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There are 9 comments on Focus on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

  1. During my undergraduate and graduate education at Boston University, I had the pleasure of being taught by impressive faculty members in a variety of disciplines. When I was entering my junior and senior year in COM, several of my professors were working in the field of journalism, and brought relevance and practical experiences to the classroom. While study for my graduate degree at SED, the vast majority of my professors were educators, but not full-time professors.

    While I cannot agree more that the professors did wonderful work in the classroom, it was the “outside the classroom” connectivity to the University and to the students that suffered. For the most part (and especially in my experience at SED), the professors arrived for classes, taught and left campus. They had little knowledge about practical realities like registration, nor could they chime in about current campus news and events.

    This came in stark contrast to the Tenure-Track faculty who were engaged in BU at a different level and had become engrained in the face of the campus.

    Non-Tenure-Track faculty serve a purpose, and do good work, but in order to maintain a vibrant campus community, the percentages must remain in check and their role must continue to be studied and assessed.

  2. While they are at it…look at the “adjunct faculty” – a critical component of many schools, especially over at COM. Extremely substandard pay = 1/6th what the lowest paid full-time faculty gets per class. Less than a TA in the School of Theology gets paid! And if teaching is only half their job, then 1/3 what a full-timer gets.
    Pretty blatant academia discrimination.
    We certainly don’t do this for the money, but we are BU faculty’s dirty little secret.
    The full-time faculty and the administration should be ashamed.

  3. Quoted from above: “While the salary difference between tenured and non-tenure-track faculty members is marginal….”

    Oh, really? This is news to me, as a full-time non-tenure track faculty member.

  4. Most of the world works on an at-will basis, so I don’t see what the great injustice is. Not every college teacher needs to be involved in research. Let’s face it, 90 percent of the research done in the humanities and social sciences is completely pointless…as opposed to say, 70 percent in the hard sciences.

    It’s common for faculty to whine and complain about anything more than a 2/2 load. They tell you that a 4/4 load will cause you to immolate on the spot…or something. Hey, if they don’t like it they can do one of the many other jobs they are qualified for…food service, house keeping, retail sales, or, if they are really desperate, high school teacher…talk about a teaching load.

    In the end, maybe nobody should have tenure.

  5. The adjunctification of the university really is a disaster, and I wish that BU would take the lead in reversing this trend. Stop spending so much money on new facilities and give some of it for new TT lines. This could only improve the general level of the education on campus.

  6. 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50/day.
    80% of the world lives on less than $10/day.

    There is great injustice in the world. The deterioration of the lives of faculty in the U.S. university system is hardly chief among them. This deterioration is still bad.

  7. In school of theology, where there are 0 non-tenure track, I can say that the ones who haven’t gained tenure yet (at least the ones who have taught me), are very nervous and focused on producing books and articles. One snaps at the students and another doesn’t get enough sleep. They are otherwise, at least potentially, good, but I get the distinct feeling that their focus is not on the student experience. I really don’t know what to advise, that is not my business. It is just something that I’ve noticed.

  8. I agree with “while they are at it…look”
    Non-Tenure Teachers Need support from Somewhere other then
    concerned Parents or the students themselves. Sorry to say
    this is happening all over the U.S.
    We are fighting to keep our Non-tenure Teachers in our little school. They are highly qualifed, they know the children’s needs at a individual basis. Let alone love to live in our small town.
    So we too are loosing our Non-Tenure Teachers and their spouses who are also teachers.
    This is very troublesome for our small community, to loose such a high volume of Good Qualified Teachers that do not want to leave and wish they can stay and teach at our schools.
    Someone needs to wake up and rephrase “No Child Left Behind”
    And it certianly does not come from our School Board Members!

  9. Are non-tenure track faculty (research assistant professors) allowed to advise PhD students at BU ? There is a lot of confusion about this in the US…
    Thanks

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