The Chronicle of Higher Education has run a few pieces this morning that assess the current state of the academic workplace. The big draw here is their list of 97 "great colleges to work for," which highlights institutions with outstanding evaluations in a number of areas, including collaborative governance, compensation and benefits, professional/career development, and respect and appreciation, among other categories. It's hard to comment on how great a workplace any of these campuses are just from the brief write-ups, but the categories for evaluation do make a certain amount of intuitive sense. It'd be interesting to hear what you, dear reader, have to say about any of the institutions on the list.

One place that does seem like a great place to work - especially if you're not on the tenure-track - is Vancouver (BC) Community College. VCC is being held up as a model of equity and fairness in its employment of faculty, and with good reason. Through collective bargaining, the faculty at VCC has achieved a "regularization" process for adjunct faculty, providing important job security provisions for those who work at least half-time for 19 of 24 months. It also provides equity in the way of compensation by pegging part-time pay to what full-timers make - if you work half-time, you'd make half of what a full-timer would make. Such provisions provide an unheard of level of economic stability for adjunct faculty at VCC, making it a rarity in both Canada and the States. Another feather in VCC's "great place to work" cap? It's in Vancouver.

The final piece in the Chronicle covers life at the top of the academic heap - on the tenure track. The takeaway from this article isn't how things have changed from the "golden age" of academia, but rather what the impact of on-going disinvestment in higher education and a radically changed academic staffing structure is having for those on the tenure track, as well as for those who aspire to it. The anecdotes in the story have been well-catalogued here: a decline in the number of tenure-track positions has increased competition, and these competitive pressures continue through the tenure-review process with an increased emphasis on generating publications and prestige. Once tenured, this group of faculty is saddled with numerous administrative responsibilities on top of their research and teaching responsibilities. Funding for research is becoming increasingly scarce, even for those at the top - to say nothing of those at lower rungs who desperately need the professional support necessary to advance in their careers.