Wanted: “Nontenure-Track Lecturers”

August 15, 2010 by DickH Posted in Current Events 2 Comments

To get from the feature stories in the Sunday Globe “Ideas” section to the editorial page, you have to flip through a couple of pages of want ads. One bearing the UMass Lowell logo caught my eye. Here’s the relevant part:

“In order to reduce reliance on part-time instructors, UMass Lowell seeks to hire nontenure-track lecturers who will focus on teaching and service. These hires will complement continuing significant increases in tenure-track faculty across the institution. UMass Lowell invites applications for these newly created nontenure-track positions . . .”

“The lecturer position is annually renewable and successful candidates are considered for promotion to senior lecturers, following six continuous years of service.”

2 Responses to Wanted: “Nontenure-Track Lecturers”

  1. Bob Forrant says:

    The slow, steady march toward the end of tenure is at hand at UMass Lowell.

    Ostensible commitment to preserve full-time tenure-track faculty was made when this new posiiton was negotiated with the faculty union but it is one of those “we will make every effort” sorts of things. It will mean that more senior faculty will teach less and less on the introductory level – a bad thing in my opinion.

    However, it will make conditions much, much better for the folks hired into these positions as opposed to the more typical adjunct faculty who are ill paid, unbenefited, and in and out of several campuses weekly. A series of trade-offs – we’ll see what happens as this multi-tier/multi-paid workforce goes forward.