The AHA’s Survey of the Historical Profession: Academia, 1981-82 was published this month and is now available for purchase ($5.00 for members, $6.00 for nonmembers; plus $1.00 handling costs). Members of the AHA’s Institutional Services Program can expect to receive their copies of the survey in the next mailing.
Close to 600 departments responded to the more than fifty questions on the survey. The results of the survey comprise one of the fullest overviews of the status of departments that we are likely to have for some time. Below are some of the highlights.
Enrollments. We hear a good deal these days about declining enrollments in history classes. The survey confirmed this generalized concern. About one in five departments noted that their enrollments had declined 5 percent or more over the previous year. However, about one in six departments reported an increase in enrollments. The largest proportion of those experiencing enrollment declines included departments which are part of colleges or universities with student body enrollment in excess of 14,999. While it would seem that enrollments are, at best, somewhat stable for the time, since 1970 the number of BA degrees awarded in history has dropped almost in half (from 43,386 in 1970 to 21,019 in 1979). Taking the long view, the concern about enrollment seems fully justified.
Curriculum. Western Civilization, introductory US history, and European history continue to be the workhorses in the typical college curriculum. There were some notable advances. Courses on quantitative history, a relatively new entrant to the curriculum, are offered by half of all the departments we surveyed. Courses on the history of women are offered by 44 percent of all departments surveyed. Courses least frequently offered include those with third-world subject matter.
Departmental Budgets. Concerns about the departmental budget were among the more important “problems” cited by department chairs. There are concerns about limited resources for typing support, teaching materials and supplies, and research assistance. The amount of funds available for travel to professional meetings is also very low. Almost all departments noted that some funds for travel were available.
The source and amount of support for research varied greatly among departments. Those departments with graduate programs and which also are connected with large colleges or universities (total enrollment of 15,000 or more) received substantial amounts of research support from a variety of sources. By contrast, smaller departments in predominantly undergraduate institutions have meager research support by comparison, with most of the support coming from within the college.
Faculty. If one were to draw a composite of a typical faculty member in a history department, based on our survey results, the picture would look something like this: nonminority male, age about forty-five years, tenured at the associate or full professor rank, salary level from $28,000 to $30,000 per year, with about thirteen years in service to the same institution. Women accounted for about 14 percent of the surveyed population, minorities about 9 percent. A newly hired, recent PhD could expect to receive a starting salary from $17,000 to $18,000 the first year.
One of our more arresting findings is the large proportion of history departments, 36 percent, that are fully tenured. About 84 percent of all faculty covered in the survey (over 4,000 individuals) have tenure.
Faculty teaching loads varied, primarily dependent upon the PhD granting status of the department. Faculty in PhD granting departments teach on the average eleven hours each week; faculty in undergraduate institutions teach between eleven and fifteen hours per week.
Hiring. The trend in hiring is toward short-term, nonrenewable appointments. Almost 60 percent of all appointments made in the fall of 1981 fall into this category. There were thirty-two new tenure-track positions created. There is, in other words, virtually no growth in departments in terms of permanent slot positions. About one in three newly hired faculty are women; minorities account for one in ten.
Cohort Histories. We examined the history of pay and promotion for fire cohorts, depending on the date of receipt of the PhD (to 1962, 1963-67, 1968-72, 1973-77, 1978-82). Controlling for gender and minority status, we found that women in almost all the cohorts were on a “slow track” compared to men in terms of promotion and pay; the record for minorities approached equity in the early cohorts, but in the 1978-82 cohort, with women, minorities were at a decided disadvantage when compared to the rest of the population.
