The Role Of Department Chair And Full Time Non Tenure Track Faculty Policies Practices And Work Cultures

Change in higher education is inevitable (Wergin, 2007). One prominent change is related to faculty composition. Studies have shown increased hiring of full-time non-tenure-track faculty compared to tenure-track faculty (AAUP, 2018; National Center on Educational Statistics, 2018). The department chair plays a critical role in the lives of non-tenure-track faculty. The chair can foster collaboration, navigate tensions, advance improvements, and directly impact change efforts in an academic department. The department chair may also influence the work environment and culture for faculty - a culture that may result in non-tenure track faculty feeling marginalized, disconnected, like second-class citizens, devalued, and disenfranchised (Haviland, Alleman, & Allen, 2017). Through qualitative interviews with department chairs and faculty, this study sought to answer the question of, what role does the department chair play regarding full-time non-tenure-track faculty policies, practices, and work cultures? The findings reveal that department chairs play an essential role in leading efforts to revise policies and organizational structures in ways that support and include non-tenure-track faculty. The department chair is positioned to valorize the work of non-tenure-track faculty through a commitment to collegiality, collaborative practices, and caring communities. Department chairs, however, are often unable to act alone and may have limited power to change policies and practices for non-tenure-track faculty. Collective leadership efforts, like working across units and ranks, via task forces, and through the inclusion of unions, may be necessary strategies for bringing needed change to non-tenure-track faculty policies, practices, and cultures.

This book focuses on the status and work of full-time non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) whose ranks are increasing as tenure track faculty (TTF) make up a smaller percentage of the professoriate. NTTF experience highly uneven and conditional access to collegiality, are often excluded from decision-making spaces, and receive limited respect from their TTF colleagues because of outdated notions that link perceived expertise almost exclusively to scholarship. The result is often a sub-class of faculty marginalized in their departments, which reduces the inclusion of diverse voices in academic governance, professional relationships, and student learning. Given these implications, the authors ask, how can departments, institutions, and the profession do more to engage NTTF as full and active colleagues? The limited access of NTTF to the rights and responsibilities of collegiality harms institutional success in several ways. Given the full-time nature of their work and the heavy (but not exclusive) focus on instruction, NTTF are likely to be on campus as much or more than TTF, and thus be engaged with students, colleagues, and administrators in ways that more closely resemble TTF than part-time faculty. Their limited access to collegial spaces makes it harder for them to do their jobs by restricting access to information and input into decision-making. Moreover, since the greatest growth among women faculty and faculty of color is in NTTF roles, their exclusion from collegiality and decision-making negates the very diversity the profession claims to seek. Finally, colleges and universities face financial, curricular, and organizational challenges which require broad input, although the burden of governance is falling on fewer shoulders as the percentage of TTF declines and NTTF are excluded from these spaces.Ultimately, NTTF must be engaged as partners and colleagues in supporting institutional health. This book – the fruit of extensive data collection at two institutions over a five-year period – describes lessons learned from and benefits experienced by departments that have successfully supported and engaged NTTF as colleagues. Drawing on their research data and analysis of “healthy” departments that integrate NTTF, the authors identify the practices, policies, and approaches that support NTTF inclusion, shape a more positive workplace environment, improve morale, satisfaction, and commitment, and fully leverage the expertise of NTTF and the valuable human capital they represent. The authors argue that this more inclusive collegiality improves governance, supports institutional success, and serves diverse institutional missions. Though primarily addressed to institutional leaders, department chairs, tenure-line faculty, and leaders in the academic profession, it is hoped that the findings will be useful to NTTF who are engaged as advocates for and partners in the change process required to address the evolving structure of the university faculty.

