70
Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications for Faculty and Administrators Deborah DeZure, Ph. D. Assistant Provost for Faculty and Organizational Development Michigan State University 1

Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Charting Your Path WorkshopNorth Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

May 12, 2014

Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications for Faculty and Administrators

Deborah DeZure, Ph. D.Assistant Provost for Faculty and

Organizational Development

Michigan State University1

Page 2: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Learning Objectives• At the close of this session, participants will be able to

identify: A framework for supporting faculty success Needs, interests and challenges of mid-career faculty Productive strategies to support them The need to cultivate the next generation of academic

leaders Promising practices to build a pipeline into leadership Implications for participants and their institutions

2

Page 3: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

What Motivates Faculty at Work?

Blackburn, R. & Lawrence, J. (1995) Faculty at Work: Motivation, Expectation, Satisfaction. Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Intrinsic Interest: (Intrinsic Motivator) Long-standing or emerging personal beliefs/values/interests Ideological originsSocial Knowledge: (Extrinsic Motivator) Perception of what is valued and rewarded in the

organization Institution, college/school/department expectations and

rewards Disciplinary values, expectations and rewards

Perception may/may not be accurate but is still powerful Self-Efficacy: (Belief in Competence) Personal belief that you know how to do what is expected. “I know how to do it and I can do it well.”

3

Page 4: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Bottom Line Make the most of existing intrinsic interests. Address needs for BOTH

Social Knowledge (accurate understanding of expectations and rewards) AND

Self-Efficacy (training to fulfill all roles)

4

Page 5: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

• Academic careers progress through stages• Each offers new experiences and challenges• Each requires professional development/support.

• Challenges and development needs may vary by:• Academic discipline and sub-field• Type of institution• Life situation: Family, health, finances

• Individuals vary within each stage• Best TO ASK, not assume, what faculty want and/or

need

Faculty Career Stages

5

Page 6: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

The National Picture: Mid-Career Faculty – Associate Professors (Post Tenure)

• Mid-career faculty are a large and important component of the academic workforce.

• Mid-life and mid-career are transition periods with distinctive challenges leading to reflection and reassessment.

• Academic life has a very short career ladder.• Extrinsic motivators (tenure, promotion)

decrease at mid-career.• Mid-career faculty often reach a plateau when

opportunities for growth and advancement decline.

• Continuous learning helps prevent professional obsolescence.

6

Advancem

ent

Growth?

Maintenance?Stagnation?

Page 7: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Need for A Study of Mid-Career Faculty

National Context Limited research on mid-career faculty

Institutional Context• Large, public research university (MSU)• F&OD Mission: “To support faculty across the

career stages and across the tripartite mission of teaching, research, and outreach

• F&OD Advisory Board said to “map the terrain of the mid-career experience.”

• MSU Research Team: Baldwin, DeZure, Shaw & Amoretto • 2007 POD Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Faculty Development

7

Page 8: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Study Goals & Participants• To identify the expectations, experiences,

challenges and support for mid-career faculty perceived by mid-career faculty and chairs at MSU.

• To identify promising practices, recommendations and implications for practice

• Interviewed 20 Chairs, 20 Mid-Career Faculty (1-5 and 6-20 years post-tenure) about their needs, experiences, and challenges.

8

Page 9: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Findings: Themes• Expectations of mid-career faculty

• High or enhanced performance (especially in research and grants)

• New roles, new duties (especially service; also leadership, administration)

• Newly tenured faculty surprised by the increase in work

• High Performers• Network, collaborate, build teams• Exhibit adaptability, flexibility• Obtain external grants

9

Page 10: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Findings: Themes (cont.)

• Experiences Post Tenure• Tenure was liberating (1-5 years post tenure)• Energy level varied post tenure

• Chairs “tolerated” up to two years disengagement (1-5)

• Confusion/Now what do I do? (1-5, 6-20)• Time to reassess directions (1-5), priorities (6-20)• Evolving/renegotiating roles (1-5, 6-20, chairs)• Move from short-range to longer-range projects (1-5)• Unclear expectations for promotion to full professor

(1-5) (6-20)

10

Page 11: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Participant Voices: Achieving tenure was

“liberating.”• “I just relaxed. I wasn’t going to be fired. I just

stopped being so nervous.”

