Percentage of Humanities Faculty Members Employed Part-Time or Off the Tenure Track, by Discipline, Fall 2012

Given growing concern about humanities faculty members employed in “contingent” positions (off the tenure track and often part-time), the number of faculty employed in the humanities provides only a partial picture of the employment situation in academia. The Academy’s survey of humanities departments clarifies the situation at four-year institutions. In 2012, less than half of the humanities faculty members were employed off the tenure track. (This generally includes the percentages also recorded in this chart as employed part-time.) The percentage of faculty employed off the tenure track ranged from 19% in history of science programs (which tended to be situated in specialized doctoral-level programs at research universities) to almost 50% in the communication and language disciplines.