New Guide Provides Direction for Students Looking to Support Non-Tenure-Track Faculty in Higher Education
Created as part of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, the guide is designed for student activists at the undergraduate and graduate level. This population is in a unique position to make a difference in the lives of faculty currently experiencing terrible inequalities and working conditions.
The Delphi Project, looking to empower, inform, and leverage all available populations in its mission to bring equitable support to NTTF across higher education, created “Waze” to Support Non-Tenure Track Faculty as a Student Activist as a figurative and semi-literal roadmap for students.
“Students are the heart of any higher education institution and absolutely have the power to help create better visibility and conditions for non-tenure track faculty,” notes Jordan Harper, co-author, USC Rossier Ph.D. student and research assistant at the Pullias Center. “Students can be change agents and this represents an opportunity to stand up for a group in a marginalized position.”
Non-tenure-track positions today make up more than 70 percent of instructional faculty in American higher education, yet typically operate with far less support than their tenured or tenure-track counterparts. Non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) are often hired last minute at far lower wages and thus struggle to balance heavy teaching loads at multiple institutions. This leaves them with diminished 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.
“This guide helps map a pathway for students to a place where NTTF have the support they need to provide the best learning experience,” notes Adrianna Kezar, co-author and Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education. “It’s an undertaking for students with initiative and vision that offers benefits to students and teachers alike while arguably improving the institution as a whole.”
The guide suggests five phases, positioned as stops in keeping with a roadmap theme, that will be passed through by the student on their journey to support NTTF. It includes discussions about creating student advocacy groups, collaborating with others, connecting with legislators, presenting ideas, and leveraging union support when available. A list of supplemental reading and external resources are also provided in the guide.
With COVID-19 upending higher education instructional routines, NTTF are again in the position of bearing the brunt and doing much of heavy lifting, as well as being laid off in mass. As budgets become constricted and leadership is being conducted remotely, adjunct and part-time instructors find themselves with even less support while needing to operate in a more challenging environment. “The urgency of this issue is becoming more and more immediate, so the time is right for students to take action,” concludes Harper.
An initiative of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, the Delphi Project works in partnership with the Association of American College and Universities (AAC&U) and includes more than 30 representatives from across higher education. The project has received generous funding from The Spencer Foundation, The Teagle Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, and TIAA Institute. The Delphi Project includes the Delphi Award, an annual $15,000 cash award to each of two applicants who have worked to support non-tenure-track, contingent and/or adjunct faculty in pursuing strategic priorities such as student learning and community engagement. The deadline to apply is July 17, 2020. Student applicants are welcome.
Learn more about this and other Pullias Center projects related to NTTF on the Delphi Project page or subscribe to our newsletter for updates right to your inbox.