• “The ax is removed from your back.”

• “They need ways to recover from the hazing ritual. It was bad.”

11

Page 12: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

“What do I do now?”

• “Some hit this wall and it’s

like ‘what am I going to do now?’”

• “You reach a certain plateau and you’ve been aiming there for a long time and you get there and you look around and say, ‘What’s next?’”

• “How do you know what your options are? I don’t.”

12

Page 13: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes • Challenges for Faculty

• Defining goals, not pre-established (both MC/chairs)• What should I do now? What’s next? (1-5)

• Unclear expectations (both 1-5, 6-20)• Unclear criteria (for promotion to Full)(1-5)

• More and different demands on time (both)• Dramatic increase in service/leadership roles without

leadership training (1-5)

• Mid-career faculty often neglected/ignored (both)• Joint appointments can be very difficult (1-5)

13

Page 14: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

“Neglected” and “Ignored”• “I think mid-career faculty are feeling unloved

and unwanted, and I think they are hitting tough walls… to get funding.”

• “Mid-career faculty are off the radar screen. The theory is the ball will bounce by itself and have momentum.”

• “To sum it all up, you’re pretty much left to your own devices.”

14

Page 15: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes (cont.)• Challenges for Faculty (6-20)

• Changes in field, Staying on top (6-20)

• Maintaining their motivation (6-20)

• Need to broaden criteria for promotion to full professor to accommodate those who take alternative paths into administration, outreach, national organizational leadership, teaching (6-20, chairs)

15

Page 16: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

“Burnout”• “The biggest challenge is staying interested, staying

alive, staying engaged. It’s difficult to do after 20 years.”

• “How am I going to do another 20 years of this?”

• “Most of the mid career faculty I know have lost grants … and find it difficult to continue.”

• “You’re chained to your equipment.”

16

Page 17: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes-Challenges

• Challenges for Chairs• Time: Goes to early career faculty• Budget: Few discretionary dollars • Understanding needs of mid-career faculty• Lack of training in personnel and HR issues• Lack of clarity and info about what support and

options are available for career development• Lack of flexibility in promotion system• Motivating later mid-career faculty (6-20)

17

Page 18: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes• Special Challenges Related to Gender, Race,

Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Age• Women and faculty of color continue to have

challenges in mid-career• Higher service demands• Less access to information

• Women have challenges with child-bearing (1-5) and aging parents (6-20)

• Men and women have challenges with child-rearing • Cultural conflict for some international faculty to lead

committees with elders from their culture (sciences)

18

Page 19: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

“Higher Stresses”

“There’s a burnout factor for highly talented women with kids… They’ve gone through so much to get tenure, they’re just burned, just depleted.”

“Anyone who is not mainstream has higher stresses.”

“They (faculty from under-represented groups) are the hardest to protect.” (from service demands)

19

Page 20: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes (Support)• Chair role:

• Can be instrumental in providing support, guidance, funding, motivation & jumpstarting careers at all stages

• Annual reviews are helpful when well implemented (Standardized Forms/Protocols)

• Chairs and Mid-career faculty unclear about options and institutional support for mid-career faculty

• Sabbaticals could provide renewal/retooling but not working for many (expense, mobility of family, quality control)

• Need to individualize/diversify support, options, rewards (6-20)

20

Page 21: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Themes (Support Continued)• Training and development: Unmet needs

• Leadership training for mid-career faculty • Orientation/workshops for newly tenured faculty

on what to expect, what is expected, how to succeed, options

• Mid-career faculty may also need and want mentors

• Mid-career faculty want training in how to mentor effectively

• Chair training in personnel issues

21

Page 22: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Findings: Themes• Disciplinary differences

• STEM: difficult to change areas due to funding and lab and equipment investments

• Disciplines rooted in performance and collaborative work (labs, music ensemble) keep faculty engaged

• Programs within departments can differ with regard to mid-career faculty experiences

22

Page 23: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Contested Topic

In the context of a research university, expectations for promotion to full professor and merit increases should be broadened and differentiated.

