Preparing for the Next Wave of Faculty

The New England Resource Center for Higher Education
Brief 7, March 2002

In a recent report, The New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) identified a list of eight recommendations to help institutions ride the wave of faculty hires made necessary by an aging professoriate. According to the report, some institutions are hiring in blocks. For smaller schools, that means institution-wide changes.

The brief profiles characteristics of new faculty. Young scholars who know to carve out a scholarly niche at the beginning of their career may not be hired at a large research university. Often, they are hired at teaching-oriented smaller institutions where they are unprepared for the sophisticated mix of service, flexibility, and inter-disciplinary work required.

Many new faculty may be entering higher education as a "second career." They may have plenty of professional experience, but will need help to thrive in a university environment. The report notes that, "College administrators may misjudge both the level of sophistication and the developmental needs of these new, but experienced hires," and they may need a very different kind of orientation and mentoring than the "recently-minted Ph.D.s."

Since many institutions lack the financial resources to support tenured positions, new hires are more than likely part-timers or adjuncts and "recent studies suggest that young scholars weigh quality of life issues and location more heavily than did their predecessors." Among the list of eight recommendations, NERCHE includes beefed-up faculty orientation, pairing younger faculty who are trained in the research model with experienced faculty, rewarding collaborative work, a seamless integration of part-time faculty and adjuncts into departments, rewards for scholarly service, and more attention by institutions to the family needs of faculty who have children or who have to care for aging parents.

Since 1993, AAC&U has worked with graduate students and new faculty to better prepare them for the sophisticated roles they will take on as new hires. One of these programs, Preparing Future Faculty (www.aacu.org/pff/index.cfm) is coordinated by AAC&U and the Council of Graduate Schools.

To view the entire brief and recommendations, visit /www.nerche.org/briefs/brief7/brief7.html.

For more information about the expected increase in faculty retirements, visit our October Facts and Figures, www.aacu.org/aacu_news/October01/facts_figures.htm.

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