Off the Tenure Track: Six Models for Full-Time Nontenurable Appointments. New Pathways: Faculty Career and Employment for the 21st Century Working Paper Series, Inquiry #10.

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, explores several alternatives to tenure for faculty and institutions. Data for the study was drawn from a series of site visits to seven institutions during winter/spring 1995-96. Seventy-one interviews were conducted with administrators, senior faculty, and full-time nontenured faculty. The first part of the paper discusses six models for full-time nontenurable appointments currently being used by colleges and universities, recording both faculty and administrator perceptions of how well the models work at the respective institutions. The models are: teaching appointments, professors of practice, research professors, distinguished senior lecturers, limited tenure situations, and integrated tenurable and nontenurable tracks in medical schools. The second part of the paper deals with the key themes underlying new employment options, including campus climate, culture, history, traditions, and tenured faculty attitudes. Also noted are questions relating to the status and integration of nontenurable faculty, job security, academic freedom, and career development and career paths. The paper concludes that while tenure will continue to exist, it will be only one among a series of career paths available to faculty as full-time nontenurable alternatives become more attractive to institutions and individuals. (Contains 14 references.) (CH)