Rethinking Faculty Work

Written for educators, administrators, policy makers, and anyone else concerned with the future of higher education, Rethinking Faculty Work shows how changes in higher education are transforming the careers of faculty and provides a model that makes it possible for all faculty to be in a position to do their best. This important resource offers a vision of academic workplaces that will attract superb faculty committed to fulfilling the missions of the universities and colleges where they work.

Preface xi

About the Authors xxi

Part One: Higher Education’ s Changing Context 1

1. The Changing Context for Faculty Work and Workplaces 3

2. Trends in the National Workplace 24

3. Faculty Appointments and Faculty Members: Diversification, Growth, and Diversity 49

4. The Academic Profession Today: Diverse Appointments to Meet Diverse Needs 66

5. Attracting and Retaining Excellent Faculty 102

Part Two: The Framework 125

6. The Framework of Essential Elements 127

7. Respect: The Foundation for the Essential Elements 145

8. Shared Responsibility and Joint Leadership 157

Part Three: The Essential Elements 191

9. Equity in Academic Appointments 193

10. Academic Freedom 226

11. Ensuring Flexibility in Academic Appointments 239

12. Professional Growth 280

13. Collegiality 305

14. Why Rethink Faculty Work and Workplaces? A Call to Action 321

References 333

Name Index 355

Subject Index 361

"an exceptionally lucid analysis of the gap that has opened up between academic careers in the golden age and the reality of faculty appointments today." (Change, Sept/Oct)

The Authors

JUDITH M. GAPPA is professor of higher education administration at Purdue University where she served previously as vice president for human relations.

ANN E. AUSTIN is the Mildred B. Erickson Distinguished Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University.

ANDREA G. TRICE is an independent consultant to colleges and universities and a former faculty member and administrator.

RETHINK FACULTY WORK

Profound challenges in higher education—fiscal constraints, escalating competition, demands for greater accountability, growing enrollments, increasingly diverse faculty appointments, and the continuous expansion of new technologies—are transforming the careers of faculty.

Written for educators, administrators, policy makers, and anyone else concerned with the future of higher education, Rethinking Faculty Work shows how changes in higher education are transforming the careers of faculty and provides a model that makes it possible for all faculty to be in a position to do their best. This important resource offers a vision of academic workplaces that will attract superb faculty committed to fulfilling the missions of the universities and colleges where they work.

Rethinking Faculty Work highlights an overall framework and five key elements that are essential to the work experience of all faculty members—equity, academic freedom, flexibility, professional growth, and collegiality. Throughout the book, the authors include recommendations for how colleges and universities can use the framework to rethink their academic workplaces. Illustrative examples show how to strengthen the five essential elements in ways that are appropriate to a particular institution's culture and needs and that ensure dynamic, supportive, and productive institutional environments for everyone.

Rethinking Faculty Work presents strategic approaches to support faculty—who are indeed the heart of the universities and colleges where they work—and the intellectual capital that ensures their excellence. "This book is a must-read for college and university leaders from presidents to faculty. It offers solutions to resolve the major challenges faced in recruiting, retaining, reviewing, and respecting the best faculty and in transforming the culture of the workplace."
—Claire A. Van Ummersen, vice president, Center for Effective Leadership, American Council on Education and former president, Cleveland State University

"Gappa, Austin, and Trice define the front lines of change in the academic profession—a far more diverse and contingent workforce than ever before. Their imaginative call for new norms and practices to assure that academic careers continue to offer the best and brightest satisfying and fulfilling professional lives is original and refreshing."
—David Leslie, chancellor professor of education, College of William & Mary

"Critical reading for all concerned about the future of the university. Rethinking Faculty Work takes a hard look at the fast-changing university culture and provides a road map on how to prepare for the future."
—Mary Ann Mason, dean of the graduate division, University of California, Berkeley

"Gappa, Austin, and Trice provide faculty and institutional leaders with an exciting new way to think about how the academic workplace can meet the needs of a new academic workforce. They identify essential components of the faculty experience, which, if addressed by colleges and universities, would make higher education a more satisfying, stable, and productive place to work for all faculty members."
—Betsy E. Brown, associate vice president for academic affairs and executive director, UNC Leadership Institute, Office of the President, University of North Carolina