Penn’s Faculty Handbook describes lecturers as “eminent scholars” who provide “valuable instructional services” to Penn and its student body. But in interviews with The Daily Pennsylvanian, non-tenure track faculty said that their day-to-day experiences and treatment do not reflect that description.

This past summer, the Faculty Senate’s annual report raised concerns about the equity of treatment of non-tenured faculty members, explicitly noting discrepancies in faculty pay and representation. The DP spoke with lecturers across the University, many of whom said that their roles were marked by restricted benefits, uncertain career prospects, and limited representation in administrative decision making.

As the name implies, non-tenure track faculty, including lecturers, are not eligible for tenure at Penn — which is defined by the Faculty Handbook as a “continuous appointment that extends until retirement.” As of 2024, non-tenured faculty members made up over 60% of all University faculty, according to the Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Multiple lecturers interviewed by the DP requested anonymity, citing fears of professional retaliation.

In many schools and departments across the University, lecturers are tasked with teaching introductory courses — many of which are also requirements for various majors. This includes the Critical Writing Seminar, which is taught exclusively by lecturers and is the only course that is mandated for all Penn undergraduates.

“So much of the teaching at Penn is done by non-tenure track people,” Critical Writing Program lecturer John Kehayias said. “I think that’s a big thing that students don’t know about and don’t understand.”

Formally, lecturers are separated into two official designations: lecturer and senior lecturer, with the former appointed only under one-year contracts unless promoted to the more senior position. While the annual contracts can be extended, individuals said that communication from the University about these extensions is often poor.

“People often get concerned when they haven’t gotten a letter for their upcoming academic year,” Kehayias said. “People want to know.”

Computer and Information Sciences senior lecturer Travis McGaha said that the department would deliver the news via a letter in his mailbox. He said that the message read, “Congratulations, here’s your annual raise, see you in the fall,” adding that he would get “a little scared” when he had not received anything.

Many lecturers work part time and are paid on a per-course basis, but most departments impose limits on how many courses a lecturer may teach — with the exact cap varying by school and department.

In foreign language departments, for instance, part-time lecturers are restricted to teaching just one or two courses per semester — a cap that several lecturers told the DP creates financial strain, particularly since their per-course pay has not increased in over a decade.

“[Many lecturers] are given a one-course max per year,” one lecturer said, noting that he would “gladly” take on additional courses if he was allowed. “It’s a really tenuous situation for labor and trying to piecemeal your money.”

Several lecturers who spoke with the DP noted that there is significant insecurity in terms of employment benefits. For example, certain departments and schools do not provide official policies regarding faculty leave for health and parental issues for part-time employees.

“I know people who have left teaching because they cannot medically do this,” another lecturer said. “There’s no parental leave policy, there’s no medical leave policy. It’s always a case-by-case negotiation.”

While non-tenure track faculty are eligible to enroll in a Universitywide health care plan, several lecturers said that Penn failed to clearly communicate key information and updates about this.

One lecturer recalled that the University recently cut summer health insurance coverage for several part-time lecturers “without [anyone] being told.” 

“Myself and many colleagues went months without realizing we did not have health insurance,” the lecturer said.

In a written comment to the DP, Penn’s Division of Human Resources wrote that “fulltime lecturers are eligible for employee benefits if they work at least 35 hours per week,” adding that the cost for benefits is the same across “all schools and centers.”

Lecturers also stated that they have very few opportunities for career advancement. In most schools, a small number of lecturers are eligible to be promoted to the role of senior lecturer — a role that offers contracts of up to four years and treatment as full-time employees. However, the process for promotion is often “totally unclear,” according to a Stuart Weitzman School of Design lecturer.

“There’s no clear set of criteria for [promotions] that any of us have access to,” the lecturer said.

Likewise, McGaha noted that while he trusted his colleagues, the promotion process was “a little opaque.”

“I tried looking into it, but I couldn’t find much,” McGaha said. “That was a little worrying, just [to have that] in the background of my mind.”

Chinese Language Program Director and senior lecturer Melvin Lee added that faculty members in his position “just do their job, try to perform well, and hope somebody will notice.”

Lecturers also suggested that tenured faculty members play an outsized role in determining lecturer promotion — even when lacking the expertise to evaluate lecturer instruction. Lee cited an example where the lecturer promotion panel for his department consisted of tenured professors who had never taught Chinese at Penn.

“They decide who can be promoted, but they don’t get involved in the day-to-day language teaching,” Lee said.

Such frustrations appear to be compounded by the fact that lecturers have limited involvement in the University’s shared governance structure.

All part-time and full-time lecturers are defined as “academic support staff,” and as such, have “no formal mechanism” for involvement in Faculty Senate governance, according to the group’s 2024-25 report.

According to the report, this leaves the Faculty Senate “encumbered” to only address standing faculty topics, despite the fact that many issues — like compensation and employment benefits — affect non-standing faculty members “much more pervasively and seriously.”

Lecturers emphasized that their lack of representation has consequences for students as well. A lecturer for the Critical Writing Program noted that lecturers are often tasked with teaching courses that “onboard students.”

“Ultimately, this hurts students,” Rafael Khachaturian, a lecturer in critical writing, added. “If the voices of faculty are left out of the governance process, then so [are] the needs of the students they serve.”

On the University Council, full-time lecturers are currently represented by only one elected full-time lecturer representative. Foreign Languages lecturer Ye Tian — who currently serves as that representative — noted in a statement to the DP that lecturers only have one seat, while tenured faculty members have over 45.

“That imbalance limits influence, but it also underscores why this role is important: to ensure lecturers’ concerns are not absent from the conversation,” Tian wrote.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Provost wrote to the DP that the Faculty Senate is “reviewing” the status of non-tenure track faculty in shared governance efforts. 

This exclusion also extends to administrative policies. Lecturers told the DP that they are not paid to attend general faculty meetings. In the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, for instance, lecturers are “not invited” to attend standing faculty meetings, according to Lee.

One School of Design lecturer described a “top-down approach” in administrative discussions, particularly when requesting certain classroom spaces and tools. 

“We’re the lowest on the totem pole,” another School of Design lecturer said.

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