The purpose of this study is to determine if teachers perceive evaluation as providing the motivation and feedback to change classroom practices in a context where teacher evaluation carries varied stakes for tenured versus untenured teachers. This mixed methods case study of four high schools in a single district in North Carolina uses survey and…

Background: The lack of racial diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is perhaps one of the most challenging issues in the United States higher education system. The issue is not only concerning diverse students, but also diverse faculty members. One important contributing factor is the faculty hiring…

Plenty of research tells us that culture is the most essential ingredient in a healthy organization, yet there are many colleagues who wonder whether research has a healthy place in their campus cultures. The reflections here - originally offered during a discussion at the CCCU's International Forum in 2022 - offer some suggestions for nurturing…

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…

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…

The number of PhDs awarded in chemical engineering is disproportionate with the number of tenure track positions available; an overview of the contributions that can be made by teaching-focused faculty is presented. Statistics are provided for the number of chemical engineering faculty in the US by rank, position and gender. Based on literature…

This article delves into student course feedback using publicly available data from the University of North Texas. It examines factors influencing elevated student course evaluation ratings in the Information Technology and Decision Sciences department. The study reveals a positive relationship between higher response rates and better evaluation…

This article explores how researchers adapt to disruptions that cost them access to their field sites, advancing a uniquely sociological perspective on the dynamics of flexibility and adaptation in qualitative methods. Through interviews with 31 ethnographers whose access was preempted or eliminated, I find that adaptation varied systematically…

The goals of higher education--engaging the hearts and minds of our next generation, advancing novel and pragmatic solutions to the most pressing local and global problems--call for great passion and skill. That's not the whole formula, though. Diversity performs its own powerful role. College faculties that represent a diversity of expertise,…

Despite institutional claims to value increased racial diversity in higher education, Black women in faculty roles perpetually navigate oppressive cultures across all institutional types. The ability to build and foster mutually beneficial interracial mentoring relationships is vitally important to move beyond performative diversity and build…

The pursuit of tenure in higher education is arguably the dominant focus of tenure track faculty throughout the United States' higher education environment, if not a world-wide phenomenon. By applying Vroom's Expectancy theory of motivation, this study intends to investigate the relationship between research productivity and motivation to conduct…

Continuing growth in immigration in the U.S. and other countries worldwide means an increased number of speakers of languages other than English or other national languages in classrooms, thus raising a need for teachers prepared for linguistically diverse student populations. While recent research in teaching and teacher education has pointed to…

Background: The University of California system has a novel tenure-track education-focused faculty position called Lecturer with Security of Employment (working titles: Teaching Professor or Professor of Teaching). We focus on the potential difference in implementation of active-learning strategies by faculty type, including tenure-track…

Earning tenure is a prestigious, professional achievement for faculty in higher education. The number of tenured faculty, open tenure positions, and newly created tenure positions within higher-education has declined since the 1970's. A reduction in governmental funding to higher education since the Great Recession of 2008 caused higher education…

The majority of tenured faculty members, full professors, and senior level administrators, such as presidents, provosts, and deans, are likely to be men (Hammond, 2015). Given that there are an equal or even higher number of women in academic employment, the concern becomes why men still dominate higher ranking positions within American colleges…