by Diane Calabrese

THE MESSENGERS DIFFER. But the message is the same. Most doctoral recipients that aspire to tenure-track, full-time faculty positions will never find them. In mid- January, the Pew Charitable Trusts released the results of a study it funded, a study that illuminates the quantitative dimensions of life after graduate studies. As currently configured, the U.S. higher education sector employs almost half of all U.S. faculty members as part-timers. (See the Pew report, "At Cross Purposes: What the experiences of today's doctoral students reveal about doctoral education," at www.phd-survey.org.)

In fact, according to Dr. Roger G. Baldwin and Dr. Jay L. Chronister, the authors of Teaching Without Tenure, Policies and Practices for a New Era (The Johns Hopkins University Press), "in the fall of 1995, about 52 percent of full-time faculty were tenured" (page 23). Thus, about one in four faculty members across the nation works full-time and has tenure. But Dr. Baldwin, a professor of education at the College of William and Mary, and Dr. Chronister, a professor of education, emeritus, at the University of Virginia, offer no hope of constancy in higher education. And should any position seeker still need a harsh reminder to be set straight, the first line of the "Introduction" to the book advises, "Higher education institutions are no longer cozy sanctuariesS"

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