Author Description

Picking up where Christopher Jencks's and David Riesman's landmark work The Academic Revolution (1968) left off, this book examines the impact of recent upheavals in higher education on the American professoriate. Examining such factors as declining enrollment, declining governmental support, and massive shifts in enrollment among academic disciplines, the authors conclude that academics are in an imperiled profession.From about 1955 to 1970, higher education gained enormously in public esteem and prospered financially. But in the early '70s, a period of prolonged financial stringency began, the burden of which has fallen heavily on faculty compensation and working conditions. "Nearly a century of progress for faculty seems to have been interrupted, even reversed," they write. The result has been a sharp drop-off in interest in the profession among highly able persons.The book addresses two main issues: Will our colleges and universities be able to maintain an appropriate professoriate in the sense of attracting well-qualified people? If not, what should be done to assure that the professoriate of the future is capable of meeting its responsibilities? To answer these questions, the authors offer a detailed profile of the American professoriate--their demanding work, contribution to society, personal backgrounds and characteristics (including their eccentricities), values and attitudes. they look in depth at salaries, working conditions, and the flow of people in and out of the profession. The final section of the book contains policy recommendations, some directed toward the colleges and universities themselves, some toward federal and state governments. These recommendations are presented from the viewpoint of the public interest, not only in terms of the interests of the profession.