SWE - Winter 2009 - (Page 61) ENGINEERING WORLD regression — the researchers’ age-estimation software trained on a database containing photos of 1,600 faces. The software can estimate ages from 1 year to 93 years. Its accuracy ranges from about 50 percent when estimating ages to within 5 years, to more than 80 percent when estimating ages to within 10 years. Too Many Rungs on the Academic Ladder? An aging professoriate, a growing reliance on parttime and non-tenured faculty, and students who complete their doctoral degrees and become faculty later in life are all factors that contribute to a scarcity of young, permanent faculty who will have the time and opportunity to advance up the traditional career ladder to a college presidency, a new issue brief by the American Council on Education concludes. “Too Many Rungs on the Ladder? Faculty Demographics and the Future Leadership of Higher Education” examines why so few young adults are in the professoriate and discusses the implications for the future of the nation’s colleges and universities. Using data from the Department of Education’s 2003-04 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty, the report suggests that the longstanding career ladder to top administrative posts in academia may have too many steps given these shifting demographic realities. Among the key findings: • Only 3 percent of all faculty are Jacqueline King age 34 or younger and hold the types of permanent positions that typically lead to advancement (tenured or tenure-line positions at four-year institutions and full-time positions at community colleges). • Nearly half (48 percent) of all faculty at four-year institutions were either not in tenure-track positions or worked at institutions that do not offer tenure. At community colleges, 62 percent of faculty are parttime. • Women 45 or younger working in permanent positions make up only 5 percent of faculty at fouryear institutions, and 6 percent at community colleges. Likewise, people of color age 45 or younger working in permanent positions make up only 4 percent of faculty at four-year institutions and 6 percent of community college faculty. “With fewer young, permanent junior faculty in the professoriate, the current path to a college presidency may not allow them the opportunity to rise through the ranks in the same way their predecessors did,” said Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D., assistant vice president and director of ACE’s Center for Policy Analysis and author of the issue brief. “If this current model — which typically includes stints as a tenured faculty member, department chair, and chief academic officer — is no longer working, higher education must find ways to alter the career ladder so people can skip rungs and rise to the presidency with fewer years of experience, or become more open to individuals from areas other than academic affairs.” I The Defense Threat Reduction Agency seeks to employ a diverse group of enthusiastic professionals with a vision to help keep America safe from weapons of mass destruction. This Department of Defense agency accomplishes this critical task through its diverse, innovative military and civilian experts, located worldwide. Career Opportunities: Science Chemistry, physics, toxicology, biology, microbiology, physiology. Engineering General, nuclear, civil, electrical, and structural engineering and technicians. ACE Get a start on your future today. For details on our mission and career opportunities visit us at www.dtra.mil SWE WINTER 2009 61 http://www.dtra.mil http://www.dtra.mil
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.