Roundtable: Challenges Facing Non-Tenure Track (NTT) Faculty in a Changing Academic Environment (Part 2): Collegiality, Working with Tenure Track, and Transitioning Between Positions

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

Given the changing nature of the academy, many institutions have vastly shifted the make up of their faculty. Gone are the days when tenure track and tenured faculty outnumbered adjuncts, instructors, lecturers and other non-tenure tracked faculty. No longer can newly minted Ph.D.’s expect to find tenure track positions right after graduation. In recent years, a growing number of faculty have expressed concern about the “adjunctification” of academia. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a statement expressing concern that the growth in non-tenure track faculty can undermine academic freedom, educational quality, and collegiality. Universities around the country have established conferences, workshops, and paper presentations about the changing nature of colleges and universities. Papers in this roundtable build on Part 1 roundtable that addressed the challenges faced by non-tenure track faculty workload distribution, equity, job security, pay differentials, and begin discussions of bridging bonds between NTT and TT faculty, work/life balance and promoting scholarship among NTT faculty. Like Part 1, presenters in this panel range in title and university, bringing to light the differing experiences faced by adjuncts, instructors, lecturers and other non-tenure track contingent faculty.

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Individual Presentations

• Perceptions of Non-Tenure Track Faculty: Are We the Wave of the Future or a Threat to Tenure? - Brooke de Heer, Northern Arizona University

• An Argument in Support of a Tenure-Teaching Track - Elena Rikhimova-Sommers, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Creating Your Niche as Non-Tenure Professor in an Academic Tenured World - Kristine Artello, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Members Only: Limits of Access for Untenured Faculty - Melanie Pallone, Mount Aloysius College

Chairs

• Sarah Prior, Northern Arizona University

• Brooke de Heer, Northern Arizona University