Changes in Tenure

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by defii, Nov 12, 2001.

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  1. defii

    defii New Member

    I would appreciate the assistance of Dr. Bear or anyone else who has a handle on this subject matter.

    I have posted a couple inquiries regarding distance doctorates if teaching (on a part time basis) is one of my objectives. I hold a graduate degree in Public Administration (done residentially). I am intersted in doing doctoral work in leadership, public administration, or in human services administration.

    I've done some research that indicates that several schools are moving away from hiring tenure-track professors. Instead, several individuals holding doctorates from traditional institutions are now accepting non-tenure full-time positions or more than one adjunct positions at more than one school.

    Do you foresee this trend as making it harder for holders of DL (albeit regionally accredited) doctorates to find even adjunct positions in US universities?

    Another question I would appreciate your comments on is, given the aforementioned considerations, would you still recommend looking at non-US schools for doctoral work?

    Thank you, again, for your comments.
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Tenure is defintely a concept in transition -- but it does not seem directly related either to DL degrees (assuming properly accredited) or nationality of degree.

    There is an interesting PowerPoint presentation on the history and trends in tenure at this site: http://www.schev.edu/html/public/sbov/faculty_trends-practices-bov_conf.pdf

    It relates to a paper presented earlier this year: Trends and Practices in Faculty Employment. It seems the most important decision to make, if one desires a tenured position, is gender. Over the past 25 years, the percentage of tenured male full time faculty increased from 46% to 72%, while the percentage of tenured female full time faculty stayed pretty constant at 52%.

    As for full vs. part time, the number of hires of full time faculty rose 49% over the time period, while part time hires rose 266%.

    As if to underscore this, this in today's news from the University of Northern Iowa (a pioneer in distance learning), facing "meet the budget" problems:

    Percentage of adjunct non-tenure-track faculty fired this week: 61% (146 of 240).

    Percentage of full-time, tenure track faculty fired this week: 0% (0 of 612).

    Number of courses scheduled to be taught by these 146 fired people in Spring 2002: 217

    Number of those courses canceled: 217
     
  3. Andy Borchers

    Andy Borchers New Member

    As for a Public Administration program - consider Nova Southeastern. They've been in the game a long time.

    As for tenure - John is right - tenure is in transition. Many schools are wary of loading on full-timers that can't easily be separated should enrollment drop or shift to new areas. I'm told in the UK there are effectively no new tenure track positions available.

    Tenure is still the preferred route for a person who wants to make their life's work in academe. However, many schools are considering alternatives. These can include a system of multiyear contracts (one year to start, 3 or 5 years after you've proven yourself). Faculty types typically don't like this, however. The AAUP want folks to have tenure after 6 years of teaching.

    Other schools hire loads of adjuncts that can easily be cut lose. For those who do remain in tenured positions, you're likely to see changes - like taking on more of a "supervisory" role with adjuncts and performing curriculum development.

    Even those schools with tenure are considering "post tenure review" where incompetent profs can be fired. If not this, schools have other ways of removing non-performers - like grouping them in a department that is subsequently discontinued.

    If your field is short of qualified candidates, such as the IS (Information Systems) field, none of this applies. Offering someone with a real PhD in IS a non-tenured position is effectively an insult that won't result in acceptance of an offer.

    Thanks - Andy






    ------------------
    Andy Borchers, DBA
    NSU (1996)
     
  4. Bill Highsmith

    Bill Highsmith New Member

    Sounds a bit major league baseball-ish.
     
  5. Guest

    Guest Guest

    To add to the other comments, there was an article in the US News & Owrld report a couple of years ago (Graduate Guide I believe). It was speaking to the issue of declining tenure track positions and the increase in adjunct faculty positions. I supoose this goes along with what Andy notes and that is the law of supply and demand.

    I seem to remember an article a couple of years ago in Christianity Today talking about Liberty U. If I remember correctly an ex faculty member was quoted as saying that J. Falwell had said something to the effect that the inmates (profs) wouldn't be running the asylum anytime soon. The faculty contracts were renewed on an annual basis.

