AAUP Expands Research Efforts

By Chelsea Fowler

The AAUP formed a new department in November 2020 to consolidate the Association’s research efforts. The AAUP Department of Research consists of Hans-Joerg Tiede (director of research), Glenn Colby (senior researcher), and Chelsea Fowler (research assistant). The department will focus on research issues that directly affect faculty members, such as faculty compensation, the academic workforce, racial and gender equity, and academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance. The department most recently published a data snapshot on full-time women faculty and faculty of color, available at https://www.aaup.org/news/data-snapshot-full-time-women-faculty-and-faculty-color.

Over the coming year, the research department will work to set its research agenda and priorities, which will include research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the profession. The department will continue to administer the Faculty Compensation Survey but will also evaluate new data collection and reporting techniques to better serve AAUP chapters. The department is currently administering a national shared governance survey. Additionally, the department will develop a new research program on academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance.