Abstract
Overall trends of academic staffing in the US have indicated declines in tenure, increased use of contingent faculty, and stratification of teaching and research efforts. However, little is known about academic staffing patterns in professional programs, and little research has been done using program-level data. The purposes of this study were to identify faculty staffing patterns, determine if patterns change over time, and identify predictors of staffing patterns in US-based physical therapy programs. Yearly program-level accreditation data from 2008 to 2017 were analyzed. A finite mixture model analysis identified staffing patterns. Logistic regression analyses were run to predict category membership and observe change over time. Two academic staffing categories emerged: (1) Broad staffing patterns (90.4% of programs) composed of more core faculty on tenure track and who held academic degrees and (2) Flexible programs (9.7% of observations) with higher numbers of core faculty, fewer faculty on tenure track, and fewer faculty with an academic doctoral degree. There was little change over time from one category to another. Programs were more likely to adopt a Flexible pattern when budget and faculty teaching time rose. Membership to one of two staffing models appears to be predicted by institutional reliance on professional programs for revenues. Either programs lower expenses by having tenured faculty balance teaching and research, or they rely on non-tenured faculty positions and higher enrollments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Data was gathered from the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Accreditation. This data is available upon request through the Commission.
References
2007-2008 Physical Therapist Education Programs Fact Sheets: Aggregate Program Data (2008). Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Retrieved from http://www.capteonline.org/uploadedFiles/CAPTEorg/About_CAPTE/Resources/Aggregate_Program_Data/Archived_Aggregate_Program_Data/CAPTEPTAggregateData_2008.pdf
2019 Physical Therapist Education Programs Fact Sheets: Aggregate Program Data (2020). Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Retrieved from http://www.capteonline.org/uploadedFiles/CAPTEorg/About_CAPTE/Resources/Aggregate_Program_Data/AggregateProgramData_PTPrograms.pdf
Adamson, B. L., Colbert, B., Hessler, K., Kuehn, R., McNeal, M. H., Pang, C., & Santacroce, D. (2012a). The status of clinical faculty in the legal academy: Report of the task force on the status of clinicians and the legal academy. Journal of the Legal Profession, 36(2), 353–414. Retrieved from https://repository.law.umich.edu/other/80/
Adamson, B. L., Pang, C., Colbert, B., Hessler, K., Kruse, K., Kuehn, R., McNeal, M. H., & Santacroce, D. (2012b). Clinical faculty in the legal academy: Hiring, promotion and retention. Journal of Legal Education, 62(1), 115–161. Retrieved from https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles/1551/
American Association of University Professors [AAUP]. (2018). Data snapshot: Contingent faculty in US higher ed. AAUP. Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/10112018%20Data%20Snapshot%20Tenure.pdf
Annual Accreditation Report (2019). Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Retrieved from http://www.capteonline.org/AAR/
APTA History (2017). American Physical Therapy Association. Retrieved from https://www.apta.org/History/
Barzansky, B., & Kenagy, G. (2010). The full-time clinical faculty: What goes around, comes around. Academic Medicine, 85(2), 260–265. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181c85b22
Bland, C. J., Center, B. A., Finstad, D. A., Risbey, K. R., & Staples, J. (2006). The impact of appointment type on the productivity and commitment of full-time faculty in research and doctoral institutions. Journal of Higher Education, 77(1), 89–123. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2006.0002
Bound, J., Lovenheim, M. F., & Turner, S. (2010). Why have college completion rates declined? An analysis of student preparation and collegiate resources. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(3), 129–157. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.2.3.129
Bunton, S. A., & Mallon, W. T. (2007). The continued evolution of faculty appointment and tenure policies at U.S. medical schools. Academic Medicine, 82(3), 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3180307e87
Cain, T. R. (2012). Establishing academic freedom: Politics, principles, and the development of core values. Palgrave.
Cantwell, B. (2015). Laboratory management, academic production, and the building blocks of academic capitalism. Higher Education, 70(3), 487–502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9851-9
Cantwell, B., & Taylor, B. J. (2015). The rise of the postdoctorate and the restructuring of academic research. The Journal of Higher Education, 86(5), 667–696. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2015.0028
Castilla, E. (2007). Dynamic analysis in the social sciences. Academic Press.
