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Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile (1994)

Chapter: ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS

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Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

3

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS

As the academic sector5 is the most common employer of humanities doctorates, the following characteristics of those academically employed are described below: academic rank, tenure status, and primary work activity. These characteristics are then examined by field of doctorate, gender, and years since award of doctorate.

Academic Rank

The majority of humanities doctorates employed in the academic sector, both overall and within each field, held faculty positions6 in 1991 (see Table 16). The distribution among the faculty ranks varied considerably across fields: the percentage of full professors ranged from a high of 50.1 percent in “other history” to a low of 22.3 percent in art history; over 31 percent of the doctorates in art history and modern languages and literature were associate professors compared with 20.2 percent of those in “other history”; and approximately 23 percent of doctorates in art history and “other humanities” were assistant professors compared with only 12.3 percent of those in “other history.”

Gender and Years Since Award of Doctorate

Table 17 shows the academic rank of humanities doctorates by gender and years since award of doctorate. Men were much more likely than women to be full professors (45.2 percent, compared with 21.7 percent, respectively); the percentages of men and women who were associate professors were approximately the same; and the lower-ranking positions of assistant professor, instructor, and lecturer had higher concentrations of women (see Figure 6). Men were more likely than women to be full professors, even when years since award of doctorate were taken into account. The distribution across academic ranks of men and women was most similar for the newest group.

Tenure Status

In 1991, 61.5 percent of humanities doctorates in academe were tenured. As shown in Table 18, the proportion was highest for doctorates in “other history” and

5  

The academic sector includes 2-year and 4-year colleges, universities, and medical schools.

6  

For this report, faculty positions are defined to include the ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 16 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Academic Rank and Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Academic Rank

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/ Theater

Phil

Engl/Amer Lang/Lit

Class Lang/Lit

Modern Lang/Lit

“Other Hum”

Total Employed* (No.)

64,100

3,900

9,400

2,000

5,300

3,200

5,100

17,500

1,400

10,300

5,800

Faculty

84.2

86.7

83.3

76.9

86.3

87.2

87.8

82.8

86.7

86.5

79.3

Professor

37.7

41.9

50.1

22.3

36.3

44.5

37.1

37.9

46.8

31.2

26.8

Associate Professor

26.5

27.8

20.2

31.2

28.8

27.6

27.5

25.3

21.7

31.5

26.7

Assistant Professor

17.7

14.1

12.3

23.0

19.3

13.9

21.6

15.6

17.2

22.0

23.3

Instructor

2.3

2.9

0.7

0.4

1.9

1.2

1.6

4.1

1.0

1.8

2.4

Lecturer

2.5

1.0

2.2

1.8

2.7

1.2

1.2

2.7

0.2

3.8

4.0

Adjunct

3.6

2.5

3.9

8.1

3.1

1.3

3.2

4.3

5.5

2.9

3.3

Other Faculty

1.9

2.6

1.4

0.8

1.8

1.5

1.5

2.3

2.9

2.0

1.5

Does Not Apply

4.1

5.4

5.3

3.1

4.2

4.2

3.1

4.4

1.5

2.1

5.7

Postdoctoral Appointment

0.5

0.0

0.6

1.8

0.5

0.1

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.3

1.7

No Report

3.2

1.8

3.2

7.6

1.6

4.6

3.1

3.4

3.2

2.3

4.5

NOTE: Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 17 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Academic Rank, Years Since Award of Doctorate, and Gender, 1991 (in percent)

 

Total

5 or Fewer Years

6-15 Years

16-35 Years

Academic Rank

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Total Employed* (No.)

43,600

20,400

6,200

5,400

13,300

8,800

23,200

6,200

Faculty

87.4

77.4

88.5

77.6

82.1

77.4

91.0

77.5

Professor

45.2

21.7

5.1

1.8

27.1

14.1

65.6

49.5

Associate Professor

26.2

27.1

16.7

13.4

39.6

39.9

22.2

21.1

Assistant Professor

14.3

25.0

63.5

57.3

13.1

19.9

2.3

4.3

Instructor

1.7

3.6

3.2

5.2

2.4

3.4

0.9

2.5

Lecturer

1.5

4.7

1.4

5.2

2.7

4.8

0.5

3.9

Adjunct

2.1

6.8

2.3

9.0

3.3

6.4

0.9

5.4

Other Faculty

1.8

2.1

1.7

1.1

2.0

2.1

1.6

2.9

Does Not Apply

3.7

5.0

2.9

4.4

6.3

4.6

2.5

6.3

Postdoctoral Appointment

0.3

0.9

0.7

0.9

0.2

1.3

0.1

0.2

No Report

3.2

3.1

2.5

1.8

3.3

3.4

3.3

4.0

NOTE: Those with more than 35 years since doctorate are not shown because of their small numbers; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Figure 6. Faculty rank of academically employed doctorates, by gender, 1991.

