The Importance Of Faculty And Non Tenure Track Faculty

Academic tenure has allowed under-performing teachers the privilege of keeping their job no matter what. Some feel that they do not have to properly teach after they have earned tenure. Students do not get a proper education because of this and teachers cannot be fired because of the job security that tenure has granted them. Brian

Dr. Todd Cherner is an Assistant Professor of English Education in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program in the Spadoni College of Education at Coastal Carolina University. Dr. Cherner has completed his third academic year at Coastal Carolina University as a pre-tenured faculty and has submitted his documentation for third year review. As the Chair of the Department of Master of Arts in Teaching, Middle Level Education, Special Education and Physical Education in the Spadoni College of Education, I have completed my evaluation of Dr. Cherner’s documentation for retention beyond the third year, in accordance with the University’s 2012-2013 Faculty Manual Promotion and Tenure Guidelines and the Spadoni College of for Education Promotion and Tenure Performance Expectations Elaborations document (adopted 12/9/2011). Also, the definitions of descriptors defined in the Promotion and Tenure Faculty Annual Evaluation Rubrics (cited in 2013-2014 Spadoni College of Education Policies and Procedures Handbook) were used to make the determinations of “outstanding,” “very good,” “good,” and “needs improvement.” The following comments and rating are derived from my review of Dr. Cherner’s documentation for third year review. I have my evaluation of Dr. Cherner’s documentation in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service.

America has encountered a change within the teaching profession: concerning, experience, age, credentials, and ethnic background (Feistritzer, 2011). It is almost as if the year of 2005, overturned the trend of older employed teachers (Feistritzer, 2011). A six-year survey shows that the amount of teachers under the age of thirty has increased drastically, and that most teachers have earned master degrees. Also, although teaching has been a predominately white profession, more Hispanic and African American teachers were hired between the years of 2005 and 2011 (Feistritzer, 2011).

The need for support and mentorship becomes even more crucial for faculty employed at small, private institutions, because oftentimes the duties of the professoriate are coupled with advising obligations, administrative assignments or committee leadership. To complicate matters further, the smaller faculty usually contributes to a lack of diversity among its members (Schnell, 1992), thus leaving a significant gap in possible mentors for women faculty in search of gender-matches to confide in as they learn the nuances within the academe.

For my job shadowing project, I shadowed Dr. Quisto Settle at the Mississippi State University School of Human Sciences department. Dr. Settle is an assistant professor within the department. “An assistant professor ranks as a junior faculty member in a college or university (Assistant Professor).” For my hours, I had spent Tuesday afternoon observing and taking notes while Dr. Settle graded papers and answered some of my questions. Everyday for Dr. Settle is different. Some days, Dr. Settle grades papers and others he advises students. “They will be expected to teach 3-4 classes per semester, serve on various academic committees and contribute to the academic milieu. In turn, they will gain teaching experience and the continued opportunity to publish in their fields (Assistant Professor).”

Teacher tenure is life-long job protection for teachers who have been employed as a teacher for one or more years depending on the state. The purpose of teacher tenure is to protect teachers from being fired for political or personal reasons. It also prevents school districts from eliminating experienced teachers in favor of less expensive teachers. The fundamental problem with teacher tenure is that it is given to a teacher after only one year on the job and requires little to no additional effort. The increased job security breeds complacency in many teachers who are teaching only to collect a paycheck. There is a need for teacher tenure but the program must be drastically reformed.

All courses will be complemented with field trip that demonstrate professional fields that are related to the content of the class

Tenure was meant to protect college professors from unfair firings and was only gained after many years of teaching and going through a long and difficult process. Even then many college educators don’t ever get tenured. Public schools

Before reading the article and attending Tuesday evenings class I did not know much about the tenure process, I knew that it was a form of job security for professors but not much more. Reading the National Education Association article gave me an understanding of what the tenure process is and what the importance is of being a tenured professor other than having a sense of job security. The area that stood out to me in the reading for this week was the fourth myth in the article, that most professors have tenure. This was surprising to me because when reading the reality section the author stated that most positions are more than often filled with part-time faculty and rarely put on the tenure track, colleges like to use students as their

1. A research-supported rationale for creating the plan that includes a statement of the advantages to the institution of having a sound faculty/staff recruitment and retention plan.

Community colleges enable people to enter the labor force, transfer to a university, and/or obtain the knowledge needed to take on more responsibilities in their current field. A teacher lecture series gives professors the opportunity to engage with people from the community and share their knowledge on a topic of their choice. The purpose of this report is to describe how I can evaluate the teacher series program at Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC).

The increasing presence and responsibilities of university administrators place them as important agents in the competition for authority on faculty hiring practices. Administrators are in some ways positioned hierarchically above professors in terms of financial decision-making in the academic field, but professors are also typically given autonomy to conduct faculty searches as appropriate for their department. In cases like Brown University and many other large American universities, administrators may have final say over whether a faculty hiring can occur, but rarely have authority to select (or even veto) candidates. Students, undergraduate and graduate, are also agents, but are likely to have the least amount of power in this struggle. As such, in this particular analysis, the professorial class within the academic field is of particular

Of the 15 faculty who provided responses, the average number of years of teaching was a little over six years. The minimum number of years teaching was one year, and the maximum number of years

In the United States, starting salaries for teachers who have completed a four-year degree are far lower compared to many other professions, which also require a four-year degree. In most states, teachers must undergo testing and other rigorous certification requirements, but they are given the same consideration or status as beginning professionals in other areas. Although attractive incentives are offered, the compensation does not compare to the long hours of work and schooling required for a teaching career.

Most would ask, "What exactly is teacher tenure?". Well, in short teacher tenure is a permanent job contract for school teachers. Teachers can earn tenure by proving their teaching skills over a specific number of years while working at the same school. In most cases the number of years a teacher must work at the same school is anywhere from two to seven years. After receiving tenure a teacher cannot lose his or her job without just cause, for example obvious incompetence or severe misconduct. Tenure offers job security to teachers that have successfully completed their probational period of teaching. (Heard)