Getting Off The BurnOUT Track?
For “freeway faculty,” new models of work could be an escape route — or a roadblock
By Kendra Hamilton
For those bright, young scholars who seek an idyllic life of secure full-time employment while engaging in the teaching and research of their choice, the cozy confines of higher education has always been seen as the Mecca. But according to experts, that scenario may be a fleeting reality. The growth of part-time and non-tenure track faculty since 1975 has been nothing short of startling — their ranks have swelled by 103 and 92 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the number of full-timers has
increased by a comparatively anemic 27 percent. Advocates in the
academic disciplines have long been concerned with issues such as
academic freedom and the erosion of tenure. But the questions are much more immediate and practical for graduate students, for contingent faculty — part-timers and full-timers not on the tenure track — and for junior faculty who haven’t yet grasped the brass ring of tenure.
They are asking how to navigate the new environment. How do they strike the balance between the job they need right now and the job that will fulfill the aspirations they came into the field with?
These are precisely the questions people entering the academy should be asking, says Dr. John W. Curtis, director of research for the American Association of University Professors. New faculty, he says, “really need to be more careful about knowing when they come into an institution what the conditions of the appointment are, what their future prospects really are in that position, if they’re being tracked into something that will only lead in a certain direction, that will limit their mobility as they go forward.”
The New Academic Landscape
