Iowa Faculty Forward

Who We Are & Why We’re Organizing

We are contingent faculty dedicated to upholding the high standards and quality of education at the University of Iowa. We love teaching at Iowa. However, as contingent faculty we face job insecurity with little prospect for advancement, increasing course loads, and no meaningful decision-making authority on campus. We feel that the efforts we make are often unaccounted for in terms of promotion, salary, and rehiring. And the seemingly arbitrary hiring processes have left many of us feeling expendable. Therefore, although we make up more than half of the
faculty at University of Iowa, we have little to no say in the aspects of our employment. To compound this, we lack meaningful, enforceable avenues for improving our working conditions.

We are part of a nationwide movement of contingent faculty fighting for better job security, transparency, improved support, compensation and benefits, and inclusion in academic communities. We strongly believe that creating more equitable and predictable employment conditions for non-tenure-track faculty will enhance the quality of our working conditions, and ultimately improve our students’ educational experiences. Furthermore, we feel that this movement is important not only to our work at the University of Iowa, but also to the long-term health and social purpose of the profession.

As the academic profession changes and moves towards the employment of more contingent faculty, unionization is an important step we can take to build a more sustainable employment model for us at the University of Iowa. In light of the above, we are coming together to form a collective voice on campus as part of a national campaign supported by Faculty Forward and the SEIU (Service Employees International Union). By joining together, across the University of Iowa, we can win a voice on our campus, and advocate for better working conditions that in turn will improve our students’ learning conditions.

We believe that through organizing we can build power to stand up for what we are worth, demand inclusion in the academic community, and claim a voice for quality education. We are nearly 200 non-tenure track faculty strong. You can see a full list here. We invite you to join us.

You can see a full list of our demands here.

How You Can Help

Our Allies

We’re proud to stand with other higher education unions in Iowa. See COGs’ letter of support and AAUP’s letter of support.

Iowa Faculty Forward

Who We Are & Why We’re Organizing

How You Can Help

Our Allies

Iowa Faculty Forward in the Press