Applications Open for 2020 Delphi Award
The Delphi Award consists of two $15,000 awards given to two new recipients each year to recognize noteworthy efforts to support non-tenure-track faculty.
The Pullias Center for Higher Education in partnership with the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) today opened applications for the 2020 Delphi Award. The $15,000 cash award is given annually to two individuals or groups who have worked to support adjunct, contingent and non-tenure-track faculty in promoting student success.
“Non-tenure-track faculty often are rarely given the kind of support and security that tenured and tenure-track faculty are given despite making up the bulk of the teachers in higher education,” said Adrianna Kezar, director of the Pullias Center. “This culture needs to change so campuses start investing in their part-time, adjunct, and contingent faculty and the important role they play in students’ lives. The goal of the Delphi Award is to shine a light on teams and individuals who are on the forefront of this mission with innovative approaches and ideas.”
The award is now in its third year. The inaugural year saw winners at Harper College and California State University, Dominguez Hills, take the prize for 2019 followed by teams at Santa Monica College and Penn State University in 2019. Winner are recognized at the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) annual meeting which takes place in January each year.
The Delphi Award is an initiative of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, an effort of the Pullias Center dedicated to enhancing awareness about changing faculty trends using research and data to better support faculty off the tenure track and to help create new faculty models to support higher education institutions in the future.
Non-tenure-track positions today make up more than 70 percent of instructional faculty in American higher education. Compared to their tenured or tenure-track counterparts, non-tenure-track faculty are often hired last minute at far lower wages, and thus struggle to balance heavy teaching loads at multiple institutions with limited time to prepare their courses and limited support to improve their curriculum design or pedagogy. Studies by the Delphi Project have shown these challenges for non-tenure-track faculty correlate to lower students success rates.
By providing an incentive to better support these non-tenure-track faculty, the Delphi Award aims to push higher education institutions to support all, not just some, faculty.
“When faculty members are not afforded the time and resources to fully invest in teaching and mentoring to the best of their abilities, this can really impact students—particularly first-generation, low-income and underserved minority students,” notes Kezar. “By supporting adjunct and other non-tenure-track faculty, we are essentially and ultimately supporting their students.”
The Delphi Award is funded by a grant from the Teagle Foundation and is given in partnership with the AAC&U. The application period for the 2020 Delphi Award ends July 17, 2020.
Read the case studies from prior winners to gain better insight on supporting non-tenure track faculty or as background for applying for the 2020 Delphi Award. Information on how to apply can be found on The Delphi Award page.