Chen, Y., Gupta, A., & Hoshower, L. (2006). Factors that motivate business faculty to conduct research: An expectancy theory analysis. Journal of Education for Business, 81(4), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.4.179-189
Cheslock, J. J., & Callie, T. M. (2015). Changing salary structure and faculty composition within business schools: Differences across sectors and state funding levels. Economics of Education Review, 49, 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.08.001
Deming, D. J., & Walters, C. R. (2017, August). The impact of price caps and spending cuts on US postsecondary attainment (NBER working paper 23736). Retrieved from The National Bureau of Economic Research website: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23736
Deusinger, S. S., Hinman, M., & Peterson, C. (2018). Positioning academic physical therapy for excellence through contemporary accreditation standards. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 32(2), 118–122. https://doi.org/10.1097/JTE.0000000000000053
Dickson, T., Chen, P. D., & Taylor, B. (2019). Impact of funding allocation on physical therapist research productivity and DPT student graduates: An analysis using panel data. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 24, 269–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-018-9864-8
Dickson, T., & Taylor, B. J. (2019). Factors that predict institutional adoption of physcial therapist education programs. Physical Therapy, 99(7), 849–861. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzz047
Dickson, T., Taylor, B. J., & Zafereo, J. (2020). Professional physical therapy faculty and program characteristics from 2008-2017: Influences on graduation rates and first-time NPTE pass rates. Physical Therapy, 100(11), 1930–1947. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzaa148
Dickson, T., & Zafereo, J. (in press) Faculty and programmatic influences on the percentage of graduates of color from professional physical therapy programs in the United States. Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-020-09980-z
Dziak, J. J., Coffman, D. L., Lanza, S. T., & Li, R. (2012). Sensitivity and specificity of information criteria (technical Report series #12-119). Retrieved from the methodology center, The Pennsylvania State University website: https://www.methodology.psu.edu/files/2019/03/12-119-2e90hc6.pdf
Ehrenberg, R. G. (2012). American higher education in transition The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(1), 193-216. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.26.1.193
Ehrenberg, R. G. (2013). American law schools in a time of transition. The Journal of Legal Education, 63(1), 98–112. Retrieved from https://jle.aals.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=home
Ehrenberg, R. G., Rizzo, M. J., & Jakubson, G. H. (2007). Who bears the growing cost of science at universities? In P. Stephan & R. G. Ehrenberg (Eds.), Science and the university (pp. 19–35). University of Wisconsin Press.
Ehrenberg, R. G., & Zhang, L. (2005). Do tenured and tenure-track faculty matter? The Journal of Human Resources, 40(3), 647–659. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.XL.3.647
Fairweather, J. S. (1995). University-business partnerships: An assessment. The Journal of Higher Education, 66(5), 606–609. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1995.11774805
Fligstein, N., & McAdam, D. (2011). Toward a general theory of strategic action fields. Sociological Theory, 29(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01385.x
Fligstein, N., & McAdam, D. (2012). A theory of fields. Oxford University Press.
Fourcade, M., & Khurana, R. (2013). From social control to financial economics: The linked ecologies of economics and business in the twentieth century America. Theory and Society, 42(2), 121–159. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43694681
Freidson, E. (2013). Professionalism: The third logic. Wiley.