23

Page 24: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

“Diversify Expectations”• “When you get to be 62, I don’t think the expectations

should be what they were when you were 30.”• “…taking seriously the notion that people’s interests in

research and publishing might change over a life span and …not penalizing someone who says ‘I don’t want to do research anymore. I’ve done enough of it. I’d rather focus on teaching, and outreach’… I don’t see why people shouldn’t have broader options.”

• “We still say that everybody does the same thing (teaching, research and service) and we know that most people aren’t good at everything. At some point it would be better to allow some specialization.”

• “We need to re-engineer faculty jobs.”

24

Page 25: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Contested Topic: Audience Poll

1. Expectations for promotion to full professor should be broadened and differentiated.

AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

2. Expectations for merit increases for senior faculty should be broadened and differentiated.

AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

25

Page 26: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Orientation for Mid-Career FacultyNew MSU Initiatives

26

“From Associate Professor to Professor: Productive Decision-making at Mid-Career”

Winner, POD Innovation Award 2009

Page 27: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

• Leadership Development for Faculty• Workshops for Faculty on Leadership and Academic

Life (4-6 per year)– Designed for faculty who want to learn more about

leadership and managerial skills and possible paths into academic administration

– For past topics: http://fod.msu.edu/opportunities/detail/past-workshops-faculty-leadership-and-academic-life

New MSU Initiatives Cont.

27

Page 28: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

New MSU Initiatives Cont.• Review of Alignment of Expectations and Processes

for Promotion to Associate Professor and to Professor• MSU NSF ADAPP-ADVANCE Grant

• Annual Performance Review Toolkit: – http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/annual-performance-review-tenure-system-toolkit

• RP&T Toolkit:– http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/reappointment-promotion-and-tenure-toolkit

• Faculty Search Toolkit:– http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/project/faculty-search-and-selection

• Efforts to Promote Faculty Mentoring • Mentoring Toolkit:

– http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/Faculty-Mentoring-Toolkit

• Establishment of a Mentoring Policy: – http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/files_adapp-advance/content/Mentoring%20Policy-Final%20

3-2-11.pdf

28

Page 29: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

MENTORING TOOLS FOR MENTEES• Using the Assessing Your Mentoring Networks sheet,

identify each dimension of your appointment, responsibilities, and priorities.

• For each dimension, identify your existing formal and informal mentors.

• For each dimension, identify possible additions to your mentoring network.

• With your Mentor, discuss strategies to build your network over time.

NETWORKING: A High Priority and Valued Dimension of Mentoring

29

Page 30: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Recommendations and Promising Practices*: Institutional Efforts, Chairs/Heads, RP&T Committees,

and Mid-Career Faculty

• When time allows, review the Promising Practices and Recommendations Sheets: (Yellow)• Identify:

• Approaches you think your institution currently employs• New approaches you think merit consideration• Recommendations for mid-career faculty

• Compare your responses with colleagues from your home institution or unit and identify priorities for future consideration by your institution.

*Materials reflect views of interview participants.

30

Page 31: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

MSU Initiatives Continued

Study of the Pipeline into Leadership and Academic

Administration MSU Research Team:

Deborah DeZure, Ph.D., Assistant Provost for Faculty and Organizational Development

Allyn Shaw, Ph.D., Formerly Director, Leadership Development; Now Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Services

Julie Rojewski, Program Director, NSF ADVANCE Grant; Ph.D. candidate,

Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education (HALE) Program

31

Page 32: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Need to Understand and Cultivate the Next Generation of Academic

Administrators• Demographic Trends

• Projected retirements• More non tenure-track faculty• Financial cuts in early 1980s

• Administrative roles more difficult• Fewer mid-career faculty who wish to pursue

academic administration• Proliferation of leadership development programs• Universities need to support the leadership

pipeline.“I am totally worried about the pipeline.” (chair)

32

Page 33: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Goals of the Pipeline into Leadership Study

• To identify:• The experiences, motivations, and trajectories of:

• Administrators (chairs) who effectively identify, cultivate and nurture future leaders

