It seems like it is becoming more and
more challenging to get people to participate or volunteer for anything that is
outside of their already required weekly activities. Currently, I am a part of
a counseling honor society on campus and we have a very difficult time getting
our members to volunteer their time even though when applying for membership they
agreed to participate in at least two events per school year. In my opinion,
two volunteer events per school year is not a big commitment but we still have issues
getting our members to meet this requirement. We have thought long and hard
about how to get our members more committed. We have attempted a few different
possible solutions and we are finding out that it is not about offering more
options for involvement or sending them more event reminders, it seems to be
that people are just busy and volunteering is, sadly, not high on the priority
list.
An article in the Chronicle reminded
me of the struggles we are having. This article was written by Janet Morgan
Riggs, a professor at Gettysburg College, and she discusses the importance of
having a strong sense of community among faculty. She argues there is a need for
a stronger sense of community among faculty for multiple reasons: faculty
development (personally and professionally), recruitment and retention of
faculty, impacting faculty knowledge and the knowledge they produce, and creating
a better quality of life for their faculty. I think each of these reasons is
extremely important and would be beneficial to any university. I completely
agree with the need to build a greater sense of community, with not just
faculty but all groups of people in every organization or university. I am,
however, a bit skeptical of the logistics of this goal.
Some of Dr. Riggs’ ideas for how
Gettysburg College is going to build a cohesive faculty are to have Friday
faculty lunches, Friday-afternoon social hours, creative teaching and learning
programs ran by faculty, new-faculty orientation, and honoring faculty
achievements. I agree that each of these events would create a stronger sense
of community however I do not see the implementation as being realistic. The
last two are manageable and in most cases they seem to already be happening.
The first three, however, are a bit of a stretch and unrealistic. In my
experience of faculty, they are extremely busy, they have deadlines and
requirements coming at them from many different angles, and they also have a
life outside of academia. I cannot imagine many of them having time or energy
for Friday faculty lunches as well as Friday afternoon social hours. I see the benefit
of holding similar events a few times throughout the school year but the idea presented
in this article is that these lunches and social hours take place every single
Friday that school is in session. Again, I commend the idea and effort to build
community but I can only imagine the attendance at these events will be
extremely low.
If Gettysburg can find success in
their quest for a sense of community among faculty with the implementation of
the above events, then they could create a successful consulting company where
they travel to other universities to teach them how to build a cohesive faculty
too. I think they have a great goal but hurdles to overcome.
Nice post Lisa! I think that part of the problem (especially with graduate students) is that students are expected to spend so much time on campus and interacting with peers that the idea of spending more time on campus and/or with peers is less than appealing. Some students, myself included, may be more invested in volunteering for other organizations. I know that when I have time to volunteer I ususally choose to do so through my church. In doing so I feel that I am not dedicating all of my time to professional and student organizations.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the efforts made by Gettysburg and I too think that the format may be overwhelming for staff who already have a full plate. Also, I think it's not always a matter of providing a place for staff to be together but being intentional about how to spend the time. I trust that workshops built around team building and getting to know eachother would help to foster a family environment.
I too agree with Fridays being a challenge to get people to want to connect and do something. An idea that could create more community is a peer to peer pairing. For example, having a new faculty member paired up with a seasoned faculty member. In every position it is important to have the nodals and the newbees. Both bring so much to a department. It is great to hear that people are thinking about how to try and create community within faculty settings. This is a least a start.
ReplyDeleteI must say (and I do have a tendency to be a bit of a ‘glass half full’ kind of person…), I applaud Gettysburg for their efforts, and think that it may indeed work for them. I say this because I know Gettysburg College, and believe that their institutional culture is ideal for these types of faculty engagement/community efforts to work. I think that they could indeed serve as a model for other small private residential Liberal Arts colleges in rural areas. I don’t know that their model will work at large urban publics. This is a great example where differences in institutional type will likely matter.
ReplyDeleteAt a Gettysburg, faculty are likely coming to an institution where they already know they are joining a true community. New faculty look to seasoned faculty in many ways, just as students look to their upper-class peers, and shape their behavior within the community accordingly. Faculty and students alike are almost always coming to the College from outside of the area, and are creating a hub for both their professional and social networks within the College community.
Sure- not all faculty will participate in every opportunity, and certainly not every week. However, I trust that their approach will provide the network and support that they strive to achieve for a good number of their faculty. An ‘it will never work’ attitude about faculty engagement is tempting (I get it…), but I encourage us to consider the possible outcomes that can be realized if we support faculty community development efforts.
I think you directly referenced the problem in your very first paragraph, and that is the fact that it simply is not on the top of peoples' list of priorities. In my experience people volunteer for two reasons. The first reason is because they are required to do so for class, programs, clubs, etc. The second reason is because people truly enjoy helping others and making a difference. I believe that the hope is that through the first option of requirement, some people will realize they enjoy the volunteer opportunities, and will continue to volunteer even after the requirement is gone. In this case however, the volunteer opportunities need to really make people feel like they are making a difference. For example, I really do not get a warm fuzzy feeling from picking up trash on the highway, and I am very unlikely to volunteer to do this. However, I would volunteer numerous times to help elderly citizens with tasks they can no longer perform themselves, or to assist in efforts of a food drive. If people are required to volunteer and they still are not doing it, then obviously there is no factor actually holding them to that obligation.
ReplyDeleteI was just at a meeting earlier today where the topic of training needs across the campus (related to student persistence and retention) were discussed and a large component is faculty; both full-time and adjunct. Like Gettysburg, we are struggling with how to get faculty, especially adjuncts, to feel connected to the institution. There were a number of ideas that we tossed around and sadly, most of them were met with responses like, "faculty will never come in on a Friday to do that", or "but if we aren't going to pay them, they won't come" and "they're just too busy".
ReplyDeleteI wish Gettysburg the best of luck in their efforts, and I'll try to watch their progress, and potentially steal some of their ideas if they're successful.
Thank you for your post. Like Darcy, at my institution we have been having several conversations about faculty involvement, especially as it relates to student transfer, retention and graduation (the 3 big words right now for community colleges). Interestingly enough, last night in our 761 course, it was reported that studies show the most effective measures towards student transfer (2 year to 4 year), is faculty involvement. While I agree we need to get faculty involved, I also hear some of the concerns on the side of faculty, especially adjunct faculty, who we rely heavily upon at community colleges.
ReplyDeleteAdjunct faculty are horribly underpaid and are very disconnected from the college. Is that on the faculty or the institution that continues to underpay and not offer any health/retirement benefits to these folks. How involved do we expect them to be? I am not sure I would come in on a Friday for a training that I was not going to get paid for. Let's be honest with ourselves, we all need money to survive. I think it is up to the college to figure out incentives for adjunct faculty. On the other hand, full time faculty need to be involved. Yes, I understand we are asking them to do more already (e.g. report students for non-attendance), but they have just as high stakes in this as anyone else. I am not sure they all see it that way. However, I believe a majority of the faculty want to get involved. I am not sure that administrators are always great about finding ways to get faculty involved. It is a dilemma that we need to figure out soon. I wish Gettysburg a lot of luck and hope we can learn something from them!