Content area
Full Text
Researchers have long recognized that instructors face distinctive challenges at different career stages. While much work has been done on developing best practices around early career faculty, the literature only pays scant attention to later-career or senior faculty (Sorcinelli, 1999; Zeig and Baldwin, 2013). The most common challenges cited by senior faculty are those of vitality, including coping with burnout, waning interest, and growing disengagement with their fields. This study presents the results of a study that engages participants in the question: what strategies and processes do senior faculty use to maintain and regain creativity and passion in their work?
IN HIGHER EDUCATION, there are persistent negative stereotypes surrounding senior faculty; including lower productivity, decreased engagement, and reactionary attitudes. One faculty member in our study characterized the group as, "cynical, embittered faculty for whom nothing's right, nothing's as good as it used to be, administrators are always evil, faculty are always right, and trying to assess what we do is fascism." Such stereotypes are not new, but when viewed in light of contemporary challenges to higher education, including those that seem to require institutions to increase efficiency, give greater attention to community issues, and to exercise more agility in responding to the demands of modern labor markets; these stereotypes can turn from seemingly innocuous parodies into more dangerous labels. These labels can, in turn, marginalize and constrict (consciously or unconsciously) the role that senior faculty play in the academic enterprise. Previous studies have shown that many aspects of these stereotypes often do not hold up under systematic inquiry, but the need to identify and expand a distinctive and constructive role for senior faculty is more timely than ever. This study challenges these stereotypes through the voices of the senior faculty themselves, including their own perceptions of the value of their work and the strategies they use to stay engaged and with their work in meaningful ways.
The educational development literature recognizes the existence of developmental stages in faculty careers (Blackburn, 1985; O'Meara, Terosky, & Neumann, 2008), but subsequent practice has focused more heavily on first, junior or early-career faculty, and, more recently, mid-career faculty. Scant attention has been paid, on the other hand, to the senior faculty stage or to the specific developmental challenges...