Understanding the New Majority

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.

Adrianna Kezar has been associate professor for higher education at the University of Southern California since 2003. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in higher education administration from the University of Michigan. She was formerly editor of the ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Series from 1996 to 2004. Kezar has published more than seventy-five journal articles, fifty book chapters, and twelve books. Her research focuses on helping create meaningful changes in higher education related to diversity and equity. Recent books include: Recognizing and Serving Low-Income Students in Higher Education (Routledge Press), Understanding the New Faculty Norm: Contingent Faculty in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass), and Enhancing Leadership Capacity on Campus: Faculty and Staff Grassroots Leadership (Stanford Press). Kezar has also served on several editorial boards and received national awards for her work on leadership and change.

Cecile Sam is a doctoral candidate in higher education policy at the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include leadership and organization theory as applied to faculty work in higher education, with a special interest in ethics.