Among personal memories for one minority instructor in literature is witnessing the civil rights movement, that defining period in which people of African descent broke out of the chrysalis of "Jim Crow" and transformed themselves from "colored" to "Black." In 1995, 1,000,000 Black men once again converged on the…

Interviews with 12 college faculty examined the increased use of clinical nontenure track faculty in teacher education programs. The paper presents a history of professional development school (PDS) work and staffing patterns at the University of Utah, describes the study, notes emerging themes, and considers implications for future PDS…

In early 1997, over 100 University of California, Hayward faculty members signed a statement of concern about the heavy use of part-time faculty as lecturers. Professors fear that increased use of lecturers threatens tenure, hurts quality of education, and reduces departmental continuity. Part-time faculty are generally treated as a different…

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)

A study was done to explore the perceptions of senior and junior faculty women regarding the barriers to success experienced early in their academic careers. The study population was drawn from a colleague pairing program at a major urban research university in the western United States and consisted of 22 junior faculty in tenure track positions…

Mentoring programs have consistently demonstrated their value in assisting new and early faculty members to make successful adjustments and productive contributions to the academy. Yet, mentoring programs have failed to be consistently implemented despite their efficacy and increasing levels of job dissatisfaction reported by new and early faculty…

While college faculty are experts in their disciplines, teaching expertise is less understood. This paper explores one aspect of the pedagogical content knowledge of faculty new to teaching, specifically, knowledge of student difficulties. The project, conducted at three different institutions, used a case method, employing interviews and…

A study examined untenured faculty at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) to determine their job satisfaction and work stress, changes in these areas over time, and ways the university could enrich their job experience. Two cohorts were studied via questionnaires. The first cohort comprised first-year faculty (N=23) and the second comprised…

A causal model assesses the relative influence of individual attributes, institutional characteristics, contextual-work environment variables, and multiple measures of job satisfaction on faculty intentions to leave their current institutions. Factors considered include tenure status, age, institutional status, governance style, organizational…

A study at the University of Missouri-Columbia investigated the stress factors and coping mechanisms among 196 faculty members in 16 departments. The study was undertaken during a period of low faculty salaries in comparison with similar institutions, characterized as moderate to severe financial decline. During the middle of the fall semester of…

Examines the question of teaching literature in the composition class in terms of an ideological gap between composition and literature which is maintained for political reasons, and reflected in the tenure process. (MM)

In an effort to understand the persistent lack of representation of females in senior ranks at top research universities this study examined the attitudes of female assistant professors toward 14 possible impediments to their gaining tenure. Subjects were tenure-track assistant professors in a large, public research university where women are…

When faculty and department heads rated alternative responses to retrenchment pressures in a fictitious but realistic situation, few differences were found among department heads' and tenured and nontenured faculty's preferences. Most preferred protecting instructional programs even at the cost of research and service activities. Implications for…

This study explored how junior faculty perceive the academic tenure system impacting on their personal and professional lives and how they cope with the process. Using theoretical principles rooted in the tradition of phenomenology, the study conducted three in-depth phenomenological interviews with 18 assistant professors who explored, recreated,…

Statistics indicate that 15 percent of beginning teachers leave the profession after the first year of teaching, and more than 50 percent leave within 6 years. This study was conducted to identify the problems and concerns faced by neophyte teachers at the middle and high school levels, and to distinguish between the concerns of first-year,…