The career goals of non-tenure-track full-time engineering faculty

Abstract

Roughly one in eleven engineering faculty members in the United States are full-time and are not in tenure-track positions. It has been established that non-tenure track faculty members can enrich an engineering program by bringing industry skills and practical career experience into the classroom. These full-time non-tenure track faculty members have varied experience and they have varied career goals. Some of them may desire tenure-track positions while others may not. In many engineering programs, there is no clear path for a full-time non-tenure-track faculty member to attain tenure. This study consists of interviews with ten full-time non-tenure-track electrical engineering faculty members who teach in eight large, public, research universities. The survey will explore the career goals of those faculty members including the desire for an electrical engineering tenure-track position as well as which aspects of a tenure-track position would be desirable, such as career stability, participation in departmental governance, and a greater voice in program decisions. We will also explore aspects of seeking a tenure-track position that may not be desirable, such as the increased workload involved in research and publishing, or a perceived necessity to teach fewer courses as more effort and time is given to research.