Using the general work experience in Canada and the United States as a
point of departure, the authors explore shifts in the characteristics of cohorts
of newly hired instructors at Canadian universities from 1977 to 1991. They
show a pattern of changes in academic job entitlements and major contributions
of teaching outside the tenure stream (i.e., in external labour markets).
These shifts include increased difficulty of access to academic appointments,
manifested by increasing age of entrants, higher credentials, and a decreasing
proportion of senior hires. Women's accelerated entrance to academe
coincides with reduced options and a future of much more chaotic and difficult
career trajectories, which they, as well as male entrants, must confront.
The typology of inquiry paradigms by which Yvonna Lincoln and Egon
Guba divide social sciences scholars can be adapted to other types of
disciplines, including law. Even though scholarship in law is typically more
normative and less empirical than in the social sciences, qualitative data drawn from
law faculty suggests that both sets of scholars work in parallel inquiry
paradigms. These parallels indicate that the constructs at the basis of the typology
are sound and make possible cross-disciplinary comparisons based upon
inquiry paradigms.
Good practices in undergraduate education consist of faculty and
student behaviors associated with desired outcomes from attending college. This
study compares the experiences of two groups of lower-division undergraduates
with good practices at baccalaureate institutions and doctoral-granting
universities between 1990 and 1994. During this period, the frequency of
student-faculty interaction increased at baccalaureate institutions. However, at
doctoral-granting universities faculty-student interaction and active
learning decreased.
Focus on Female Faculty
Riger, Stephanie.
Stokes, Joseph P., 1946-.
Raja, Sheela.
Sullivan, Megan.
This study developed a scale to measure perceptions of the working
environment for female faculty in higher education using data from 626 faculty
members from the United States and Canada. The Academic Work
Environment for Women Scale includes three dimensions: differential treatment of
women, balancing work and personal obligations, and sexist attitudes and
comments. To demonstrate the utility of the scale, we examined the relationship
between the proportion of women in an academic department and the
perceived supportiveness or hostility toward women of that department and the
relationship of scale scores to demographic indicators.
Dickens, Cynthia Sullivan, 1948-.
Sagaria, Mary Ann Danowitz.
This article describes an interpretive study of 26 feminist women faculty
who collaborate with another woman or women in research and/or scholarly
writing. The findings indicate that collaboration is a salient practice among
feminist scholars. Collaborative practices reflect distinctive pedagogical,
instrumental, professional, and intimate patterns that are philosophically
congruent with feminism.
Review title: On culture, canons, and college curriculum.
Abstract:
Two new books stake out competing positions in the "culture wars":
The Great Canon Controversy advances a traditionalist "reform" posture that
examines historic and contemporary claims for the canon, while
The Opening of the American Mind is a counterattack that uses history to advance the claim
that contemporary multicultural shifts in the canon reflect the historic
openness of our colleges and universities to multiple cultural heritages. A third,
Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum, addresses the "culture wars" and,
more broadly, undergraduate curriculum design, evaluation, and change.