The Contingency Movement: A Longitudinal Analysis of Changing Hiring Patterns in U.S. Higher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Academic Employment in Higher Education

Abstract

The authors analyze data from the Delta Cost Project from 1988 to 2008 using pooled linear regression to ascertain the extent to which the increasingly contingent nature of US higher education is differentiated by sector and other institutional factors. Modeling results suggest that, in the context of a variety of control factors, for-profit institutions and private colleges and universities have moved most aggressively toward employing part-time faculty. A number of significant time and sector interactions suggest that the incorporation of part-time faculty has taken distinctive paths and moved at different speeds in diverse postsecondary sectors. This analysis is supplemented by qualitative data from interviews with faculty at varied institutions, revealing significant implications for shared governance and the academic labor market.

Authors

• Mary Caroline Milan, University of Georgia

• Thomas Austin Lacy, Research for Action

• James C. Hearn, University of Georgia - Athens