Choosing the Road Less Traveled: Ten Years Later

In 2002 the authors made a presentation at ASEE entitled, “Choosing the Road Less Traveled: Alternatives to the Tenure Track.” Three engineering educators with less than three years of experience related how their interests, priorities, and family situations led them to seek out nontenure track faculty positions. From their perspective as new faculty, they candidly discussed the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the paths they had taken. The original presentation concluded by saying, “At this point the biggest unknown is the long-term satisfaction in and evolution of their non-traditional academic roles.” Ten years later, all three remain at their original institutions, and their careers and professional lives have developed in both expected and unexpected ways. With the benefit of that perspective, the authors share how their professional roles have developed over a decade, how they are regarded within the department, and their satisfaction with the work and life balance that their roles provide. This is an important area of discussion because studies show that approximately 65 percent of all new faculty appointments in academia are now non-tenure track, with part-time non-tenure-track faculty appointments making up the bulk of that percentage. The authors share insight into the benefits of the non-tenure-track role and how that role may change over time.