"Most chairs and deans... need support and guidance for orienting, supporting, and evaluating non-tenure-track faculty. Campuses could start by sharing this book." -- Connection

All too often a culture of silence permeates academia, where faculty and administrators ignore or misunderstand difficult situations. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe is a practical guide for prospective and current faculty that addresses real, complex issues that are too often left unexamined. Chapters explore typical aspects of the faculty career and life cycle—such as appointment, tenure, promotion, incivility, plagiarism, teaching, online delivery, interactions with chairs and deans, and performance appraisal—but focuses on the prickly issues as well as the routine. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe presents authentic, engaging vignettes that feature faculty and administrators as they maneuver through academe encountering authentic, difficult situations. Focusing on positive outcomes, each case is analyzed and readers are encouraged to reflect about the ways these incidents could have been resolved. Offering concrete suggestions and best-practices, this book provides insights that will help prospective, new, and current faculty maneuver more effectively through academe and their collegial culture. This important resource enhances a culture of openness and will help faculty gain direction and support in their career.

The nature of the higher education faculty workforce is radically and fundamentally changing from primarily full-time tenured faculty to non-tenure track faculty. This new faculty majority faces common challenges, including short-term contracts, limited support on campus, and lack of a professional career track. Embracing Non-Tenure Track Faculty documents real changes occurring on campuses to support this faculty group, unveiling the challenges and opportunities that occur when implementing new policies and practices. Non-tenure faculty contributors across a diverse range of universities and colleges explore the change process on their campuses to improve the work environment and increase the quality of learning. Kezar supplements these case studies by distilling trends and patterns from a national study of campuses that have successfully implemented policies to improve conditions for non-tenure track faculty. This invaluable research-based resource illustrates that there are multiple pathways to successfully implementing policy for non-tenure track faculty. Embracing Non-Tenure Track Faculty provides the tools to create a lasting culture change that will shape the work lives of all faculty and ultimately improve student learning. Outlining detailed strategies and approaches for providing equitable policies and practices for non-tenure track faculty on college campuses, this book is essential reading for both contingent faculty and higher education administrators.

Shows how changes in higher education are transforming the careers of faculty, and provides a model that makes it possible for all faculty to be in a position to do their best.

The creation of a sustainable and accessible higher education systems is a pivotal goal in modern society. Adopting strategic frameworks and innovative techniques allows institutions to achieve this objective. The Handbook of Research on Administration, Policy, and Leadership in Higher Education is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on contemporary management issues in educational institutions and presents best practices to improve policies and retain effective governance. Addressing the current state of higher education at an international level, this book is ideally designed for academicians, educational administrators, researchers, and professionals.

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.

Shaping Work-Life Culture in Higher Education provides strategies to implement beneficial work-life policies in colleges and universities. As compared to the corporate sector, higher education institutions have been slow to implement policies aimed at fostering diversity and a healthy work-life balance, which can result in lower morale, job satisfaction, and productivity, and causes poor recruitment and retention. Based on extensive research, this book argues that an effective organizational culture is one in which managers and supervisors recognize that professional and personal lives are not mutually exclusive. With concrete guidelines, recommendations, techniques, and additional resources throughout, this book outlines best practices for creating a beneficial work-life culture on campus, and documents cases of supportive department chairs and administrators. A necessary guide for higher education leaders, this book will inform administrators about how they can foster positive work-life cultures in their departments and institutions.

Today, non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) make up the majority of those teaching in higher education. Yet, very little is known about what constitutes the culture of the group. Most research focuses on the group as outsiders, or on the group's ability, or inability, to teach effectively. While there are many reasons a group or individual can feel like an outsider one possible reason is competing values. It is possible that NTTF and tenured faculty (TF) possess fundamentally different cultures. What this study discovered was that TF and NTTF at the institution studied did not possess fundamentally different cultures. In fact, the cultures of TF and NTTF both in the current and preferred state as measured by the OCAI, were nearly identical. Once again, this does not mean that NTTF studied do not feel like outsiders for reasons other than culture, but it does call into question the idea that cultural differences account for this perception, and self-perception. This led to a broader question of what variables do create significant differences in faculty culture. What was discovered was that gender, and to a lesser degree race, was significant in predicting differences in culture.