The following table presents approximate counts of academic positions advertised in the Communications of the ACM between September and January in each of the past four years. In this table, positions are classifed into three main categories:
| Designated Numbers | Multiple Positions | Lower Bound for Total Positions | Number of Schools | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postdocs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996-1997 | 2 (0) | 2 (0) | 6 (0) | 3 (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997-1998 | 0 (0) | 4 (1) | 8 (2) | 4 (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998-1999 | 0 (2) | 4 (0) | 8 (2) | 4 (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999-2000 | 0 (0) | 6 (0) | 12 (0) | 5 (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-Tenure Track Positions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996-1997 | 17 (3) | 2 (0) | 21 (0) | 19 (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997-1998 | 21 (1) | 7 (3) | 35 (7) | 28 (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998-1999 | 29 (0) | 9 (1) | 47 (2) | 35 (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999-2000 | 14 (7) | 10 (2) | 34 (11) | 23 (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenure Track Positions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Junior Level| 1996-1997 | 228 (29) | 46 (11)
| 320 (51) | 220 (26) | 1997-1998 | 269 (37) | 73 (9)
| 415 (55) | 275 (32) | 1998-1999 | 390 (62) | 94 (15)
| 578 (92) | 316 (48) | 1999-2000 | 431 (77) | 109 (16)
| 649 (109) | 397 (42) | Senior Level | 1996-1997 | 23 (2) |
| 23 (2) | 22 (2) | 1997-1998 | 22 (0) |
| 22 (0) | 17 (0) | 1998-1999 | 25 (1) |
| 25 (1) | 24 (1) | 1999-2000 | 14 (3) |
| 14 (3) | 14 (3) | Any Level | 1996-1997 | 251 (31) | 46 (11)
| 343 (53) | 235 (27) | 1997-1998 | 291 (37) | 73 (9)
| 437 (55) | 292 (32) | 1998-1999 | 415 (63) | 94 (15)
| 603 (93) | 323 (49) | 1999-2000 | 445 (80) | 109 (16)
| 663 (112) | 405 (44) | Total Positions | 1996-1997 | |
| 370 (53) | 1997-1998 | |
| 480 (64) | 1998-1999 | |
| 658 (96) | 1999-2000 | |
| 709 (123) | 412 (46) | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Graphical representation of data: ( JPEG format / b&w postscript / color postscript ) | |||||||
| Position Categories | Numbers | Domestic/Foreign | Schools | Notes | Trends | Starting Date | Acknowledgement |
The Communications of the ACM was chosen for this review, because one might expect that most colleges and universities will advertise their open positions. Further, the months September through January were chose, because one might expect that most permanant positions for a following year would be advertised in those issues. However, some openings clearly are missed in this counting.
The Taulbe Survey indicates that the number of new Ph.D.s going to the 1300+ non-Ph.D.-granting schools seems to be declining from about 60 of 360 in 1997-1998 to 45 of 425 in 1999-2000.
The number of advertised post-doctoral positions and the number of senior
level positions has remained about constant over the period.
While the number of non-tenure track positions increased significantly in
percentage terms in each of the years, the number of such positions
advertised during this time frame is relatively insignificant.
The number of junior-level, tenure-track positions increased about 28.8%
from 1996-1997 to 1997-1998 and again 39.3% from 1997-1998 to 1999.
For 1999-2000, many ads indicated that appointment might be possible at
several ranks. The statistics for this year indicate positions at the
junior level, except when a position is specifically designated as an
endowed chair, department chair, or Dean. It is not unreasonable to expect
that the modest decrease in the number of senior-level positions listed is
due to this broad advertising and counting of positions.
Even with this limited selection of ads, the supply of new Ph.D.'s was
close to the positions announced here in 1996-1997. Even according to this
abrdiged data, the demand for junior-level tenure-track people exceeded
supply by 15.3% in 1997-1998 and by 60.5 in 1998-1999, and 52.7% in
1999-2000 -- and this does not count post-docs or non-tenure-track openings.
For senior-level, tenure-track positions, a couple each year started in the
spring and a couple more in the summer. The remainder indicated a start
for the regular academic year (e.g., July, August, or September). As with
the number of such positions, the number of schools indicating various
starting dates seems stable.
Many schools did not indicate specific starting dates.
The vast majority of both domestic and foreign positions start in the Fall.
The number of junior, domestic, tenure-track positions starting in January
or in the Spring semester included 6 in 96-97, 7 in 97-98, 14 in 98-99, and
17 in 99-00.
The number of schools specifying either a Spring or Fall starting date
increased from 8 in 96-97 to 15 in 97-98 to 27 in 98-99 to 34 in 99-00.
Two more in 98-99 indicated a starting date in Spring, Winter, or Fall.
In 98-99, two additional in said "immediately"; 7 indicated "immediate" in
1999-2000. While none of these numbers are very large
within the context of all the positions advertised, one might hypothesize
that variability starting dates indicate that schools will take new people
whenever they become available.
Only 3-5 positions started in the summer each year.
This document is available on the World Wide Web as
created March 3, 1999Trends
Starting Dates
The CACM ads were analyzed concerning the starting dates of various
positions. Due to small numbers, differences in post-doctoral positions and
non-tenure-track positions seemed insignificant and are not reported here.
The remaining comments are restricted to domestic, junior-level,
tenure-track positions, as this is the only category where the numbers
exceeded just a few for an starting time other than Fall.
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to Karen Thomson who did much of the initial tabulation of data
for this report.
http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~walker/dept/cacm-ads.96-00.html
last revised September 20, 2000