• Faculty who are emergent leaders in formal or informal leadership roles

• Their beliefs about what makes an effective leader• How administrators identify leadership potential• Factors that promote or impede pursuit of roles in

academic administration• Whether and how gender, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual

orientation affect the leadership pipeline • The case for pursuing academic administration

33

Page 34: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Administrators’ Leadership Trajectories

• Administrators – all Chairs (16 Prof., 3 Assoc. Prof.)• All had numerous informal and formal leadership roles

prior to their appointment• Leadership role(s) in professional associations, associate or

interim chair, dept. or college advisory committee, ass’t/assoc. dean, graduate director, search committee chair, curriculum committee, academic governance, program/clerkship director, dean’s office role

• These roles were critical stepping stones• Building capacity, credibility, networks, interest in

pursuing leadership, self-efficacy.

• Faculty roles provide leadership experiences

34

Page 35: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Why Administrators Pursued/Agreed to Take Their Formal Leadership Roles

• Many reluctant to take chair role• Service to the department, part of their role, obligation

• No one else could or would do it• They were the best or only choice, their turn• Concern about other candidates

• They enjoy leadership, felt they could do it well• Wanted to leave their mark• Wanted to nurture talent

• After a productive research career, research had dried up

35

Page 36: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Benefits of Formal Leadership Roles:

Why do It?• Make a positive difference

• Nurture, empower and help people • Help the unit move forward• Problem-solve and address challenges

• Work with different types of people• Do things faculty cannot do• Build positive collaborations among faculty and

administrators• “It is the ability to do good on a larger scale.”

36

Page 37: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Faculty: Leadership Trajectories

• Faculty all served in several informal and formal leadership roles (6 Prof., 10 Assoc. Prof.)

• Interim chair, program director, dept./college advisory committee, etc.– “There is no way I would have become chair if I had

not been interim chair.”• All moved in and out of leadership roles.

• Many were deeply ambivalent about pursuing formal leadership roles.

• 25% DO NOT aspire to formal leadership roles (chair, dean), although they will continue to engage in informal and interim leadership roles.

37

Page 38: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Challenges/Barriers (Administrators & Faculty)

Takes you from the things you most love about academia: research, teaching, students

If leave research, you can’t return (STEM)May keep you from promotion to full professorTime demands, loss of control of timeAmount of work

“Grinding amount of work.” “People look at me all the time and say, “Oh, my God,

I’m glad I am not doing your job.” (Chair)

Work-life balance is lost; Difficult for familiesHarder to lead due to budget cuts/regulations

38

Page 39: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Challenges/Barriers (Administrators & Faculty) Cont.

• Difficult personal interactions; Tough decisions• Change in relationship with colleagues• Few thanks • “Faculty don’t thank you for anything.

You could drag it out of them –maybe.”

• Pathways into leadership not clear• Transitions to leadership not clear• The initial move from faculty into

administration is the most difficult“The first step into

management is the hardest.”

39

Page 40: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Challenges/ Barriers (Identified by Faculty Only)

• Expectations for formal dress, appearance and behavior: Conformity, Hierarchy• “You have to behave yourself”• “Less independent” “You lose autonomy”• “If I don’t walk in with a suit, I’m not perceived as

knowing as much.”• “More and more formalized and buttoned up. It’s pretty

off-putting”

• Disillusionment with leadership (having tried it)• “I now know how the sausage is made. I have a lot less

respect for it”

40

Page 41: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Leadership Traits Most Valued (by Administrators & Faculty)

People skills (Most frequently mentioned)Communication skills (Listening, Speaking, Writing)Respected scholar in the field, CredibilityHonesty, IntegrityAble to take multiple perspectives, Value others’ viewpoints

• Empathy• Able to relate to and value faculty• Able to make decisions, able to make tough decisions• Energetic• Efficient and Effective• Knowledge of budget and financial management (important

but not essential in selection of leaders)

41

Page 42: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

How Administrators Identify Future Leaders Often hard to know who will be successful leader Observe them with colleagues, in meetings Future leaders care about the welfare of the unit

• They offer suggestions, try to problem-solve, ask questions• They spend time thinking about problems • They are motivated to make a difference • They speak up and express their views

