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Research
The AAUP's Department of Research and Public Policy conducts and publishes research on topics related to the areas below.You can also explore data on the key issues that affect higher education using our interactive data website here.
Research on Faculty Compensation
The AAUP carries out an annual survey on faculty compensation.
- Initial results are published in April for the current academic year.
- Order or inquire about purchasing data here.
- A comprehensive report on the survey is published each year in the summer. See Reports on the Economic Status of the Profession.
- See more information about the Faculty Compensation Survey
Research on Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance
The 2022 AAUP Survey of Tenure Practices (2022)
AAUP Shared Governance Assessment Tool (2021)
The 2021 AAUP Shared Governance Survey: Findings on Faculty Roles by Decision-Making Areas (2021)
Data Snapshot: Whom Does Campus Reform Target and What Are the Effects? (2021)
Survey Data on the Impact of the Pandemic on Shared Governance (2021)
Policies on Academic Freedom, Dismissal for Cause, Financial Exigency, and Program Discontinuance (2020)
Data Snapshot: Survey Data on Attitudes toward Faculty Freedom of Expression (2020)
Data Snapshot: Trends in Faculty Participation in Presidential Searches (2020)
Research on the Academic Workforce
Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education (2023)
Data Snapshot: Contingent Faculty in US Higher Ed (2018)
Trends in the Academic Labor Force, 1975-2015 (pdf, released March 2017)
The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members in Higher Education, Fall 2011 (pdf data report, 68 pp., released April 2014.) (Excel files for this report: tables and figures)
Data Snapshot: Full-Time Women Faculty and Faculty of Color (2020)
Persistent Inequity: Gender and Academic Employment by John W. Curtis, AAUP Director of Research and Public Policy. April 2011. (Note: For additional tables on academic employment status by gender, see The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members, Fall 2011 linked above.)
The AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006 by Martha S. West and John W. Curtis. This report provides data on four measures of gender equity for faculty at over 1,400 colleges and universities across the country.
Contact the Department of Research and Public Policy
To contact the Department of Research and Public Policy, please email [email protected].
If you have a question about the Faculty Compensation Survey please contact [email protected].