Inside Higher Ed, an online daily news source covering American colleges and universities, reported Dec. 2 on Elon University’s efforts in recent years to increase the total number and percentage of faculty in tenure or tenure-track positions.
Inside Higher Ed editor Scott Jaschik researched the efforts made by Elon leaders and faculty since the mid 1990s and found that, unlike trends at many other institutions doing the opposite, the university is continuing to expand its tenured ranks as way to bolster its reputation for engaged learning.
From “Exception to the Rule:”
“John Sullivan, a professor emeritus of philosophy, is credited with putting the issue of the tenure track front and center when the discussion of ‘engaged learning’ came up. ‘We were talking about producing a community of learners,’ and the idea of community was central, he said.
Faculty members wanted to be sure students would have contact with their instructors in class and out of class, and year after year – which isn’t easy to ensure if you are relying on adjuncts for many courses.
‘If we wanted more commitments of faculty time, we needed to make more commitments to faculty,’ he said.”
To read the full story, click on the link to the right.