    North
     
  6. Malcolm Jenner

    Malcolm Jenner New Member

    The UK does not have the same concept of "tenure". Usually initial appointment are on a probationary period of 1 - 4 years, depending on the practice of the institution. In my own university most people are appointed initially on a 1 year or 2 year fixed term contract. Employment protection legislation means that they then must either be made permanent or fired.
    In some universities in some subject areas there is a moratorium on new appointments because of changes in the proportion of students taking different subjects or simply because of funding constraints (e.g. at Oxford there is a block on all appointments in humanities, even though there are plenty of students and there is a need to replace retired staff).

    Malcolm S Jenner
     
  7. triggersoft

    triggersoft New Member

    can someone briefly explain the concept of "tenure", since I couldn´t find it in my (huge) English-German dictionary and simply must admit that I don´t get what that should be?

    THANX!

    T.
     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member


    My two cents: a university is a community of scholars (faculty and students alike). They should be central to the mission, purpose and activities of the university. However, it is usually the "Golden Rule" that applies. ("The one with the Gold makes the Rules.") As such, universities have evolved from academically-based to administratively-based. Tenure, in theory, protects facutly from the tyranny of administration.

    Tenure also serves to preserve, at least in theory, academic freedom. Professors who fear dismissal will not venture off the approved learning track or party line. Protected from arbitrary dismissal, they are also free to pursue new and controversial lines of thinking and knowledge. Or so they say.

    Unfortunately, tenure also protects the incomptents that got through, along with the once-capable-but-now-lazy/disinterested/etc. A decision to extend tenure to a professor involves more commitment and less certainty than does a marriage proposal. With tenure, only one party to the marriage can get out easily. The university is stuck, left only with drastic measures for removal.

    My opinion: academic freedom isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Most classrooms are staid places, centered around the pursuit of the curriculum, as opposed to cauldrons of revolutionary thinking. But academic freedom is the only justification for tenure. The rest of us working stiffs don't enjoy such security. And our administrations (corporations) don't suffer as much with a bloated, expensive, and sometimes ineffective work force. Do your job like that out here and you'll be finding your way to the unemployment line.

    Rich Douglas
     
  9. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Triggersoft asks for the meaning of "tenure" in the US. A chance to plug my favorite reference site, http://www.bartleby.com, which has (among much else) the full text of the new American Heritage Dictionary, complete with a sound thing that pronounces the words, where we find:

    Tenure: 1a. The act, fact, or condition of holding something in one's possession, as real estate or an office; occupation. b. A period during which something is held. 2. The status of holding one's position on a permanent basis without periodic contract renewals: a teacher granted tenure on a faculty.

    In the US, typically what this means is that after five to seven years on a faculty, it is "up or out" time -- a faculty member is either offered tenure, or given a year's notice to leave. Tenure is, in most cases, a job for life unless (as one writer put it) "one is caught fondling the dean or stealing the milk fund." Tenured faculty are very very rarely fired, but it does happen, as in the case of Herbert Richardson, the first tenured faculty dismissed by the University of Toronto, which, according to articles in the Toronto press, the Washington Post and in Lingua Franca, was not thrilled either with his simultaneous running of Mellen University or his involvements with Moon's Unification Church.

    Immediate tenure is sometimes used to sweeten a job offer. My faculty appointment to the University of Iowa in ancient times came with tenure already attached. If it hadn't been for that dratted muffler company, I might be there still.
     
  10. Anne

    Anne New Member

    Hi John, I was curious where you saw this article regarding the fired adjuncts at the U. of Northern Iowa. Thank you.

    Anne

    As if to underscore this, this in today's news from the University of Northern Iowa (a pioneer in distance learning), facing "meet the budget" problems:

    Percentage of adjunct non-tenure-track faculty fired this week: 61% (146 of 240).

    Percentage of full-time, tenure track faculty fired this week: 0% (0 of 612).

    Number of courses scheduled to be taught by these 146 fired people in Spring 2002: 217

    Number of those courses canceled: 217

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