Preliminary research being presented today at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) annual meeting shows that tenured faculty have a tendency to get lost at institutions. From one of the investigators:
“It seemed pretty ironic that there were very highly privileged workers with a lot of autonomy who didn’t feel lit up by and aligned with their work,” said co-investigator Karla Erickson, associate dean and chair of sociology at Grinnell College, of accounts of tenured professors not having the same drive as their more junior colleagues. “And our findings go against the notion of deadwood workers who, after they receive tenure, simply ‘show up.’”
One of the major findings of the study was that most professors surveyed enjoy teaching — and would like to do more of it. However, the researchers found that the institution’s objectives and those of the individual faculty surveyed didn’t always align. In particular, lack of clarity with respect to promotion standards was an oft-cited challenge.
“We saw faculty who were floundering at one school who probably would have been ignited at another school, because there wasn’t a nice level of synergy between what they wanted to do and what their [institutions] want them to do,” she said.
With only 239 survey respondents, all at liberal arts colleges, the results are fairly narrow but much like their own students it seems that faculty could benefit from post-tenure support and advisement as they consider pathways available to them throughout the midcareer stage. The author ties up the article nicely:
Over all, posttenure faculty members face a set of complex challenges, from increased internal and external scrutiny to changing organizational cultures to rapidly changing technology, not to mention a complex workload, he said. Posttenure faculty development programs can help — “if they seek out participation and input from a variety of faculty members, including tenured professors, and consult them in the planning process.”
For more, click on the link below.
Research on midcareer professors makes case for support after tenure
