Dive Brief:

• The Academic Senate of the University of Southern California has elected a non-tenure-track faculty member as its president for the first time.
• In a written announcement, USC calls the election “an exceedingly rare move for a top tier university," as many university faculty senates limit even the participation of non-tenure-track professors.
• The president-elect, Ginger Clark, is an associate professor of clinical education in the university’s Rossier School of Education. She will serve as a vice president for one year before taking over as president.

Dive Insight:

This could be another step in changing the second-class status of non-tenure-track professors. And it’s a big place to start: The USC senate represents 3,600 full-time faculty, including tenure-track and non-tenure-track members, with 44 voting members representing 17 schools.