Trends in the Physics Academic Workforce
by Rachel Ivie, Arnell Ephraim, and Garrett Anderson
Highlights
- The number of full-time equivalent faculty continues to increase at a rate of about 1%
per year (Figure 1).
- The percentage of physics faculty who are temporary or not on tenure track continues to
increase, but there have been fluctuations among PhD-granting departments
(Figure 2).
- Retirement rates for faculty peaked at 3.3% in 2000 and have declined to 2.3% in 2006
(Figure 3). The number of vacant positions, which includes vacancies
due to retirement, peaked around this same time (Figure 4). As a result, the number of
tenured and tenure-track faculty members for which departments recruited was higher in 2001
and 2003 than it is now (Figure 5).
- In spite of the drop in the number of vacancies and recruitments, the number of tenure
and tenure-track faculty hired has not decreased
(Figure 6), and is currently around 360.
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