The group around the table had been meeting regularly for six months, tackling the issue of faculty overloads. At this institution, faculty who taught more than the default workload accumulated extra credits that they could use in subsequent semesters to reduce their teaching load. But, as resources declined and fewer full-time faculty were hired, the teaching schedule did not get reduced at the same rate, resulting in faculty accumulating overload but never having an opportunity to use it. Furthermore, as fewer staff positions were being refilled, faculty assumed administrative duties, and their reward was additional workload credits.
Connections Are Everything: Putting Relationships at the Heart of Higher Ed
As academic leaders, we are under so much pressure to deliver—enrollment targets, strategic plans, graduation rates, AI policies, and on and on—that we can lose sight of what our students