Employment and Tenure

Due to the relatively few professor positions available and the troubles of tenure, you may be better off in pursuing a number of alternative approaches to academic employment. More than ever, highly talented, knowledgeable individuals who are otherwise unable to attain tenure-track jobs are looking to adjunct professorship. Additionally, universities are looking to part-time or temporary employment in order to save on costs. Effectively creating an army of temporary professors, the state of adjunct professorship is embroiled in controversy.

Resources

  • Teaching in Community Colleges

    You don’t have to be a professor at a university to have an intellectually stimulating career. Working in a community college is less competitive, but similarly rewarding.

  • ”A Community College Teaching Career”

    Is a guild presented by the Modern Language Association that elucidates the value of teaching in a community college.  Establishing it as a unique and highly rewarding opportunity, this may  be a desirable option for you.

  • It’s the Community College Life for Me

    Is the story of an instructor who has taught and can teach in Ivy  League institutions, but chooses to teach in community colleges. Rampant  misconceptions dissuade many from pursuing a career in teaching at  community colleges, but many who attend are interested and dedicated  individuals.

  • Community College Faculty Salary Survey

    - The economic outlook for those involved in community college is  provided in this survey that examines earnings in the career. Conducted  by the College and University Professional Association for Human  Resources, the survey covers weight/non-weighted, union/non-union and  discipline specific earnings.

  • The Long Halls of Ivy: Adjunct Professors

    Found on CNN’s website, this article analyzes the difficult journey  of adjunct professors in academia. Low pay, a lack of benefits and a 60  hour work week all contribute to the hardships faced by adjuncts.

  • Professor of Desperation

    Uses personal experience to convey the difficulty of life as an adjunct  professor. It provides a clear perspective on the issue of alternative approaches to finding employment in academia and shows the difficulty that some are having and how they are reacting.

  • Adjunct Nation

    Is a community oriented website that provides myriad helpful resources  for adjuncts who could benefit from some more information. For adjuncts,  by adjuncts, Adjunct Nation covers many bases.

  • The Unholy Alliance Between Departments of Educational Administration and their “Invisible Faculty”

    Adjunct professors, the invisible workforce behind academia, often  work in isolation and are responsible bearing the brunt of the teaching  requirements of universities. The motivating factors behind these hard-working individuals are considered through an education context.

  • Adjunct Faculty Engagement in Teaching, Scholarship and Service

    The ambiguity of the role of adjuncts in the university is explored through schools of education. Due to the unavoidable lack of knowledge surrounding core principles and philosophy, adjuncts sometimes result in  a rift between students and academic administration.

  • Adjunct Benefits Bill

    Things may continue to get better for adjuncts, at one time they were not even allowed benefits. Bills such as this suggest that adjunct professorship is still a facet of academia that must continue to be developed.

  • For Adjunct, Progress and Complexities

    Already, adjuncts have come a long way in securing better rights and employment security. Simultaneously, serious tensions persist among adjuncts, resulting in stress, anxiety and a multitude of difficulties.

  • The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium

    Can be a valuable tool in finding adjunct professor positions or similar related work in higher education. With many different offices around the country, HERC is a leading organization in matching people with educational institutions.

  • Confessions of a Tenured Professor

    The radical transformation of the professoriate is revealed. Now teaching a majority of courses in universities all over the country academia is reliant on adjuncts.