We use CUPA-HR data to analyze representation and pay equity for women and racial/ethnic minorities in higher education full-time faculty from 2016-17 to 2022-23, across tenure status, rank, discipline, and total operating expenses of institutions. Results indicate that, despite some growth in the representation of women and faculty of color in…

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…

This brief explores the state of the full-time health professions faculty workforce by examining: overall growth in the number of full-time health professions faculty relative to all other disciplines; the percentage of full-time positions that are non-tenure-track versus tenure-track; faculty composition in the health professions compared to all…

This report builds on work of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, initiated in 2012, that has documented changes in the academic profession and its implications for higher education. While the Delphi Project has aimed to address specific issues--for example, by conducting and disseminating research on how faculty…

In modern academic career systems there are a large number of entry positions, much smaller numbers of intermediate positions, and still fewer full professorships. We examine how this system has developed in Germany, the country where the modern academic system was introduced, tracing the historical development of academic positions since the…

The unionization of instructional workers is a central feature of U.S. higher education, with more than a quarter of those teaching college classes covered by collectively bargained contracts. Though dated, the best existing numbers indicate that more than 430,000 faculty members, graduate students, and related personnel are in bargaining units;…

In this paper, the authors call for an approach that, in recognizing the economic realities facing most institutions, attempts to put aside objections that funding is simply not available to support an expansion of the current tenure system. In calling for the changes in faculty working conditions, the authors recognize that change will…

Nontenure-track faculty are a diverse set of professionals who are difficult to characterize and paint with a broad brush. One issue, however, applies across all nontenure-track faculty appointment types: faculty governance. This article discusses university-level faculty governance participation as it relates to nontenure-track appointments,…

A combination of destructive trends in higher education--shrinking state budgets, stagnant student aid, the growth of corporate-style management, the overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty, increasing workloads and attacks on academic freedom--is weakening the educational integrity and professionalism of American colleges and universities.…

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)

Over the last generation, the instructional staffing system in American higher education has experienced a significant reduction in the proportion of jobs for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members and a dramatic growth in fixed-term full- and part-time instructional jobs without tenure. About 70 percent of the people teaching in…

In this study, the authors used expectancy theory to examine key factors that motivate business faculty to conduct research. The survey results, from 320 faculty members at 10 business schools, showed that faculty members who assign higher importance ratings to both the extrinsic and the intrinsic rewards of research exhibit higher research…

Faculty at nonprofit colleges and universities are concerned about the quality of faculty at the for-profit University of Phoenix, and about the personnel policies that support them. This institution's faculty lacks tenure, and most teach part time. Ninety percent are fully employed elsewhere. The fast-paced courses and regimented curriculum are…

This study developed a descriptive profile of an institutional academic marketplace reflecting differences in mobility across rank, disciplines and gender over a 10-year period at one research university. Because the study focused on faculty attrition, data analysis examined reasons for departure by rank, gender and discipline. Data sources…

The California Community College (CCC) system is the largest two-year higher education system in the United States, providing courses to over 1.7 million students and employing more than 85,000 persons (in 2002). At the request of Senator Alarcon, this report analyzes staffing patterns in California's community colleges. Based on data from 1994 to…