Give them a task and see how they do• “When you look at people, you don’t always know the potential

until you give them something to do.”• They follow-through, complete tasks, reliable, timely

• They value multiple perspectives beyond their own views• They are pleased when others succeed

42

Page 43: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

How Administrators Encourage and Incentivize Faculty to Pursue Leadership

Administrators see this as part of their roles

Encouragement but not succession planning

Provide positive role models of effective leadership Direct encouragement to validate their potential/skills

Encouragement raises self-awareness of their potential, affirms, validates, boosts morale

“I respected their opinions… If they were recommending me, they must believe that I have the skills that are needed. So it was a confidence boost…It’s not just me saying I can do this. It’s other people actually supporting and saying we think you can do this.”

“Pointing out a potential I had that I really didn’t think I had.”

43

Page 44: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

How Administrators Encourage and Incentivize Faculty to Pursue Leadership

Open doors, help network, suggest opportunities • “Maybe you should put your name in for this? Maybe take on a

leadership role in this? …It would be very simple, not a long discussion.”

Offer and/or pay for leadership training or cover lost clinical billing hours to compensate medical faculty who participate in leadership development.

Offer small leadership roles, e.g. 10%, 20%, 30%

• “Putting my toe in the water enabled me to see what I am good at and what I am not good at.”

• Create titles and opportunities, select faculty as “point people”• Rotate associate chairs so not only one heir apparent

44

Page 45: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

How Administrators Encourage and Incentivize Faculty to Pursue Leadership,

Cont. Ask about faculty member’s interest in leadership or leadership development at Annual Review and RP&T meetings• “I ask them ‘What do you plan to do in five years?’”• “I would evaluate what I know about them and talk about how that might

fit into their personal goals, and if it fit their goals, it would be easy to encourage them.”

Talk about leadership in department meetings Clarify what leadership role entails Discuss pathways into leadership Provide administrative mentors Enable administrators to continue research, e.g., Post-docs, RAs, staff Step in to reward administrative work:

• “Colleagues sometimes don’t value the work of administration. Make sure it is acknowledged. I have overridden recommendations of peer review committees because I appreciate more what they (faculty who take on administrative roles) are doing that take time and effort.”

45

Page 46: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Sources of Discouragement to Pursue Leadership Roles (Both Administrators &

Faculty)

• Family members • Concerned about work load and work-life balance

• Colleagues• Questions: “Why are you doing this?” “Why would you

want to do this?” “What will it mean for you?” • Skepticism about the value of leadership roles:

• “There is a fair amount of skepticism on the part of faculty, particularly successful faculty, about the value of academic leadership.”

46

Page 47: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Sources of Discouragement to Pursue Leadership Roles (Both Administrators &

Faculty), Cont.• Advice not to pursue leadership:

– “It will keep you from promotion.”

– “You need to NOT do this!”

– “Are you crazy? Don’t you know that this will suck the life blood out of you?”

– “The things that make you able to do research are not administrative things. The NIH doesn’t care about how many memos you are writing.”

47

Page 48: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Impact of Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Age, Sexual Orientation on Pursuit of Academic Leadership

Widespread agreement:• We need more women & people of color in

higher ed. leadership.• For most (not all) participants, these are

factors in how they think about leaders. • Women and faculty of color are already over-

taxed in service.–Cultural taxation

48

Page 49: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Impact of Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Age, Sexual Orientation on Pursuit of Academic Leadership, Cont.

Gender is a major factor for women in leadership roles.• “Tremendous gender hurdles” that many men don’t recognize

• “I think there are tremendous gender hurdles. I think we still live in an age when people see strong women as dangerous and unappealing. So that’s a hurdle and it is one that I think male faculty are completely blind to – that they really don’t see.”

• Women don’t feel administrators have their backs• “Step in when women are bullied by more senior

male faculty”• Only qualified women should be selected• Women feel undercut by other women• Women should ASK for leadership opportunities, not wait• If first woman leader in a unit, “you have to create your own model”

49

Page 50: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Age and Sexual Orientation, Cont.

