From: John Curtis Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 3:17 PM
Colleagues,
On November 18 I sent around compiled figures for the percentage of faculty on contingent appointments for fall 1998. Less than a week after that, the US Dept. of Education released a new set of tabulations for 2001. Here are the revised figures:
For Fall 2001 (latest available from US Dept. of Education) Full-Time Tenured Faculty 278,825 (25.0%) Full-Time Tenure-Track (probationary) 125,811 (11.3%) Full-time Non-tenure-track 213,232 (19.2%) Part-Time 495,315 (44.5%) Total 1,113,183
Thus, by this tabulation, the percentage of contingent faculty was 63.7% in 2001, up from 58.7% in 1998.
*Highlights* The absolute number of full-time tenured faculty actually declined between 1998 and 2001, from 297,360 to 278,825. In percentage terms, this group represented 30.5% in 1998 and 25.0% in 2001.
The most rapid growth between 1998 and 2001 came among full-time non-tenure-track faculty, increasing from 157,360 to 213,232, an increase of 35.5%. By contrast, the number of probationary faculty increased by 19.5%; part-time faculty increased 19.1%; and full-time tenured faculty declined by 6.2%.
I will be making further analysis of these data soon, including breakdowns by gender and comparisons with enrollment, and we will be including some portions of this in our "Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession."
*Notes* These figures are reconstructed from multiple tables; I can give you an exact citation if you would like.
The figure for part-time faculty probably includes a small number who have tenure; these would likely be faculty members in a phased retirement. However, even these "tenured" faculty members might have teaching assignments withdrawn on short notice if they do not attract sufficient enrollment.
The percentages are of faculty "headcount"; the percentage of actual courses or credit hours taught by part-time faculty would likely be lower, since many part-time faculty teach only one course.
However, the figures for part-time and FT non-tenure-track faculty are probably underestimates; these numbers are often incomplete at the institutional level.
John
John W. Curtis, Ph.D. Director of Research American Association of University Professors 1012-14th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005-3465 (202) 737-5900 Ext. 3049 (800) 424-2973