[Sooth2222]

My master's degree is from our State U and my impression was that the part time adjuvant faculty was usually as good as and often better than the full time tenure-track faculty.

I also have a friend who was denied tenure the year after the students voted him "professor of the year". (He didn't publish enough.)

[demshateGod]

I guess it’s a tier 1 research school? Did he go to another university?

[drbuzzard]

Yes, I can remember an assistant professor back at my undergrad who was well known as one of the best teachers, but his publications/research wasn’t up to snuff so he was informed that tenure was unlikely to happen so he moved on. Then again it was a private research university, so I don’t really fault the department that much. The department got its money from the research grants (private or public), as the teaching didn’t contribute much to their budget.