Faculty Governance

The most difficult aspect of being a professor to explain is faculty governance. It is also the most difficult aspect of being a professor to actualize collectively. Faculty governance embodies the very alien concept of self-governance. Indulge me for a moment and I'll explain.

Faculty governance is the process whereby the faculty, as collective, makes decisions over matters related to the work of being a faculty member. The professional organization of university professors has a long standing statement and documents on what is covered under faculty governance. But, documents are one thing and doing it is another. Doing, living, actualizing, engaging in, participating in faculty governance require that faculty members individually and collectively take ownership and power to be self-determined. And, this is not easy in world with funding pressures, demanding students, and already full plates.

Today we had a meeting with the Dean. It was a historical moment for the faculty in my school because we took initiative, asked for executive session with the Dean, and then had a wonderfully frank and productive discussion. We went beyond grumbling about x, y, or into the underlying causes of x, y, and z. We said in a group things we usually only say to each other in our offices. We created a format for making changes and opening up more communication.  It felt good. It felt empowering. It felt collective. And, it felt promising.

Quasi-vacation

While traveling to visit family, I did pretty good at not looking at email or doing work. There were a few days when I had time before or after dinner to do a little work. Very little work. And, boy, did it feel good to not feel the pressure to be on-call 24-7. We don't normally think of professors as working 24-7, but with email and internet access that has become the expectation. I can't say that it's healthy; I haven't done the literature search to find research to support that assumption. (Yep, that's really how we think.)

But, I can say that I experienced relief and a freedom of attention to focus on the fog rolling over the hills, the birds singing, and our family closeness.  I had time to feel blessed by having a family with good health (except for the very elderly family members), good manners, and good spirits.