Gerber, L. G. (2014). The rise & decline of faculty governance: Professionalization and the modern American university. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gonzales, L. D., & Nuñez, A. M. (2014). The ranking regime and the production of knowledge: Implications for academia. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(31). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22n31.2014
Hearn, J. C., & Belsaco, A. (2015). Commitment to the core: A longitudinal analysis of humanities degree production in four-year colleges. The Journal of Higher Education, 86(3), 387–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2015.11777369
Hermanowicz, J. C. (2011). The American academic profession: Transformation in contemporary higher education. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hinman, M. R., & Brown, T. (2017). Changing profile of the physical therapy professoriate—Are we meeting CAPTE’s expectations? Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 31(4), 95–104. https://doi.org/10.1097/JTE.0000000000000016
Holcomb, J. D., Selker, L. G., & Roush, R. E. (1990). Scholarly productivity: A regional study of physical therapy faculty in schools of allied health. Physical Therapy, 70(2), 118–124. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/70.2.118
Hoxby, C. M. (2009). The changing selectivity of American colleges. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23(4), 95–118. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.23.4.95
Jensen, G. M., Hack, L. M., Nordstrom, T., Gwyer, J., & Mostrom, E. (2017b). National study of excellence and innovation in physical therapist education: Part 2—A call to reform. Physical Therapy, 97(9), 875–888. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzx062
Jensen, G. M., Nordstrom, T., Mostrom, E., Hack, L. M., & Gwyer, J. (2017a). National study of excellence and innovation in physical therapist education: Part 1—Design, method, and results. Physical Therapy, 97(9), 857–874. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzx061
Jones, R. F., & Gold, J. S. (2001). The present and future of appointment, tenure, and compensation policies for medical school clinical faculty. Academic Medicine, 76(10), 993–1004. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200110000-00006
Kaufman, R. R. (2009). Career factors help predict productivity in scholarship among faculty members in physical therapist education programs. Physical Therapy, 89(3), 204–216. https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20080076
Kezar, A. (2013a). Departmental cultures and non-tenure-track faculty: Willingness, capacity, and opportunity to perform at four-year institutions. Journal of Higher Education, 84(2), 153–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2013.11777284
Kezar, A. (2013b). Examining non-tenure track faculty perceptions of how departmental policies and practices shape their performance and ability to create student learning at four-year institutions. Research in Higher Education, 54, 571–598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-013-9288-5
Kezar, A. & Gehrke, S. (2016). Faculty composition in four-year institutions: The role of pressures, values, and organizational processes in academic decision making. The Journal of Higher Education, 87(3), 390–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.11777407
Kezar, A., & Sam, C. (2010). Understanding the new majority of non-tenure-track faculty in higher education: Demographics, experiences, and plans of action. ASHE Higher Education Series, 36(4). Jossey-Bass.
Kezar, A., & Sam, C. (2014). Governance as catalyst for policy change: Creating a contingent faculty friendly academy. Educational Policy, 28, 425–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904812465112
Kraatz, M. S., & Zajac, E. J. (1996). Exploring the limits of the new institutionalism: The causes and consequences of illegitimate organizational change. American Sociological Review, 61(5), 812–836. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096455
Leslie, L. L., Slaughter, S., Taylor, B. J., & Zhang, L. (2012). How do revenue variations affect expenditures within research universities? Research in Higher Education, 53, 614–639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9248-x
Lewinbuk, K. P. (2014). Hard to build, but easy to destroy? Will chaos in legal education lend to restructuring of law schools and elimination of faculty tenure? J Legal Prof, 39(1), 1–12. https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jlegpro39&div=5&g_sent=1&casa_token=URWFWo9MajoAAAAA:Pi1kgz9U_nFCOpLg8aJjLxNYZQoNlyiSPNNlLahguK7f7mT7W1sa0joLGd_3GUL6NiMDZcXi&collection=journals
Liemer, S. P. (2004). The hierarchy of law school faculty meetings: Who votes? UMKC Law Review, 73(2), 351–418.
Long, J. S. (1997). Regression models for categorical and limited dependent variables. Sage Publications.
Long, J. S., & Freese, J. (2006). Regression models for categorical dependent variables using Stata. Stata Press.
Marcoux, B. C., Stiskal, D., Swisher, L. L., & Wise, S. (2018). CAPTE response to position papers. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 32(2), 128–129. https://doi.org/10.1097/JTE.0000000000000057
Masyn, K. E. (2013). Latent class analysis and finite mixture modeling. In T. D. Little (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of quantitative methods (Vol. 2). Oxford University Press.
Micoli, K., & Wendell, S. (2018). History and evolution of the postdoctoral scholar in the United States. In A. J. Jaeger & A. J. Dinin (Eds.), The postdoc landscape: The invisible scholars (pp. 1–13). Elsevier.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Digest of education statistics. NCES. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/ch_1.asp
Newfield, C. (2009). Ending the budget wars: Funding the humanities during a crisis in higher education. Profession, 8, 270–284. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25595933
O’Meara, K., & Campbell, C. M. (2011). Faculty sense of agency in decisions about work and family. The Review of Higher Education, 34(3), 447–476. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2011.0000
Reuben, J. A. (1996). The making of the modern university: Intellectual transformation and the marginalization of morality. The University of Chicago Press.
