William G. Tierney in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Must Visiting Assistant Professorships Be Career Purgatory?

Pullias co-director William G. Tierney was quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education about the status of and career prospects for visiting assistant professors:

Visiting positions take a variety of forms, says William G. Tierney, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California. When he pictures a beneficial visiting position, Tierney thinks of his experiences in visiting fellowships overseas, at universities in Malaysia, China, and India.

International fellowships, Tierney says, are a good opportunity to gain cross-cultural understanding and connect with colleagues worldwide. As a result of such connections, he is editing, for instance, a volume with two colleagues in Saudi Arabia.

But these positions differ greatly from most domestic VAPs, which he says are hardly distinguishable from adjuncts.

“I generally don’t think of those as visiting positions. I think of those as adjunct positions,” he says. When universities use visiting professorships to fill temporary openings created by faculty taking sabbaticals or leaves, he says, “I think of that as an adjunct faculty member that is being exploited.”

Often, VAPs don’t feel welcome. “You have to provide the individual with some support,” Tierney says. “You know — a phone, a library card, an office,” benefits that make it “something that is sought after, rather than just filling in the blanks.”

Read the full article at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Tierney is an expert on higher education policy analysis, governance, and administration; his research interests pertain to faculty productivity, decision making, organizational re-engineering, and issues of equity.