Lots of faculty like to say that being a professor isn’t what it used to be. Now we finally have research and data to back that up -- a new study argues that academia in general and the profession of being a faculty member in particular, are undergoing nothing less than a revolution:

The pace of change has accelerated dramatically. While new models in higher education historically have taken decades to establish themselves, today’s changes are having nationwide impact very quickly after they emerge. Government and the public have come to think of higher education as an industry with a key role in the economy, not as a separate entity that should be left to itself.

The faculties and student bodies of colleges are much more diverse than they used to be. There has been enormous growth in the use of part-time faculty members, and far greater growth rates for those jobs than for full-time jobs. Similarly, full-time faculty positions off the tenure track have grown. Enrollments have moved away from the liberal arts and toward the professions, with a resulting shift in faculty jobs.

With faculty members working long hours, wages falling behind inflation, and changes in the full-time/part-time ratio meaning considerably less job security, an important concern is the quality of those entering the professoriate. Here, the book finds very mixed conclusions.

Surveys of graduate programs and hiring committees indicate a very high quality of applicant (and plenty of them, in some cases a clearly overflowing pool). But the book also notes a variety of surveys of the career plans of the kinds of people colleges might hope are considering careers in academe, and their numbers are dwindling.

One thing that the article doesn’t mention (not sure about the actual study itself) is how many professors are increased being evaluated not on the quality of their teaching or what they contribute to the academic and non-academic community around them, but on how many publications and in what journals they’re published and how many grants they receive and how large those grants are.

As I’ve written in the past, all things considered, I really like my job and the privileges it affords me, personally and academically. Nonetheless, I hope that academia will take a hard look at these kinds of issues about what it really means to be a professor, at how American society has evolved, and keep the profession an attractive career option with these trends.