No institution can be better than its faculty. An institution can be better than its president, its football team, its library and its food service—but if the faculty are weak, the institution is weak. We are in an exciting time for faculty in that their roles are expanding with new opportunities in online education, MOOCs, […]
Over the last three years, adjuncts at 46 colleges joined the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Among the latest are those at Duke, University of Southern California, Northeastern and Hillsborough Community College. Problems involving adjunct salaries and benefits have been festering for years. Compare tenured professors who command six figures to adjuncts who average $2,700 […]
A retired nursing professor traveled to India to compile a how-to book for the country’s nurses. A one-time professor of religion took up digital photography. A former drama school dean helped a local theater company stay afloat. Janette Brown, assistant vice provost at the University of Southern California, has seen the phenomenon often: faculty members finding […]
Are universities hiring non-tenured adjuncts—who now make up two-thirds of the faculty workforce—because their tenured veterans won’t retire? Delayed retirement is a contributing factor in the proliferation of adjuncts, says Brian Kaskie, associate professor of health policy at the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health. Employees who can’t be fired and won’t retire are […]
Universities welcome media coverage of college sports, groundbreaking research and alumni achievement—all of which generate recognition and revenues supporting their educational mission. Too often, however, racially charged events at universities have dominated those headlines. Racial diversity, inclusion and equality in higher education are hot topics. Low numbers of minority faculty, students and administrators, as well […]
At least 35 private colleges and universities have seen their adjunct faculty unionize between the 2013-2014 and the 2015-2016 academic years. Over that same period, unions prevailed in 39 of 44 National Labor Relations Board elections, according to NLRB Election Reports for closed cases with elections held between September 19, 2013, and April 22, 2016. […]
A recent survey of alumni of institutions confirmed what every university president knows: when asked who set them on a constructive path, at the top of the list are professors who made them excited about learning, professors who cared about them as persons, encouraged them, mentored them, and directed them in projects—what we call “high touch.” […]
The rapid increase in the Hispanic population on American campuses requires administrators to tailor support services to this new wave of students that’s forecast to continue growing. Support from three federal grant programs is available to help colleges that qualify as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs. The funding can cover student support services and other initiatives—such as […]
Colleges and universities have made spending on administrators and part-time instructors a higher priority than raising salaries of core faculty members who have the biggest impact on learning, says a new report from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education. Heavier teaching loads for professors combined with increased use of adjunct faculty reduces the […]
In the eyes of many, higher education has become an industry focused on a singular goal—career training—and college students these days forgo the big questions about who they are and how they can change the world. In The Purposeful Graduate: Why Colleges Must Talk to Students about Vocation (University Of Chicago Press, 2015), Tim Clydesdale […]