Race continues to be a factor in leadership in higher ed.• Leaders of color face extra challenges and may need support,

encouragement & guidance in navigating among many options.• Faculty of color value administrative mentors of color.

• Women, faculty of color and other minorities in leadership roles may need support and encouragement to take care of themselves (“self-care”).

50

Page 51: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Age and Sexual Orientation, Cont.

Age• Frequently cited as a factor in whether a person is

“ready for leadership,” e.g., not having sufficient authority, experience.• Tied to rank and promotion• Older white men often challenged legitimacy and

authority of younger women leaders.

Sexual Orientation• Climate is “heterocentric, but not homophobic”

51

Page 52: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Disciplinary Differences In Leadership Roles

• Clinical health sciences have complex financial and billing models• Cost of engagement in leadership development

• STEM and health sciences have responsibilities for:• Labs, regulatory compliance, export control

• Disciplinary differences based on: • External constituencies• External accreditors• Availability of external funding• Availability of discipline-based leadership development• Ability to return to faculty as active researcher after administration• Reporting lines

– Units that report to more than one dean– Units with many joint-appointment faculty

• An interdisciplinary background is helpful

52

Page 53: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

A Contested Topic• Whether it is productive to “protect” faculty from

service and leadership roles until they have attained the rank of full professor.• Productive to “Protect”

• Protects faculty time to enable them to do the work required to attain the rank of full professor when they will have the credibility, authority and freedom to pursue leadership and administrative roles.

• Counter-productive to “Protect”• The unintended consequence is that faculty are socialized to

think that leadership is not their job, beneath the work of faculty, and not worthy of their time and effort.

• By the time they are promoted, they are not willing to serve in these roles and have not developed the requisite skills.

53

Page 54: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Audience PollPlease rate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statement:

“It is productive to ‘protect’ faculty from leadership roles until they have attained the rank of full professor.”

A. Agree

B. Neutral

C. Disagree

54

Page 55: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Thought-Provoking ThemeSeveral participants noted that they would not

want a leader who wanted the job.

“You wouldn’t want someone in the job who really wanted it.”

• What do you think is meant by this?• What assumptions may undergird this?• What are the implications for cultivating and

selecting leaders?55

Page 56: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

The Perception that Going into Administration is “Going to the Dark

Side”

• All but one participant had heard the phrase; all the rest indicated it is widely used by their colleagues and commonly believed among academics.

• Most administrators in this study challenged and disagreed with this perception.

• Only some of the faculty in this study challenged this perception.

56

Page 57: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

What does “Going to the Dark Side” Mean?

• “Us” against “Them”• “There is a tendency to divide the University into Us against

Them.”

• Administrators forgot where they came from• “Administrative work is non-intellectual” and “anti-

intellectual”

• “There are people who feel that once you go beyond chair, you are not a faculty anymore… and that you are a traitor to your discipline.”

57

Page 58: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

What does “Going to the Dark Side” Mean? Cont.

• Administrators impede rather than support faculty • “You are a gatekeeper rather than a facilitator.”• “We are all Darth Vadar … and make

decisions without faculty input.”

58

Page 59: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

What would you say to counter the image of going into administration as “going to the Dark Side?”

• “Just say NO. This is not the ‘dark side.’”• “It’s the ability to do good on a larger scale.”• “Enables you to help people” and “to nurture talent”• “Enables you to solve problems that affect you and your

colleagues”• “It’s service.”• “It’s a collaboration between faculty and

administrators.”• “You get to do things you cannot do as faculty.”

59

The Case for Academic Administration

Page 60: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

The Case for Academic Administration cont.

• “I just love all the different things I get to learn about”• “If you love science, you get to work in so many different

fields.”• “It is the best job on campus.”• “I just love it.”• “If we look at students, we would want our students to be

leaders. Well then, wouldn’t you want them to be taught by leaders?”

• “Administrators are those who can create the best possible world for the academics. There needs to be people who understand how the whole thing operates and that is not ‘Us’ against ‘Them’. It is an enterprise for everybody.”

60

Page 61: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Implications for Professional Development

• Supporting a pipeline into academic leadership is timely and productive.

