DEVELOPING REWARD STRUCTURES AND BENEFITS Recommendations for a Sustainable Governance Approach

Sue DoeAssociate Professor of English | Colorado State UniversitySpring 2015

Adrianna Kezar’s Sequence of Inclusion

1. Mobilization—campuses awaken to difficulties faced by NTTF2. Implementation—campuses address difficulties faced by NTTF3. Institutionalization—campuses internalize change processes

so much that they will never go back to “business as usual” in regard to NTTF working conditions

Kezar describes a form of slow-growth change that is meaningful, motivating, and sustainable.

Kezar, Adrianna J. Embracing Non-tenure Track Faculty: Changing Campuses for the New Faculty Majority. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Backing Up to 2004-2015The Process at Colorado State University2004 Stalled out salaries, low engagement, marginalized yet growing NTTF population2005 Modest salary improvements and increasing dissent2006-09 Provost’s Task Force for NTTF—Survey, 6R’s, Discussions with Chairs, Reports to Deans2006-09 Creation of Department and College Committees for NTTF2009 Dissolution of the Task Force2010 Creation of Faculty Council/Senate Committee2011 A series of initiatives improving NTTF status and working conditions. 2013-142013 Citing concerns about student learning conditions, President Tony Frank declares The Year of the Adjunct– and vows to improve working conditions and make CSU a great place to teach—off the tenure-track. 2014 Substantial salary improvement -$32K $40K base. Concerns about salary compression now at the fore.

A Governance Approach—the road taken locally but not the only one available!

Contingent faculty inclusion in governance channels paves the way for NTTF to “shape their working conditions” and help create a culture that “values and respects their inclusion” (90)

Kezar, Adrianna J., and Sam, Cecile. “Beyond Contracts: Non-Tenure Track Faculty and Campus Governance.” NEA 2010 Almanac of Higher Education, 2010. 82-91.

The 6R’s of NTTF (Non Tenure-Track Faculty) A 2007 Survey at Colorado State Universty Showed that NTTF

Sought Improved…

• Rights• Remuneration• Recognition• Respect • Resources• Representation

Step 1—Self Help

• Survey the NTTF• Discuss issues with chairs and deans• Bring issues to faculty senate/council and codify

NTTF as a subset of the faculty• Discuss overlaps with diversity and gender equity

commissions or working groups• Develop task forces or working groups to extend and

focus the inquiry

Derive Empirical Evidence of Your Context How Many of These Processes Have Occurred on Your Campus?

• Do we have a regularized approach to hiring, promotion, and salary?

• Is teacher attrition high?• Are students suffering due to a lack of teacher

continuity? • Do we need specialized workforce classifications?

Discuss: What other questions are emerging from your local setting?

Step 2 Self HelpDevelop Additional Questions to Consider

• Executive Models— Top-Down Best Practices—bring in an I.O. (Industrial Organizations) Psychologist as U of MO did in the mid 2000s

• Grassroots Models—Ask NTTF to identify their needs• Legislative Models—Address legal barriers if there are any• Professional Development Models—Open up

professional opportunities alongside professional responsibilities

• Governance Models—Provide NTTF a seat at the table and build capacity

Step 3 Self HelpConsider a Range of Approaches

Executive Model

Establishing New Academic Appointments (NTTF divided into three groups)

(1) Full-time, ranked, non-regular faculty (2) Full-time, unranked, non-regular faculty (i.e. lecturer, visiting or affiliate faculty); (3) Part-time, non-regular faculty (adjunct faculty)

Establishing Categories of Non-Tenure Track Faculty Defined

– Research faculty– Teaching faculty– Clinical/Professional practice faculty– Extension faculty

Establishing features of new appointments, assurances, and goals

• Reappointments (in advance of end of contract: if contract is not renewed, the candidate should be informed at least three months before termination)

• Promotion of NTT Faculty• Academic Freedom • Participation in Faculty Governance

See the following article by Beth Landers for more information on the U of MO system approach. http://profession.commons.mla.org/2013/10/08/contingent-labor-national-perspectives-local-solutions/

Example the U of MO (aided by an executive-appointed IO consultant )

A Grassroots ModelBringing issues into the open

• Campus Equity Week • Professional Associations—Position Statements• Advocacy Organizations—AAUP and NFM• Union declarations (SEIU, AFT, etc.)• Media coverage and anecdotal information• Fireside chats—getting past the lieutenants

Legislative ModelBe it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:

