Hidden Academics : Contract Faculty in Canadian Universities

Over the past two decades, increasing government cuts have forced universities to become dependent on full- and part-time contract faculty. This fixed dependence has reinforced the functional split in the academic labour force, a split that has taken the form not only of differences in status, compensation, career opportunities, and professional development, but also of feminization and occupational segregation. In Hidden Academics , Indhu Rajagopal examines the multiple ways contract faculty have emerged as an underclass in academia. The identity of the part-time faculty, the nature of their work, and their feelings about status in the university are explained. Central to these discussions are the feminization of part-timers, the relationship between the full-time faculty and their perceptions of part-timers, academic administrators' reasons for hiring part-timers, and the future of the university in this context.