This critical narrative study illuminates the teaching practices of women in fixed-term faculty positions. While a groundswell of research has been presented on fixed-term or non-tenure track faculty, very few provide in-depth descriptions of their teaching as it is shaped by their experiences in graduate school. I drew from the theoretical work of Bourdieu to highlight how access to and accrual of social, economic, and cultural capital informed future careers and workplace performance for women in fixed-term position. From the narratives of 16 women at a comprehensive university in the Midwest, I described 1) two pathways into and through graduate school and 2) three archetypes to describe their teaching practices. Findings from this study suggested having a spouse and/or communities ties created a sense of stability for the women in my study, thereby giving them greater agency in the classroom. These findings draw attention to the important ways personal lives, or lives lived outside academia, shape the teaching work of faculty in fixed-term positions. Furthermore, my findings draw attention to how the fixed-term or non-tenure track faculty is stratified within itself, and this stratification is ordered through the institution of marriage or ties to local community.
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