• Recommendations include:• Raise awareness about the need to support a pipeline into

academic leadership• Engage academics in a discussion of the costs/benefits of

“protecting” early and mid-career faculty from administration.• Help administrators learn how to identify and cultivate faculty

to pursue leadership and administration. • Help faculty learn how to segue from faculty roles to leadership

and academic administration, if and when they wish to do so.

61

Page 62: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Productive Practices and Recommendations

When time allows, review Productive Practices Sheet: Recommendations for Administrators and Faculty

(Gray)

62

Page 63: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Read More About It

For a summary of faculty career stages, related interests/needs/goals and challenges, and relevant professional development materials, see:

“Needs/Interests/Challenges of Academic Career Stages and Relevant Professional Development Opportunities”

63

Page 64: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Q and A

I invite your

questions and comments.

64

Page 65: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Austin, A.E., Brocato, J.J., & Rohrer, J.D. Institutional Missions, Multiple Faculty Roles: Implications for Faculty Development. In D. DeZure (Ed.), To Improve the Academy, Vol. 16 (pp. 3-20). Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press and POD Network.

Austin, A. E., & Sorcinelli, M. D. (Eds.) (1992) Developing new and junior faculty. New Directions for Teaching and Learning Series, No. 50. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Baldwin, R.G. (1990). Faculty Career Stages and Implications for Professional Development. In J.H. Schuster, D.W. Wheeler, & Assoc. (Eds.). Enhancing faculty careers: Strategies for Development and Renewal (pp. 20-40). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Baldwin, R.G., DeZure, D., Shaw, A., & Amoretto, K. (2008, Sept./Oct.). Mapping the Terrain of Mid-Career Faculty at a Research University: Implications for Faculty and Academic Leaders.” Change, (pp. 46-55). (Copy Provided)

Baldwin, R.G., & Zeig, M.J. (2012, Sept./Oct.). Making emeritus matter. Change: 44:5, 28-34. Blackburn, R.T., & Lawrence, J.H. (1995). Faculty at Work. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press. Bland, C.J., & Berquist, W.H. (1997). The vitality of senior faculty members: Snow on the roof-fire in

the furnace. Washington, D.C.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education. DeZure, D. (1996, February). Closer to the Disciplines: A model for Improving Teaching within the

Disciplines. AAHE Bulletin, 48 (6): 9-12. Finnegan, D.E., Webster, D., & Gamson, Z.F. (Eds.). (1996). Faculty and Faculty Issues in Colleges

and Universities. 2nd Edition. ASHE Reader Series. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster.

Related Literature on Faculty Career Stages

65

Page 66: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Related Literature on Mid-Career Faculty

• Buch, K., Huet, Y., Rorrer, A., & Roberson, L. (2012). Removing the barriers to full professor: A mentoring program for associate professors. Change, 43:6, 38-45.

• Baldwin, R. G., Lunceford, C. J., & Vanderlinden, K. E. (2005). Faculty in the middle years: Illuminating and overlooked phase of academic life. The

Review of Higher Education, 29 (1), 97-118.• Baldwin, R. G., & Chang, D. A. (2006). Reinforcing Our Keystone Faculty:

Strategies to Support Faculty in the Middle Years of Academic Life. Liberal Education 92(4), 28-35.

• Bland, C. J., & Bergquist, W. H. (1997). The vitality of senior faculty members: Snow on the roof – fire in the furnace. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education

Report, 25 (7). Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

• Hall, D. T. (2002). Careers in and out of organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

• Hall, D. T., & Mirvis, P.H. (1995) The new career contract: Developing the whole person at midlife and beyond. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 47,

269-289.

66

Page 67: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Related Literature & Resources on Mid-Career Faculty Cont.

• Karpiak, I. (2000a). Over rocky roads and stepping stones; women academic in mid-career. Initiatives the journal of NAWE, 59 (2), 1-8.

• Karpiak, I. (2000b). The ‘second call:’ Faculty renewal and recommitment at midlife. Quality in Higher Education, 6 (2), 125-134.

• Newton, P. M. (1983). Periods in the adult development of the faculty member. Human Relations, 36, 441-458.

