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Abstract Meeting the needs of dual-career academic couples has become an important part of university efforts to foster family-friendly workplaces. Many universities have developed formal or informal approaches to addressing dual-career issues, but variation across institutions has made it difficult to detect wider patterns or probe their implications. In this paper, we analyze the dual-career policies and materials (848 documents total) of all R1 institutions in the United States. As with studies from roughly two decades ago, we find deficiencies in institutional support and transparency. However, given reduced state revenues for institutions of higher education and a rise in precarious employment arrangements over the same time period, conditions for academic couples are arguably worse today. In order for universities to address these concerns and contribute meaningfully to broader forms of inclusion, we argue that there is a need for sustained funding commitments and infrastructural support for dual-career programs.
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This content will become publicly available on January 27, 2026
An Overview of Dual-Career Assistance Programs at Four-Year Higher Learning Institutions
An obstacle to hiring faculty is the inability to offer a spouse or partner an appropriate faculty position or other employment. The development of clear dual-career faculty hiring policies can be a significant step forward in establishing a consistent approach to securing employment for spouses or partners of intended faculty hires. Dual-career programs at a variety of universities were analyzed to determine if any common features existed that could be adapted by a university seeking to implement such a program. This paper presents the results of that study, including recommendations for universities to consider as they develop dual-career hiring programs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2204537
- PAR ID:
- 10578560
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sciedu Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Higher Education
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1927-6044
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 8
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Spousal-hire policy dual-career hire policy spousal hire program dual-career program faculty
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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