This book presents information designed to guide the assistant professor to an understanding of the generic institutional criteria for promotion to tenure as well as of the pragmatic politics involved in pursuing a professional path. Chapters examine, in a step-by-step fashion, the many considerations to be dealt with in working towards achieving…

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…

This study examined the perceptions of African American faculty on their socialization to the academic professional culture, and is based on the premise that the process of such socialization is circumscribed by the organizational culture. Taking a qualitative research approach, the study used a three-part interview process. The focus of the first…

This essay, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, seeks to explore variations on standard tenure practices that might be advantageous to the interests of both faculty and the institutions by proposing three modifications to traditional policies. The first, tenure by objectives, involves reconfiguration of the probationary…

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, is premised on the belief that academic tenure in higher education, if not doomed, is likely to play a diminishing role in the employment of college and university professors in coming generations. The paper argues against the belief that institutions of higher education have a…

Cost-saving considerations, the threat of declining enrollments, and efforts by community colleges to be responsive to their communities have created a temporary staff maintained on a relatively permanent and continuing basis. Between 1975 and 1983, roughly two new part-time positions were created for every new full-time position. Rather than…

The status of judicial theory regarding private responsibility for granting procedural due process, and the extent to which policies in New England's private postsecondary institutions adhered to judicial requirements for due process in nontenured faculty terminations were studied. A review of the literature, research methodology, and definition…

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…

In conjunction with efforts to make more widely known the trend towards decomposition of the tenure system in American colleges and universities, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has examined conditions of full-time nontenure track faculty, part-time/adjunct faculty, graduate employees and new categories of academic professional staff…

Colleges without tenure are rare; in the United States 97 percent of research universities and 99 percent of four-year public colleges offer tenure. This study, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, examines the 9 percent of private colleges that operate without tenure; some are highly specialized professional schools, others…

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…

This study examined faculty research productivity in terms of four common explanations for variance in productivity and tested a regression model while controlling for factors such as institutional affiliation, rank, and gender. The study used data from the 1989 survey of the professoriate conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement…

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,…

A review of the context of vocational education reform highlights historical efforts implemented through legislation requirements in 46 states within some vocational teacher education programs that are consistent with current reform recommendations. Current recommendations include the Holmes Group and the Carnegie Commission proposals for…

In July 1989, Rio Salado Community College established an Adjunct Faculty Staffing and Development Program (AFSDP) with the following goals: to insure excellence in instruction through content consistency and the use of effective teaching and learning strategies; to increase adjunct faculty identification with the college and appreciation of the…