, much less information is available on why institutions are still lagging in workforce diversity, a problem which can be lessened by…

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) is a national membership organization that promotes health equity and social justice through partnerships between communities and higher education institutions. In response to faculty concerns about the institutional barriers to community-engaged careers in the academy, CCPH embarked on a series of…

Issues surrounding gender discrimination have been addressed over the past 40 years with various pieces of legislation and federal policies that have made such discrimination illegal. The number of women in higher education as students and faculty has steadily increased since the 1950s, though only in certain disciplines and in the lower faculty…

Mentors and other colleagues can help guide faculty through various career stages as they develop and demonstrate their competence in teaching, research, and service; earn tenure and promotion; balance personal and professional responsibilities; meet post-tenure review expectations; and enjoy career-long productivity and satisfaction. Nurturing…

The author explored questions about personal meaning in professors' careers and in their scholarly subjects through a three-year study of 40 recently tenured university professors at four U.S. universities--faculty who spanned a wide diversity of fields: arts and humanities, sciences, social sciences, and applied and professional fields. The…