Faculty Perceptions of Tenure in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to assess faculty perceptions of tenure in parks, recreation, and tourism. To answer our research questions, we designed a 26-item survey and posted it on The Academy of Leisure Sciences listserv (ALSnet). We received 149 usable responses to the survey and grouped the results into the categories of: earning tenure, tenureu0027s meaning, expectations of tenured faculty, post-tenure review, and fixed-term contracts as an alternative to tenure. We also analyzed our overall findings to investigate parks, recreation, and tourism (PRT) faculty membersu0027 perceptions of tenure for statistically significant differences by sex, academic rank and tenure status, and institutional type. The results of the study confirm many long-held assumptions about the importance of tenure for job security and academic freedom, as well as indicating some blueprints for building a career in higher education based on institutional type (bacheloru0027s and masteru0027s degree-granting teaching universities ver...