Abstract
AbstractThe number of contingent or non‐tenure‐track faculty at colleges and universities in the United States has been growing over the past several decades; they now constitute nearly 70% of the non‐student academic workforce. A significant fraction of contingent faculty teaches in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As an initiative of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), contingent faculty in ecology were surveyed and the results were compared with a survey of STEM faculty conducted by the Coalition for the Academic Workforce (CAW). Most respondents to the ESA survey were employed in research or research and teaching activities at doctorate‐granting institutions, whereas in the CAW sample, most were engaged in teaching at associate's and master's degree‐granting institutions. The ESA sample was almost evenly divided between women and men; women outnumbered men in the younger age classes, whereas men outnumbered women in the older age classes. The respondents to the CAW survey were older than the ESA respondents, with more men in computer sciences, engineering, and physical sciences, more women in the biological and health sciences, and a balanced gender ratio in mathematics. The ESA survey asked respondents to rank possible activities that ESA could undertake to support contingent faculty. The highest ranked activities included reduced fees for membership, page charges, and meeting registrations, followed closely by small grants for travel and research. The lowest ranked was the formation of an ESA section for contingent faculty. The causes and implications of contingency are analyzed in light of other recent surveys. Academic institutions and professional societies such as the ESA can reduce the loss of qualified individuals from the scientific community by recognizing and legitimizing contingency as an academic career stage and by offering professional development to support the careers of contingent faculty.
Highlights
Contingent or non-tenure-track faculty filled 69.5% of instructional positions in the UnitedStates in 2015, up from 57.6% in 1995 (GAO 2017)
Overview of employment conditions According to our Ecological Society of America (ESA) survey results, contingent faculty in ecology did not have the same profile as STEM faculty in the Coalition for the Academic Workforce (CAW) survey (CAW 2012)
The ecologists were younger overall and more likely to occupy research positions, with only 35.5% engaged in teaching and teaching plus administration (Table 1), compared to 71.8% of STEM faculty in the CAW survey
Summary
Contingent or non-tenure-track faculty filled 69.5% of instructional positions in the UnitedStates in 2015, up from 57.6% in 1995 (GAO 2017). One well-recognized group of researchers are individuals in temporary postdoctoral appointments performing research and acquiring training under the supervision of mentors. Beyond this initial training phase, individuals may occupy contingent positions that stretch to become a career stage as research or adjunct faculty. Adjunct faculty may be nontenure-track faculty who derive most of their income from teaching and/or research, which leads to some ambiguity Another class of nontenure-track faculty performs some administrative duties, including committee and supervisory responsibilities. Given the diversity of positions and roles, contingent faculty appears to be the most inclusive and widely accepted term, as in the report by the United States General Accounting Office (GAO 2017), and so is adopted here
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