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Tenure Status of Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty Members, Fall 2017

Almanac 2019 August 18, 2019

More than 40 percent of faculty members at all four-year and two-year colleges worked part time in the fall of 2017. Among sectors, four-year public institutions had the highest share of faculty members who were either tenured or on the tenure track — nearly 44 percent — while just over a third of faculty members at four-year private nonprofit institutions were either tenured or on the tenure track.

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		Tenured	Percent	On tenure track	Percent	Not on tenure track/no tenure system-	Percent	All with faculty status	Percent
4-year public institutions	Full-time	188,015	30.5%	77,082	12.5%	163,259	26.5%	428,356	69.4%
	Part-time	4,758	0.8%	1,229	0.2%	182,760	29.6%	188,747	30.6%
	Total	192,773	31.2%	78,311	12.7%	346,019	56.1%	617,103	100.0%
4-year private nonprofit institutions	Full-time	90,962	22.7%	44,343	11.1%	113,914	28.4%	249,219	62.2%
	Part-time	1,525	0.4%	766	0.2%	149,139	37.2%	151,430	37.8%
	Total	92,487	23.1%	45,109	11.3%	263,053	65.7%	400,649	100.0%
4-year for-profit institutions	Full-time	96	0.2%	29	0.0%	11,385	18.0%	11,510	18.2%
	Part-time	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	51,810	81.8%	51,810	81.8%
	Total	96	0.2%	29	0.0%	63,195	99.8%	63,320	100.0%
2-year public institutions	Full-time	39,907	14.5%	14,560	5.3%	52,223	19.0%	106,690	38.7%
	Part-time	362	0.1%	102	0.0%	168,412	61.1%	168,876	61.3%
	Total	40,269	14.6%	14,662	5.3%	220,635	80.1%	275,566	100.0%
2-year private nonprofit institutions	Full-time	57	2.8%	30	1.4%	943	45.5%	1,030	49.7%
	Part-time	3	0.1%	1	0.0%	1,037	50.1%	1,041	50.3%
	Total	60	2.9%	31	1.5%	1,980	95.6%	2,071	100.0%
2-year for-profit institutions	Full-time	3	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,527	44.1%	4,530	44.2%
	Part-time	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	5,725	55.8%	5,725	55.8%
	Total	3	0.0%	0	0.0%	10,252	100.0%	10,255	100.0%
All institutions	Full-time	319,040	23.3%	136,044	9.9%	346,251	25.3%	801,335	58.5%
	Part-time	6,648	0.5%	2,098	0.2%	558,883	40.8%	567,629	41.5%
	Total	325,688	23.8%	138,142	10.1%	905,134	66.1%	1,368,964	100.0%

Note: The data cover full- and part-time medical and nonmedical staff who perform faculty duties like instruction, research, and/or public service at 4,277 degree-granting four-year and two-year institutions in the United States that are eligible to participate in the Title IV federal student-aid program in the fall of 2017. Medical schools are counted in the data. Non-tenure-track faculty members include adjuncts. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to Ruth Hammond.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data

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A version of this article appeared in the August 23, 2019, issue.

Read other items in Tenure Status & Adjuncts.

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