Office of the President
Non-Tenure Track Faculty Initiative
CWU, like many higher education institutions, relies heavily on the expertise and professionalism of nontenure track (NTT) faculty. NTT faculty bring tremendous value and commitment to our campus, yet they rarely receive the professional development opportunities or support they need to be successful.
NTT instructors, who represent about 40% of our overall faculty, do not have access to consistent professional development funding. However, NTT faculty—like all of our faculty—still must stay up to date on certifications, credentials, software trainings, memberships, and professional requirements so they can provide the best possible education to our students. Similarly, NTT faculty would benefit from increased pedagogical training so they can deliver the most relevant instruction to our students. This also would allow students to become more engaged partners in the learning process. As we think more about high-engaged learning as an institution, our NTT faculty will need our help to scale up their pedagogical practices so they can best serve their students.
Many of our NTT faculty come to us from the business or nonprofit world, and those experiences enable them to share incredible expertise and real-world learning experiences with our students. These instructors provide unparalleled value through their knowledge of industry, business, and real-world experiences, but they often come to CWU with limited teaching experience or educational training. Support for shadow teaching, coteaching, and equity training would allow these faculty members to enhance their teaching skills. We believe a more engaged and well-prepared NTT teaching cohort will lead to better outcomes with student success, graduation rates, and retention.
Research and best practices have shown us that engaged students who feel a sense of belonging perform at a higher level in the classroom. NTTs teach a high volume of courses and develop strong bonds with students, but because NTT faculty are compensated per class (rather than holistically), it is often difficult for them to participate in extracurricular activities. Figuring out a way to allow paid service workload for NTT faculty would be very helpful in engaging all of our faculty and students, both inside and outside the classroom.
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