In academia, there are two different worlds, one inhabited by tenure-track and the other by non-tenure-track faculty. In the first, people encourage faculty to become involved in a series of important reforms that increase student success, completion, and learning. In this first world, people envision faculty simultaneously increasing their…

Non-tenure-track (NTT) research faculty are perhaps the most under-recognized group of academic professionals on the campuses today, despite their increasingly important role within the expanding academic research enterprise. The American Association for the Advancement of Science reports that the amount of federal spending on R&D has more than…

The academic qualifications, experience, and productivity of nontenure-track and tenured/tenure-track full-time and part-time faculty at a state university are compared, based on the results of a 1985 study. Recommendations concerning working conditions and policy for nontenure-track faculty are also offered. Findings include: almost 87% of…

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, explores several alternatives to tenure for faculty and institutions. Data for the study was drawn from a series of site visits to seven institutions during winter/spring 1995-96. Seventy-one interviews were conducted with administrators, senior faculty, and full-time…