21st Century Scholar

Conditions and contexts change. How we use and read the newspaper today is different from a generation ago. How we think and use institutions also changes. Just as we saw a transformation from stores that sold only one item such as meat or fish into supermarkets where we could buy all of our food, we [...]

The phrase the “ivory tower” has a curious connotation. Common interpretations of the phrase are usually pejorative; “he’s off in his ivory tower” suggests that the academic is disengaged from the “real world” studying esoteric pursuits that do not relate directly to what is happening in society. At the same time, my understanding of the [...]

It’s funny how a word can catch currency and all of a sudden you see it everywhere. The latest term of note is “moneyball.” Michael Lewis invented the idea with his book about the Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane. Brad Pitt recently starred as Beane in the movie of the same name. The idea [...]

It doesn’t take long, once you decide to explore the issue of non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty, to come up against one of the biggest stumbling blocks to communication and to action: the thorny question of terminology. In the New Faculty Majority’s (NFM) early days, the problem of nomenclature became evident almost immediately and even threatened to derail [...]

Thanks to the Teagle, Carnegie, and Spencer Foundations, we may make some headway on this difficult challenge. In partnership with the Association for American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), I will examine solutions for creating a new professoriate that best supports student learning through a process called a Delphi study. AAC&U has a longstanding agenda of [...]

Other proposals offered look beyond the current tenure-track model: Eradicate tenure and move to long-term, renewable contracts for all faculty Some proposals have suggested the eradication of tenure, following existing models of campuses that have either never had tenure, such as Evergreen State, or have moved to eliminate tenure, like Hampshire College. Institutions without tenure [...]

At present the most successful changes have occurred due to non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) unionizing and bargaining for better working conditions. Maybe this is the inevitable, slow way change that will occur. NTT faculty leaders themselves are largely responsible for changes I have documented nationally. But what about big solutions rather than incremental change? There are [...]

The few leaders aware of this trend (or not ignoring it) will say the issue is money; with the state budget declines, the shift in labor was necessary—inevitable. Is that true? Studies by the Delta Cost Project show that instruction costs have gone down over the last 20 years, while other costs have gone up—administrative [...]

This week’s blog will focus on an important and overlooked trend affecting the quality and integrity of higher education in America and worldwide—the move to a largely contingent faculty. Most people do not realize approximately 70% of the faculty are off the tenure track (50% part-time, approximately 20% full-time). In the early 1970s, these trends [...]

This week’s 21st Century Scholar blog posts focus on non-tenure-track and contingent faculty. The posts are written by Adrianna Kezar, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) at the USC Rossier School of Education. Adrianna explains the major challenges facing this growing group of faculty and outlines some [...]