This paper provides an overview of the literature exploring the realities of contingent faculty at U.S. universities and colleges with a focus on STEM. We focus our review of the literature by exploring the experiences of Latinx/é contingent faculty in STEM and propose a series of conceptual frameworks that can be used to explore the hidden professional realities of this population. A focus on the field of STEM, via a deeper exploration of the literature, points to the evolution of contingent faculty in the disciplines and the diversity of the roles they currently fill at our universities and colleges. This paper draws on various frameworks for exploring the experiences of contingent faculty.