Exogenous Events Impact on Faculty Composition in Higher Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-gjefm/V2E7/2026-01Keywords:
tenure, non-tenure, faculty, visa restrictions.Abstract
In the 1970’s, higher education faculty were male, full-time, tenured, and U.S. educated. The past 30 years have seen a significant replacement of full-time tenured faculty with non-tenured faculty, leading to a shrinking pool of tenured faculty.
During this time non-tenured lectures were hired to teach, and post-doctoral students were employed to support research. These substitutions assisted with the cost-cutting measures. Recent exogenous events related to restricting entrance visas for international students and H-proposed changes in 1B visas for temporary workers threaten to accelerate the changing faculty composition.
A portfolio faculty model ensures the continued relevance and competitiveness of higher education in the face of declining international student numbers, declining federal funding, and pressure to place students in a difficult labor market.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Michael A. Carrillo, Arthur Kraft, John Kraft (Author)
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