speech/theater (66.7 and 66.3 percent, respectively) and lowest for those in art history and “other humanities” (50.7 and 49.2 percent, respectively). Doctorates in classical languages and literature had the highest proportion in nontenure-track positions, 14.8 percent, compared with 7.3 percent of humanities doctorates overall.

Gender and Years Since Award of Doctorate

As with faculty rank, disparities by gender are evident in the tenure status of humanities doctorates (Table 19). While 68.9 percent of academically employed men were tenured, the comparable figure for women was 49.6 percent. Women were also more likely to be in nontenure-track positions (13.5 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for men) and to hold positions where tenure status was not applicable (15.0 percent, compared with 9.4 percent for men). Regardless of group, men were more likely than women to be tenured; the differences were greatest for those from the oldest group and smallest in the newest group.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 18 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Tenure Status and Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Tenure Status

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Total Employed* (No.)

64,100

3,900

9,400

2,000

5,300

3,200

5,100

17,500

1,400

10,300

5,800

Tenured

61.5

62.8

66.7

50.7

61.4

66.3

64.2

62.2

59.2

62.0

49.2

Not Tenured

34.4

35.4

29.2

39.7

36.4

29.1

31.7

33.7

37.7

34.5

44.8

Tenure Track

15.9

15.5

11.9

21.0

20.1

16.9

17.5

13.7

11.9

17.5

20.2

Nontenure Track

7.3

4.6

5.5

9.3

6.0

4.3

6.8

7.2

14.8

7.6

12.0

Tenure Not Applicable

11.2

15.3

11.7

9.4

10.4

7.9

7.4

12.8

11.0

9.5

12.6

No Report

4.1

1.8

4.1

9.6

2.2

4.6

4.0

4.1

3.2

3.5

6.0

NOTE: Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 19 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Tenure Status, Years Since Award of Doctorate, and Gender, 1991 (in percent)

 

Total

5 or Fewer Years

6-15 Years

16-35 Years

Tenure

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Total Employed* (No.)

43,600

20,400

6,200

5,400

13,300

8,800

23,200

6,200

Tenured

68.9

45.8

16.2

12.6

63.9

50.9

86.2

67.9

Not Tenured

27.3

49.6

80.2

83.7

32.5

43.8

10.1

27.8

Tenure Track

13.5

21.1

58.1

49.0

14.0

15.9

1.8

4.4

Nontenure Track

4.3

13.5

12.1

19.5

5.9

14.7

1.2

6.8

Tenure Not Applicable

9.4

15.0

10.0

15.2

12.7

13.2

7.2

16.6

No Report

3.8

4.5

3.6

3.7

3.6

5.3

3.7

4.2

NOTE: Those with more than 35 years since doctorate are not shown because of their small numbers; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Primary Work Activity

Teaching was the primary work activity of 76.5 percent of humanities doctorates employed in the academic sector (see Table 20), followed by management and administration (11.0 percent), and research and development (5.1 percent). There was some variation in the distribution of work activities across fields: 15.2 percent of the speech/theater doctorates were primarily engaged in management and administration, compared with approximately 6 percent of those in classical languages and literature and art history; between 10 and 11 percent of doctorates in philosophy and “other humanities” were primarily engaged in research and development, compared with only 1.0 percent of the music doctorates.

Gender and Years Since Award of Doctorate

While gender differences have been noted in both the academic positions and tenure status of academically employed humanities doctorates, the distribution of primary work activities was similar for men and women in academe (see Table 21) even when years since award of doctorate are taken into account.

Number of Publications

In 1991, respondents were asked how many publications they had published or had accepted for publication in the past 2 years. “Publications ” were defined as books or monographs (as an author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor), chapters in scholarly books, articles in refereed journals, book reviews in refereed journals, and articles in newspapers or magazines. Table 22 shows that the mean number of publications for those employed in academe was 4.2. (This compares to 2.5 for those employed in business/industry, 2.7 for those employed in nonprofit organizations, and 2.1 for those employed in government.) By field, academically employed doctorates in American history had the highest mean number of publications, 6.1, while doctorates in music and speech/theater had the lowest (2.1 and 3.6, respectively). The latter finding is not surprising, because doctorates in these fields are more likely to produce other types of creative and scholarly works such as exhibitions or performances in the fine or applied arts.

