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[Task Force on Contingent Employment at UTK Report, March 12.
A preliminary report was given on March 5, 2001 to the Faculty Senate.]

CONTINGENT EMPLOYMENT AT UTK 1990 TO 2000

Introduction

Following the charge to the Task Force by the President of the Faculty Senate, Bob Glenn, and two subsequent meetings to organize to meet our objectives, on November 9 we sent a request for data to the Office of Provost. The data requested were those from the "Timetable of Classes" which we asked to be linked to the "Faculty and Staff Directory." Data were requested from Fall Semester, 2000 and for the previous three to five years.

Although Marianne Moffett, Associate in the Provost's Office was cooperative, pressures on administrative staff were such that data could only be provided for a single semester with the data for that term limited to little more than that from the Timetable. Errors in the transmission of the data and later discovered omissions in the data set transmitted resulted in a ten week delay.

Recommendation

Given the critical importance of data about classroom instruction for the fulfillment of faculty responsibility for university education, at this time we recommend that the Faculty Senate consider creating a committee to routinely collect and maintain the data needed to evaluate educational instruction in our university.

Current Data Sets

The report below is based on two limited data sets:

1. From the Office of Institutional Research, in March of 1999, to Bob Glenn, the Student Credit Hour distribution for 1990 to 1998 by two year intervals.
   
   
2. From the Office of the Provost, Associate Marianne Moffett the contact, an Excel Spreadsheet of 80% of the sections taught Fall Semester 2000, by Employment and Faculty Status, Course Level, and Student Credit Hour. (No explanation could be given for this second data gap and the Office of the Provost was "too busy" to engage in yet another search. Again this points to the need for the faculty to maintain its own data file rather than continue to be subject to the importance which the administration gives to its requests for data.)

Definition of Terms

Findings

1. From 1990 to 2000, Student Credit Hours increased from about 300,000 to 320,000, with almost all of the increase in the undergraduate program
   
   
2. Instruction by Contingent Faculty doubled, increasing from 11% in 1990 to 22% in 2000.
   
   
3. Instruction by Graduate Assistants was 22% in 1990 and 19% in 2000.
   
   
4. Changes in Student Credit Hours per section from 1990 to 2000, a measure of the changes in the average number of students per section, remained relatively flat for Regular Faculty, declined 5% for Contingent Faculty, and increased for Graduate Assistants by about 5%.
   
   
5. For Fall Semester, 2000, instruction of sections by Contingent Faculty and Graduate Assistants constituted slightly more than 40% of all sections taught. (Data for earlier periods was not made available as noted above.)
   
   
6. For Fall Semester, 2000, instruction by Contingent Faculty and Graduate Students constitutes 55% of the Student Credit Hours generated.