Employment and Tenure

Despite the fascination of PhDs with achieving tenure, is it really that important? Why has it become the standard for success in academia?

While few individuals are able to secure their dream jobs in academia at all , fewer still are able to achieve tenure. The criteria for achieving tenure are widely varied between institutions. Interestingly enough, there are no national data-sets tracking tenure statistics and many institutions do not even keep track of their own data. Michael J. Dooris, Director of Planning Research and Assessment and Marianne Guidos, Consultant/Facilitator at Pennsylvania State University examine the elusiveness of tenure in their article, “Tenure Achievement Rates at Research Universities.” Here, the authors argue against this oversight explaining that, “universities could and should do a better job of collecting, analyzing and sharing data that can inform judgments about the effectiveness, rigor, and fairness of the tenure process.” Part of what makes the discussion surrounding tenure such a controversial and difficult subject is the lack of accurate data concerning it. Without reliable information, it is very challenging to address issues of academic management.

What little data is available is often taken from individual efforts to track tenure in specific institutions. In such cases, it is difficult to appreciate the context that the data come from. Without context, the data provide relatively little information regarding large-scale trends or effects. However, even small-scale research can suggest certain problematic trends that may be present on a larger scale. For instance, faculty exit surveys offer insight into what members of faculty are leaving and why. An annual exit survey at Penn State showed that women leave at younger ages than their male counterparts, and that they often leave due to more attractive openings elsewhere. Such findings suggest that women are experiencing greater difficulty in achieving tenure. Many argue that this is the result of sexism; the structure of academic institutions is often hegemonic

Despite the lack of information pertaining to tenure and its achievement, many argue that it is an important part of academic structure. They argue that the fiercely competitive nature of tenure forces greater productivity and is responsible for the generation of substantial academic research. Others maintain that tenure is an outdated, elitist construction that results in diminished educational quality. The resources provided below offer further information and arguments regarding the debate on tenure in higher education.

Resources

  • A Brief History of Tenure

    -Time magazine reviews the history of tenure and its development. More importantly, though, this article follows new ideas surrounding how to avoid some of the major problems surrounding tenure.

  • Duke Criteria for Tenure

    - An example of what it takes to achieve tenure, you can get a feel for  the guidelines that govern the revered status. Duke explains what is needed in a hopeful tenured professor.

  • Academic Tenure and Academic Freedom

    Is an article offered at Yale that challenges the nature of tenure, while arguing for its role in maintaining academic freedom. Without tenure, the nature of work done in academia may very well change.

  • A Solution to the Tenure Problem

    - Arguing that tenure is an ineffective institution, Julian Simon proposes that tenured professors voluntarily receive less payment. By doing so, universities will save more money, and poorly performing employees will be more appropriately compensated for their time.

  • Let’s Just Get Rid of Tenure

    Is an article written by Steven D. Leavit of Freakonomics which argues for the abolishment of tenure. He explains that removing tenure would actually benefit quality professors while limiting lower performing professors.

  • The Problem with Tenure

    - A lecture dedicated to the topic, The Problem with Tenure, illuminates why it can be damaging to institutions of learning.  Requiring that professors spend an increased amount of time researching and publishing instead of teaching detracts from the value of higher  education.

  • Tenure, RIP: What the Vanishing Status Means for the Future of Education

    - Whether you like it or not, tenure may very well be changing in universities across America. Tenure is rapidly disappearing from education.

  • Unsustainable and Indefensible

    Tenure is significantly detracting from higher learning financially and intellectually. The main reason for the perpetuation of tenure is the result of a self-interest in job security.

  • Lack of Tenure

    Argues that such actions may ultimately damage higher education. Salary disparities will arise from an inverted pay scale that will also repel more talented professors.

  • The Loss of Excellence Part 1

    A part in the Chronicle, uncovers the downfall of tenure. Here, Madeleine Li tells her story of frustration and rejection in academia.

  • End the University as We Know It

    Mark C. Taylor maintains that graduate education is the Detroit of higher education.  The mass-production approach of universities needs to be rectified: a complete restructuring needs to be undergone.

  • No Tenure, No Nothing

    Associate professor Adrianna Kezar claims that institutions that rely  on tenure make it impossible for non-tenure track faculty to be  successful. Many changes are needed in order for such faculty to make it in academia.