Those with tenure had the highest mean number of publications, 4.6, followed by those not tenured, but in a tenure track, 4.3. Those not in a tenure track position had a mean number of publications of 3.3.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 20 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Primary Work Activity and Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Primary Work Activity

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/ Theater

Phil

Engl/Amer Lang/Lit

Class Lang/Lit

Modern Lang/Lit

“Other Hum”

Total Employed* (No.)

64,100

3,900

9,400

2,000

5,300

3,200

5,100

17,500

1,400

10,300

5,800

Teaching

76.5

72.2

73.3

79.8

81.7

77.8

76.7

75.3

77.1

80.6

74.1

Management/Administration

11.0

14.0

11.0

6.2

9.9

15.2

6.7

12.7

5.9

9.6

11.8

Research & Development

5.1

4.8

6.0

5.8

1.0

3.6

10.1

3.0

3.6

5.0

10.7

Writing/Editing

2.9

2.9

4.0

1.6

0.2

0.4

3.8

4.2

6.9

2.0

1.1

Other Activities

3.0

2.9

3.7

2.2

7.2

2.3

1.2

3.4

5.7

1.0

2.0

No Report

1.5

3.2

2.0

4.5

0.0

0.7

1.5

1.5

0.9

1.7

0.3

NOTE: Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 21 Academically Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Primary Work Activity, Years Since Award of Doctorate, and Gender, 1991 (in percent)

 

Total

5 or Fewer Years

6-15 Years

16-35 Years

Primary Work Activity

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Total Employed* (No.)

43,600

20,400

6,200

5,400

13,300

8,800

23,200

6,200

Teaching

76.7

76.1

83.3

79.6

77.3

76.5

74.4

72.3

Management

10.5

12.0

3.3

6.5

11.4

12.9

12.1

15.6

Research & Development

5.2

5.0

7.4

8.1

4.7

4.4

4.8

3.0

Writing/Editing

2.8

3.0

2.2

2.7

2.3

2.4

3.2

4.3

Other Activities

3.1

2.7

3.6

2.4

3.0

2.9

3.0

2.8

No Report

1.7

1.2

0.1

0.8

1.2

0.9

2.5

2.0

NOTE: Those with more than 35 years since doctorate are not shown because of their small numbers; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 22 Publications of Humanities Ph.D.s Employed in Academe, by Field of Doctorate and Tenure Status, 1991 (in percent)

   

Number of Publications

Field of Doctorate and Tenure Status

Total* (No.)

None

1-2

3-5

More Than 5

Mean

Total

60,000

31.2

21.7

22.7

24.4

4.2

Field of Doctorate

American History

3,800

20.4

20.1

25.4

34.1

6.1

Other History

9,200

26.3

19.5

24.7

29.4

5.0

Art History

1,900

15.4

32.2

29.0

23.4

4.0

Music

5,000

61.0

16.4

10.5

12.1

2.1

Speech/Theater

3,100

43.3

20.1

18.1

18.5

3.6

Philosophy

4,900

26.6

22.7

23.6

27.1

4.2

English and Amer Lang/Lit

17,000

33.2

24.9

21.8

20.1

3.8

Classical Lang/Lit

1,300

29.7

20.5

28.1

21.8

3.5

Modern Lang/Lit

9,900

26.8

20.3

24.8

28.1

4.6

Other Humanities

3,900

21.5

19.9

27.6

30.9

4.9

Tenure Status

Tenured

37,300

28.7

21.0

23.4

26.9

4.6

Not Tenured

20,700

35.3

22.7

21.7

20.2

3.6

Tenure Track

9,600

21.0

23.4

29.6

26.0

4.3

Nontenure Track

4,200

40.3

24.8

20.4

14.5

3.3

Tenure Not Applicable

6,900

52.3

20.4

11.6

15.7

2.7

*Totals in this table are equal to the number answering the question on publications, not the total sample, and may therefore disagree with totals shown elsewhere in the report.

†Subcategories do not add to total because no reports are not shown.

Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 29
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 30
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 31
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 32
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 33
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 34
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 35
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 36
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 37
Suggested Citation:"ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT OF HUMANISTS." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 38
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