Rhoades, G. (2014). Extending academic capitalism by foregrounding academic labor. In B. Cantwell & I. Kauppinen (Eds.), Academic capitalism in the age of globalization (pp. 113–134). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Roll, N. (2017). Debating the value of full-time professors. Inside higher education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/07/14/american-bar-association-receives-pushback-tenure-proposal
Rosinger, K. O., Taylor, B. J., Coco, L., & Slaughter, S. (2016). Organizational segmentation and the prestige economy: Deprofessionalization in high- and low-resource departments. The Journal of Higher Education, 87, 27–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.11777393
Schuster, J. (2011). The professoriate’s perilous path. In J. C. Hermanowicz (Ed.), The American academic profession: Transformation in contemporary higher education (pp. 1–17). Johns Hopkins University Press.
Schuster, J., & Finkelstein, M. (2006). The American faculty. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Slaughter, S., & Cantwell, B. (2012). Transatlantic moves to the market: The United States and the European Union. Higher Education, 63(5), 583–606. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41429102
Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state, and higher education. John Hopkins University Press.
Slaughter, S., & Taylor, B. J. (2016). Academic capitalism, stratification and resistance: Synthesis and future research. In S. Slaughter & B. J. Taylor. (Eds.), Higher education, stratification, and workforce development: Competitive advantage in Europe, the US, and Canada (pp. 5349–5360). Springer.
Standards and required elements for accreditation of physical therapy education programs (2017). Commission on Accreditation for Physical Therapy Education. Retrieved from http://www.capteonline.org/uploadedFiles/CAPTEorg/About_CAPTE/Resources/Accreditation_Handbook/CAPTE_PTStandardsEvidence.pdf
State Higher Education Executive Officers [SHEEO]. (2019). State higher education funding: 2018. SHEEO. Retrieved from https://sheeomain.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SHEEO_SHEF_FY18_Report.pdf
Stephan, P. (2012). How economics shapes science. Harvard.
Taylor, B. J. (2016). The field dynamics of stratification among US research universities: The expansion of federal support for academic research, 2000-2008. In S. Slaughter & B. J. Taylor (Eds.), Higher Education, stratification, and workforce development (pp. 59-79). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21512-9_4
Taylor, B. J., Barringer, S. N., & Warshaw, J. B. (2018). Affiliated nonprofit organizations: Strategic action and research universities. The Journal of Higher Education, 89(4), 422–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1434275
Taylor, B. J., & Cantwell, B. (2015). Global competition, US research universities, and international doctoral education: Growth and consolidation of an organizational field. Research in Higher Education, 56, 411–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-014-9355-6
Taylor, B. J., & Cantwell, B. (2019). Unequal higher education: Wealth, status and student opportunity. Rutgers University Press.
Taylor, B. J., Cantwell, B., & Slaughter, S. (2013). Quasi-markets in US higher education: Humanities emphasis and institutional revenues. Journal of Higher Education, 84(5), 675–707. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2013.11777305
Thelin, J. R. (2019). A history of American higher education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Vermunt, J. K., & Magidson, J. (2009). Latent class cluster analysis. In J. A. Hagenaars & A. L. McCutcheon (Eds.), Applied latent class analysis (pp. 89–106). Cambridge.
Walker, J. (2009). Time as the fourth dimension in the globalization of higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(5), 483–509. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2009.11779029
Walker, J. 2014. Exploring the academic capitalist time regime. In B. Cantwell, & I. Kauppinen (Eds.), Academic capitalism in the age of globalization (pp. 55–73). Baltimore, MD: JHU Press.
Zell, D. (2001). The market-driven business school: Has the pendulum swung too far? Journal of Management Inquiry, 10(4), 324–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492601104006
Zhang, L., Ehrenberg, R. G., & Liu, X. (2015). Changing faculty employment at four-year colleges and universities in the United States (no. w21827). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w21827
Zhang, L., & Liu, X. (2010). Faculty employment at 4-year colleges and universities. Economics of Education Review, 29(4), 543–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2009.10.007
Code Availability
Statistical code for this project was created using STATA statistical software as well as SPost software. Code is available upon request.
Funding
This work was supported in full by a 2019 Promotion of Doctoral Studies II Scholarship from the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research and made possible by the Academy of Physical Therapy Education Fund and the Mildred Wood Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and each draft of the manuscript were written and edited by Tara Dickson. Data analysis and each draft of the manuscript were written and edited by Barrett Taylor. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
This is an observational study. The IRB review committee at the University of North Texas has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.
Consent to Publish
All authors have provided explicit consent to submit this manuscript for publication.
Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dickson, T., Taylor, B. Faculty Staffing Patterns: Breadth and Flexibility in Professional Physical Therapy Programs. Innov High Educ 46, 499–518 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09546-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09546-w