Promoting alternative teaching-professor hires: A new PATH for engineering State University

Abstract

According to recent literature, non- Tenure-eligible or non- Tenure- Track (NTT) faculty comprise between 50-75% of current 2-year and 4-year university faculty members and new university faculty hires. Women comprise a disproportionate number of full- Time NTT faculty and there are limited studies that assess the work environment of this faculty group. The purpose of this work is to discuss recent survey data collected from NTT faculty at NC State University (NCSU) to describe current efforts by NTT faculty in engineering to promote development and collaboration between NTT faculty, and to make recommendations for improving the university culture for hiring, fostering, and promoting NTT faculty. The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey is a nationally-recognized instrument that is administered to all university faculty at NCSU on a triennial basis with the purpose of assessing faculty satisfaction in various domains of university life including available resources, promotion policies, benefits and compensation, department collegiality, quality, and engagement, and interdisciplinary work and collaboration. For this work, we will focus on recent interventions that have resulted from the COACHE data, specifically discussing improvements in the promotion process for NTT faculty and the development of a NTT support group in NCSU's College of Engineering. The Office of Faculty Development in NCSU's College of Engineering initially spearheaded a discussion of best practices for NTT faculty career development and promotion in Fall 2011. Promotional policies that have already been adopted at the University level will be discussed, including those related to letters of support, expectations for national and international visibility, and department voting. Future work at NCSU will focus on NTT faculty career enrichment in addition to the development of more standard procedures for recognizing and evaluating the external impact of research, teaching, and outreach efforts of NTT faculty. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2014.