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[annapurna]

I’m entering year four of a tt position. I just had a very successful third-year review, and there are many positive aspects to my job. That said, I have a 4/4 load with the expectation that I teach five days a week, I’m buried in committee work, and I commute over an hour each way. I have a strong publication record, but because the market in my field is saturated, I have not yet been able to find a job with a lighter teaching load or one that would allow for a lighter commute. There are, however, several positions I know of locally (that is, where I live) that are non-tenure track, 4/4 load renewable term teaching positions with full benefits. I’d be taking a salary cut, but my quality of life would improve in many ways. If you were in such a tenure-track position, or if you have been, would you think it wise to leave a tenure-track position for a renewable term teaching faculty job? What is the benefit of staying in a tenure-track job when you don’t want to be there long-term? Of course, I can keep looking for a better tt position, and already being in one would theoretically make that easier, but in this market, that could take years, and I’m starting to wonder if I should just draw the line and try to create a different situation for myself.

[anon99]

Two of the problems with your current job can be 'fixed'.  Start saying no to some of the committee work or get on committees that are less active/have less work.  Compare what you are doing relative to others and don't do more.  Can you move closer to where you work?  I can't imagine a two hour commute each day.  To me going from something permanent to a year-to-year contract, in the current economy, would be risky.  Plus if you like your job aside from the commute and committee work and if your area is saturated, getting a permanent job might be hard.

[seniorscholar]

One of the significant risks with a renewable term position is that, in the case of financial difficulties, they are very easy to eliminate, compared with the problems in downsizing the tenured/tenure-track faculty -- even if it means cutting one of the basic courses. (When I started university-level teaching back in the dark ages, for example, two semesters of first-year composition were required almost everywhere. Not many places still have that piece of the core curriculum in place.) And as for cutting courses that are not required of all students, that's pretty easy. So is raising the teaching load of tenured or TT faculty by one course a year in order to non-renew a large number of renewable term faculty. Consider the risks involved specifically in your field and look at the financial status of the school at which you're considering a position.

[45young]

I worked a 2-2 renewable term position for a local state school, with 12 hours of on-campus advising. It was fine until the Program got a new Chair, who decided to double my advising hours (which would have required me to be in the office 40 hours per week) and changed my contract when it came up for renewal. He did not increase my pay. So I really wouldn't advise doing this unless you have no other job.

[educator1]

I have found that having a renewable non-tt contract with benefits is the best thing in the world (for me). I use the substantial increase in free time (I only teach) to do consulting which, if expanded, could fill in well if my contract somehow were not renewed. I have been doing this for twenty years so my expectation of continued renewal is well founded.

[annapurna]

Thank you all for these helpful responses. I can't move closer to my job, which for various reasons is unlikely to change in the future. I have been trying to turn down new committee work, and have been successful in some ways, but there is an expectation of a high level of service at this institution. Your points about the unpredictability of renewable term contracts are well taken, and budget cuts definitely pose a high risk when it comes to job security. I would also hope to supplement my income with consulting work, but it's true that with the current economy, that too is unpredictable. I guess I'd have to weigh the pros and cons of different scenarios as they arise and see what risks I'd be willing to take. For me, there is also the added risk that to leave a tt job in my field is essentially saying goodbye to the tenure track more broadly. What if, two years from now, a great tt job came up in the city where I live, and my cv shows that I left a tt job for a renewable term position? Why should they consider hiring me back for a tt job? There's also that concern.

[msparticularity]

For me, there is also the added risk that to leave a tt job in my field is essentially saying goodbye to the tenure track more broadly. What if, two years from now, a great tt job came up in the city where I live, and my cv shows that I left a tt job for a renewable term position? Why should they consider hiring me back for a tt job? There's also that concern.

Yes, I think this point is crucial. It might make a certain amount of sense for you to leave your current TT job and take a renewable position if the new job allowed you to focus upon your research--and if you were going to go back on the market for a TT position within a year or two (and if you are prepared to move for a new job). Leaving a job with a very heavy teaching and service load and using the new position to boost your productivity in a visible way so you could get a new and more research-focused job would certainly be a risk, but it could also look like a reasonable career move. Leaving a job with a heavy teaching load for another one with a heavy teaching load, and then having to take on additional consulting work, with the effect that your research productivity does not improve measurably, however, is not going to do a thing for you as a candidate for future TT jobs.