EACH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND EACH CAMPUS OF EACHSTATE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION MAY, SUBJECT TO THE APPROVALOF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SYSTEM OR INSTITUTION AND ANYRULES OR LIMITATIONS ESTABLISHED BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,HAVE IN EFFECT AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTSOR TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT EXTENSIONS HAVING A DURATION OF NOT MORE THAN THREE YEARS WITH AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OFGOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED OFFICIALS OR EMPLOYEES IF THE TERMEMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS OR TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT EXTENSIONSARE FOR HALF-TIME OR LONGER, NON-TENURE-TRACK CLASSROOM TEACHINGAPPOINTMENTS. A PERSON EMPLOYED PURSUANT TO A TERM EMPLOYMENTCONTRACT OR TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT EXTENSION DESCRIBED IN THISPARAGRAPH (d) MAY HAVE DUTIES IN ADDITION TO CLASSROOM TEACHING,AS DESCRIBED IN THE CONTRACT OR CONTRACT EXTENSION.

NOTE: The governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, signed this measure into law on 4/12/2012.

Professional Development Model

• All faculty need ongoing professional development• To remain relevant faculty needs professional development that is up

to date and ongoing• Too often professional development opportunities are limited to TTF,

except to ensure conformity among NTTF• Self-directed professional development respects the adult learner• Travel money for conference attendance helps• Reading groups, textbook selection committees, curricula review are

low-costs strategies that value NTTF

Discuss: WHAT OTHER OPTIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARE BOTH RESPECTFUL AND ENRICHING – AND WORK TO THE BETTERMENT OF TEACHING & LEARNING?

A Philosophical Justification for the Governance Approach

A Seat at the Table Builds• Representation and inclusion• Vocalization of new ideas• Governance capacity among those who haven’t

had it; a deepening of skills• Camaraderie among the ranks and more division

of the labor/responsibility of governance• Reward opportunities for those who get involved

What Participation in Governance Affords NTTF

The opportunity for NTTF to have a voice • in shaping policy• in shaping curriculum• in shaping the material features of a person’s working life• in forging a future of valued serviceI believe that such opportunities are likely to influence student outcomes because, as the New Faculty Majority says: “a teacher’s working conditions are a student’s learning conditions.”*

* http://www.newfacultymajority.info/

Building Social Opportunity through NTTF Participation in Governance

• Nobel prize winning economist Amartya Sen argues that more important than income … is freedom and more essential than wealth is the enhancement of capability or opportunity.

• Sen’s “unfreedoms” include economic insecurity, famine, and lack of civil liberties—all of which inhibit happiness and engagement.

“The capabilities and opportunities of tenure include the freedom to speak and research freely, the freedom to develop curriculum, the freedom to participate in decision-making, the freedom to be respected for one’s ideas.” (Doe, 61)

--Sen, Amartya. Development as Freedom. New York: Knopf, 2000. --Doe, Sue. “Opportunity and Respect: Keys to Contingent Faculty Success.” Rewriting Success in Rhetoric and Composition Careers. Amy Goodburn, Donna LeCourt, and Carrie Leverenze, eds., Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, 2013

How to do it: A Sequence

• Name a Task force or Working Group to work through the details and logistics of governance inclusion

• Start local—Department Committees identifying local needs and issues and functioning like other department committees such as the undergrad committee

• College committees—once department committees find their center of gravity, encourage talk across departments/disciplines

• University Representation—any college that has a NTTF committee with documented rules can seek representation here

• Diversified and Normalized Inclusion—inclusion in all areas of faculty interest—high-level hiring, initiatives such as gender equity and diversity discussions

The Challenges of NTTF Participation in Governance—the Problems of…• Low reward for participation (job descriptions lacking

significant service component & stipend option)• Respect and recognition v. marginalization and low regard• Learning the ropes of Governance after years of exclusion• Re-enacting larger inequities in governance/service

channels--the feminized work of service & teaching vs. the valued work of (funded) research

• Maintaining multiple avenues and communication channels through distributed governance vs. a one-stop solution to communicating with NTTF (integrated vs. top-down)

Recommendations for Contingent Faculty Governance Efforts—Reviewing the Process • Develop a task force to inventory and describe the local context• Develop a survey that can be re-administered periodically• Engineer college-wide retreats that open up dialogue• Call for committee construction for NTTF-specific concerns–

perhaps first at the department level, then college level, and then university level

