Publisher's Synopsis
American faculty are changing. Approximately 65 percent of allfaculty now being appointed are nontenure track. Despite thesechanges, many higher education institutions still operate as thoughtenure-track faculty are the norm and non-tenure-track faculty area supplementary workforce. This monograph highlights practical andempirical tensions, reviewing theories and frameworks that havebeen applied to the study of non-tenure-track faculty in an attemptto better understand their emergence, experience, and outcomes.
It also reviews the literature about key tensions that emergebecause of the development of this new group of faculty:
- Is tenure still relevant and important?
- Can tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty find sharedinterests to collectively create change?
- Can non-tenure-track faculty overcome competition that preventsthem from working together meaningfully?
- Why is the research on the institutional and student impacts ofnon-tenure-track faculty so mixed?
- Does empirical research address stereotypes aboutnon-tenure-track faculty and how can it be spread more widely toimporve institutional decision making?
- What future research is needed to guide policy?
As a guide to the trends and research in non-tenure trackfaculty, this is an invaluable review for administrators andfaculty who want to make better-informed decisions aboutstaffing.
This is the fifth issue in the 36th volume of the Jossey-Bassseries ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monographin the series is the definitive analysis of a tough highereducation problem, based on thorough research of pertinentliterature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified bya national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are thencommissioned to write the reports, with experts providing criticalreviews of each manuscript before publication.
