At a roundtable meeting of 18 college and university presidents
convened by ACE in the spring of 2007, there was a worried discussion
about the perception that younger faculty currently entering the
professoriate are increasingly less engaged in the affairs of their
institutions, in fulfilling their responsibilities inherent in the model
of shared governance, and in assuming those roles that will prepare them
for institutional leadership.
These clearly are not entirely new issues, but they are indeed of
concern. It may look like an uphill struggle: National surveys of
college and university faculty for decades have consistently indicated
that faculty members' loyalties are typically first to their discipline,
second to their department, and only third to the institution in which
they are employed. (Although in my nearly four decades as a faculty
member and administrator, the first loyalty of most faculty whom
I’ve known is to their students, an option these studies
curiously omit.) Carol Floyd noted over two decades ago that "neither
faculty nor administrators have been very satisfied with actual patterns
of participation or the effectiveness of that participation.". .
.
Excerpted from the special supplement to the winter 2009
issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please
call (301) 632-6757, or order online throughACE's
bookstore.
Excerpt Engaging the Next Generation of Faculty David Maxwell The Presidency winter 2009 supplement