• Nottis, K. E. (2005). Supporting the mid-career researcher. Journal of Faculty Development, 20 (2), 95-98.

• Tenure status of full-time faculty members by type of institution (2003-4). The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac 2006-7. Retrieved

May 5, 2007, from http://chronicle.com/weekly/almanac/2006/nation/0102702.htm

• Wilson, R. “Associate Professors: Academe’s Sandwich Generation,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 24, 2011.

• MSU, Advancing Diversity through the Alignment of Policies and Practices, NSF Advance Grant - http://www.adapp-advance.msu.edu/

67

Page 68: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Related Literature on Cultivating the Next Generation of Academic Leaders

• Appadurai, A. (2009, April 10).  Higher education’s coming leadership crisis.  The Chronicle of Higher Education, 54 (29).  Retrieved from Http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i31/31a06001.htm

• Barden, D.M., & Curry, J. (2013, April 8). Faculty Members Can Lead, but Will They? The Chronicle of Higher Education, Run Your Campus. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Members-Can-Lead-but/138343/

• Barrett, E., & Cullinan, M. (2013, April 3).  Professor or Administrator? The Chronicle of Higher Education, Manage Your Career.  Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Professor-or-Administrator-/138261/

• Betts, K, Urias, D., Chavez, J., & Betts, K. (2009, Spring). Higher education and shifting U.S. demographics:  Need for visible administrative career paths, professional development, succession planning and commitment to diversity. Academic Leadership:  The Online Journal, 7 (2). Retrieved from http://www.njepadeherc.org/site/685/doc_library/Higher%20Education%20Demographics.pdf

• Braun, S., Nazlic, T., Weisweiler, S., Pawlowska, B., Peus, C. & Frey, D. (2009). Effective leadership development in higher education: Individual and group level approaches. The Journal of Leadership Education, 8, 195-206.

• Buffone, N. (2009). Leadership Continuity: Enhancing the Cycle of leadership in Academic Departments. Open Access Dissertations, 35.

• DeZure, D., Shaw, A., & Rojewski, J. (2014, January/February). Cultivating The Next Generation of Academic Leaders: Implications for Administrators and Faculty. Change, 6-12. (Copy provided.)

• Kezar, A. (Ed.) (2009). Rethinking Leadership in a Complex, Multicultural, and Global Environment. Sterling, VA: Stylus Press.

68

Page 69: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

Related Literature on Cultivating a Pipeline into Academic Leadership Cont.• Kezar, A. (2009). Leadership development on campus within the corporate new marketplace. In J.

Knapp & D. Siegel (eds). The Business of Higher Education. (pp. 53-73), Westport, CT. Praeger Press.

• Kezar, A., & Lester, J. (2009).  Leadership in a world of divided feminism.  NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education, 1 (1), 49-73.

• Mansbach, J. (2012, August). Early Career Faculty and Leadership Development: An Intersection. Independent Study. Michigan State University. Unpublished Manuscript.

• Leubsdorf, B. (2006, September 1).  Boomers’ retirement may create talent squeeze.  The Chronicle of Higher Education, 53 (2).  Retrieved from Http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i02/02a05101.htm

• Luna, G. (2012). Planning for an American higher education leadership crisis: The succession issue for administrators. International Leadership Journal, 56.

• Maxwell, D. (2009). Engaging the Next Generation of Faculty. Presidency, 12(1), 3.• Prigge, G.W. (2010). Traits and Development Needed by Leaders for Success in the Complex World

of Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education Management, 25 (1), 3.• Reille, A., & Kezar, A. (2010). Balancing the pros and cons of community college “Grow-Your-

Own” Leadership Programs. Community College Review, 38 (1), 59-81. • Wergin, J. (2007). Leadership in Place. Boston: Anker Publishing.

• Zemke, R., Raines, C.,  & Filipczak, B. (2000).  Generations at work:  Managing the clash of veterans, boomers, xers, and nexters in your workplace.  NY:  AMACOM.

69

Page 70: Charting Your Path Workshop North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC May 12, 2014 Understanding the Terrain of the Mid-Career Faculty Experience: Implications

To Connect…

Deborah DeZure

[email protected]

517 432-5125

70