My lovely wonderful SLAC alma mater announced its 39 "new faculty" for 2011-2012.
Seven of them are tenure-track assistant professors.
Quite a few of the remaining "visiting" professors are legitimately visiting from some other institution, or are eminences unattached to an institution of higher ed. But eighteen appear to be in VAPs [visiting assistantships] or the equivalent.
Granted, a VAP at my alma mater is a pretty cushy job for a year. And no matter what changes are made to the academic market, schools are going to continue to need at least some VAPs, to fill sabbatical and fellowship vacancies (assuming, of course, that schools continue to grant sabbaticals. My alma mater has the money and priorities to fund sabbaticals for quite a long time to come, I think).
But I still thought that the numbers were telling.
Good research, though I wonder what the balance is historically---I've looked at those lists before but not with that eye. Particularly because our shared alma mater also has the money to fill/create tenure lines.
Posted by: dance | Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 03:47 PM
dance, I agree, I wondered about the historical numbers. I suspect that there have always been quite a few sabbatical/fellowship replacements around campus, because the school is pretty generous with sabbaticals, and there are probably quite a few faculty who manage to get teaching time bought out through fellowships and the like. So I don't know if it's any worse than it's ever been. But I still found it interesting.
(And didn't our alma mater announce sometime in the last 5 years that it was cutting teaching loads even further and hiring even more T-T faculty? That place has ridiculous money to burn.)
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 05:34 PM
I've decided the academy can't have my 30s. I already gave them my 20s and they pissed on me.
Posted by: Anastasia | Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 09:56 PM
We used to have VAP positions when someone retired or left on short notice. Now? Our university gives us course-by-course replacements for some (less than 50% of the former teaching capacity, total).
Your SLAC situation may be sad, I quite agree, but it's not gotten down to the crisis level of contingent faculty that's flourishing elsewhere. A VAP looks good on your CV, especially when it's attached to a prestigious institution. Three credit hours at regional comprehensive? Pays few bills and certainly doesn't add value to the CV!
Posted by: Janice | Friday, August 12, 2011 at 11:07 AM
A VAP anywhere SUCKS! Why do we do this to ourselves.
Posted by: henry | Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 08:06 AM