Their report, entitled "The Changing Nature of the Professoriate," presented a statistical analysis of changes in instructional faculty appointments from 1982 to 1994. It was demonstrated that, during that time, there was a dramatic rise in lecturer (non-tenure-track) appointments (from about 200 to 520), with a concomitant decline in instructor appointments (155 to 16), the latter decline making the instructor rank almost extinct on campus (that is, 16 of 3,327 total appointments made). Also, the report showed that more than one-quarter of all the positions held by women are in the non-tenure-track position of lecturer. To put these numbers in perspective, the total number of faculty at the university increased during that time from 2,540 to 3,327.
Thus, the concerns regarding noncommitted (that is, nontenured or non-tenure-track) positions are most real. As such, decisions regarding scientific careers in academia are now being made long before the individual reaches a tenured ...
