Understanding the New Majority of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in Higher Education

The American faculty is changing. Approximately 65 percent of all faculty appointments being made are now nontenure track. Despite these changes, many higher education institutions still operate as though tenure-track faculty are the norm and that non-tenure-track faculty are a supplementary workforce. This monograph provides an overview of the literature and research on non-tenure-track faculty. Who are these faculty members? What are their experiences? What does this situation mean for undergraduate instruction and students? What is the role of tenure in higher education? How did higher education attain this majority of non-tenure-track employees? Where does higher education go from here? The research focuses on the demographics of non-tenure-track faculty, differences by discipline and institutional types, historical developments, experiences of non-tenure-track faculty, and the experiences and outcomes of non-tenure-track faculty compared with those of tenured or tenure-track faculty. Administrators and faculty can make better-informed decisions about staffing if they have some understanding about trends and research and the impact of non-tenure-track faculty on institutional outcomes.

This is the fourth issue in the 36th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.