• Integrate NTTF into standing committees at more than a token level• Be patient and build governance capacity among NTTF• Open lines of discussion about fair representation and voting rights

after committees developed capacity among NTTF• Seek out the “skinny” from key informants who will NOT be “yes-

men” or “yes-women” but who also respect the process

A Material Result: A Nested Committee Structure

AAUPNTTF

Department

Committees

NTTF College Committees

Faculty Council NTTF Committee

Institutionalized NTTF Inclusion at all

levels

A Material Result—8 years in the MakingThe Senior Teaching Appointment (STA)

The senior teaching appointment may be either full-time or part-time. Part-time is defined as any fraction less than one hundred (100) percent of full-time but at least fifty (50) percent. The distinguishing features of this type of appointment are:

• Senior teaching appointments are intended for long-term teachers without TT faculty appointments at Colorado State University. At least fifty percent of this appointment shall consist of teaching. The remaining workload percentage can be assigned to service, research, and/or teaching.

• The expectation of this appointment is to provide ongoing employment, assuming satisfactory performance.

• Senior teaching appointments are “at will” and are subject to termination by either party at any time. However, senior teaching appointments can be provided with multi-year contracts in order to provide greater security of employment.

[Go to: ttp://facultycouncil.colostate.edu/files/manual/sectione.htm Look at Section E.2 of the Faculty Manual]

A Material Result—8 years in the MakingThe Senior Teaching Appointment (STA)

The distinguishing features of this type of appointment are:

• Individuals with senior teaching appointments are required to enroll in the retirement program and are eligible for benefits offered by the University as described in the Academic Faculty and Administrative Professional Benefits and Privileges Handbook and in Section F and G of the Manual.

• Individuals with senior teaching appointments are full faculty participants and

therefore eligible for salary exercises, promotion in rank, participation in faculty governance, faculty awards, and travel and professional development funds.

• Individuals are eligible to apply for this appointment after completing five (5) years of employment at the University that meet the following qualifications:– half-time (0.5) or greater,– at least 50% of the workload distribution assigned to teaching, – the last two (2) years continuous.

[Go to: ttp://facultycouncil.colostate.edu/files/manual/sectione.htm Look at Section E.2 of the Faculty Manual]

Other Outcomes at CSU

• Without-Term Letters of Appointment• Multi-year Contracts Resulting from Legislative

Lobbying• Full Integration into Health and Retirement Benefits

Self-Help: WHAT OUTCOMES WOULD BE MEANINGFUL IN YOUR CONTEXT? WHAT WILL BE HARD TO

ACHIEVE?

Challenges for All Models

• Executive: buy-in, appearance of puppet-like control, fear of non-participatory processes

• Legislative: interference by government entities that do not understand higher ed contexts

• Grassroots: many voices, too little focus• Professional development: unrewarded conformity

disguised as opportunity

Discuss: WHAT OTHER PROBLEMS DO YOU FORESEE WITH THESE MODELS?

• Regularize appointment types• Define promotion schedules, career trajectories• Integrate NTTF into salary exercises• Discuss workload distributions—”Work to your job description. Document excellence.”• Codify faculty rights and responsibilities such as academic freedom and access to

grievance procedures• Identify and address any legal barriers to emancipatory approaches• Improve working conditions, remembering that a teacher’s working conditions are a

student’s learning conditions• Provide professional development opportunities• Recognize and respect faculty accomplishments• Integrate NTTF into governance

WHICH APPROACH—EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATIVE, GRASSROOTS, GOVERNANCE, OR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT--SEEMS MOST PROMISING FOR YOUR SETTING? WOULD A

COMBINATION OF APPROACHES WORK WELL?

Step 4Develop a priority list. Order these, change these, or add your own

• Should NTTF teach upper division courses?• Should NTTF teach capstone courses • Should NTTF do advising?• Should NTTF serve on graduate committees?• Should NTTF oversee internships?• Should NTTF be rewarded for work that lies outside their workload

distribution—rewarding creativity or research, for instance?• Should NTTF be considered for administrative roles such as writing

program administration or associate dean positions?

Step 4Anticipate Questions What are the perceived limits of and challenges to NTTF integration? Here’s a sample:

Campus Self Evaluation

• Where is your institution in these principles?

• What are the cultural beliefs about the roles and status of NTTF on your campus?

• What is the institutional attitude toward tenure at your institution?

• Is there interest in these matters among TT faculty and admin? If not, how might it be created?

• What roadblocks or obstacles exist from state law, unions, & boards or trustees?

• What are the current opportunities and challenges at your institution?