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Faculty trends

The following highlights and reports are based on data collected from the Academic Workforce Survey, which we have conducted every two years since 1986. This series of biennial surveys collects data on the number of faculty, turnover, retirements, and recruitments at physics and astronomy degree-granting departments.

How to cite and extract our data

focus on Number of Physics Faculty Members (April 2012)
In this focus on, we present the findings of the Academic Workforce Survey of 2010. The number of physics faculty members continues to grow reaching 9,400 during the 2009-10 academic year. The average number of faculty members per department is at or near decadal highs. Simultaneously, the percent of full-time equivalent (FTE) physics faculty employed in temporary or non-tenure track positions increased in 2010 to 19% overall; this level was last seen in 2004. This report also examines bachelor degree production per FTE.

focus on Faculty Turnover in Physics and Astronomy (June 2010)
This issue examines essential components of the faculty job cycle, including the latest data on retirement, recruitment, and hiring in physics degree-granting departments. There is a special emphasis on tenured and tenure-track positions and a separate analysis of departments that award only astronomy degrees. Data on the types of people who are hired as faculty members show that graduate students are very unlikely to be offered tenure-track positions, as both bachelors-granting and PhD-granting physics departments continue to hire faculty members who have completed a postdoc or have some other type of post-graduate experience. This is the fourth and last in a series of findings from the Academic Workforce Survey of 2008.

focus on African Americans & Hispanics among Physics & Astronomy Faculty (February 2010)
This is the third in a series of 4 focus ons which present the findings of the Academic Workforce Survey of 2008. While African Americans and Hispanic Americans continue to be under-represented among physics faculty members, both the number of African-American and Hispanic faculty members and their proportion among all physics faculty have grown steadily since 2000. In this report, we provide data on the number of departments with African-American and Hispanic faculty members.

focus on Size of Undergraduate Physics Programs (February 2010)
Each year, many undergraduate physics programs are required to undergo a departmental review and, in some cases, are asked justify their continued degree-granting status. This focus on is intended to assist those departments by presenting data that will permit individual departments to see where they fit on the national landscape of physics bachelor's degree production.

focus on Astronomy Faculty (December 2009)
This is the second in a series of 4 focus ons which present the findings of the Academic Workforce Survey of 2008. This issue examines astronomy faculty: faculty members employed in departments that award degrees only in Astronomy (and not physics) and faculty in Physics departments who specialized in Astronomy or Astrophysics for their dissertation research. Women are better represented among astronomy faculty than physics faculty; however, there are fewer minority faculty members in astronomy than physics.

focus on Number of Physics Faculty (October 2009)
This is the first in a series of 4 focus ons which present the findings of the Academic Workforce Survey of 2008. The data from the 2008 biennial survey show that faculty numbers in physics departments continue to increase slowly. We also examine faculty employed in temporary and non-tenure track positions. Finally, we look at the number of bachelor's degrees awarded by departments of various sizes.

Number of Physics and Astronomy Faculty
The 2006 data from the biennial Physics and Astronomy Academic Workforce Survey show positive trends for astronomy and physics faculty members and departments. The highlights below show that in the last ten years, the number of FTE (full-time equivalent) physics faculty positions has increased by 700 to a total of 9150. The percentage of FTE physics faculty members who are temporary or non-tenure track has leveled off and is no longer increasing. These highlights also show the relationship between number of FTE faculty positions and number of bachelor's degrees awarded for both undergraduate and PhD physics departments. For the first time, this survey collected data on the number of astronomers and astrophysicists employed in academe. Most of the 1600 astronomers and astrophysicists who are faculty members work in physics departments rather than in the stand-alone astronomy departments.
Highlights (HTML) | Highlights

Women in Physics & Astronomy Faculty Positions
These highlights show data on women faculty members that were collected in our survey of all degree-granting physics and astronomy departments in the US in 2006. The percentages of physics and astronomy faculty members who are women have increased. The percentage of newly hired assistant physics professors who are women is higher than the percentage of physics PhDs earned by women in the recent past. This may indicate that women are hired at greater than their availability rate. In addition, physics departments are more likely than ever to have at least one woman on their faculties.
Highlights (HTML)

Trends in the Physics Academic Workforce
Since 1998, the academic job market for physicists has been influenced by the retirements of faculty members. These highlights show the relationship between the retirement rates (1998-2006) and number of faculty members recruited by physics departments. The retirement rate peaked in 2000, leading to an increase in the number of faculty members hired. Although the retirement rate has been decreasing since 2000, the number of faculty members hired has remained the same.
Highlights (HTML) | Highlights

The 2004 Physics & Astronomy Academic Workforce
The number of faculty positions in physics has increased by about 10% since 1994. However, more positions are being filled with part-time and temporary faculty than ten years ago. The number of minority faculty members increased significantly at physics departments, and new female faculty were hired at rates consistent with degree production in the past. This report also provides data on the relationship between the number of full-time equivalent faculty and the number of bachelor's degrees awarded. For the first time, this report contains data on stand-alone astronomy departments.
Highlights (HTML) | Highlights | Full report