Browsing by Author "Cameron, Tracey LaShawne"
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- An Examination of Departure Trends and Tenure Rates among Pre-Tenure Faculty: A Ten Year Cohort Study (1996 – 2005)Cameron, Tracey LaShawne; Hyer, Patricia B. (Virginia Tech, 2010-04)The environmental landscape of American higher education is undergoing a major transformation. With the increased minority enrollment and impending exodus of retiring faculty, recruiting and attracting a diverse and excellent professoriate is more important than ever before (Van Ummersen, 2005). Recognizing the critical role that a diverse faculty plays in the collegiate experience of students from underrepresented groups, colleges and universities have focused increased attention on hiring women and ethnic/cultural minorities (Smith, Turner, Osei-Kofi, & Richards, 2004). These efforts have resulted in the gradual increase of traditionally underrepresented faculty during the past decades.
While the availability of doctorates from more diverse backgrounds has fueled progress in faculty hiring, lower retention rates of women and minorities reduce the rate of progress in diversifying the tenured faculty workforce. Some turnover, whether voluntary or involuntary, is expected. It is necessary in instances of poor teaching performance or low research productivity. It is also a natural consequence of professional advancement (Xu, 2008; Zhou & Volkwein, 2004). Excessive turnover, however, yields undesirable outcomes. Turnover can influence departmental culture, disrupting progress and resulting in the redistribution of teaching loads, advising assignments, and committee tasks. It also presents a financial burden to the institution, resulting in lost return on investment (Xu, 2008). While turnover is inevitable, understanding the factors that contribute to unwanted losses and how these factors affect a faculty member’s decision to depart, warrant significant attention (Xu, 2008). The ongoing monitoring of recruitment and retention practices is one step towards ensuring faculty success and institutional excellence. - The Professional & the Personal: Worklife Balance and Mid-Level Student Affairs AdministratorsCameron, Tracey LaShawne (Virginia Tech, 2011-11-01)The integration of work and family continues to be a challenge for women and men of the academy (Gatta & Roos, 2004). Much of the research on worklife balance in the post-secondary education setting focuses on the lives of instructional faculty (Bailyn, 2003; Bassett, 2005; Drago et al., 2006; Drago & Williams, 2000; Gatta & Roos, 2004; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999; Ward & Wolf-Wendel, 2004). There is also a need to understand how university administrators juggle the demands of work and personal life. The primary purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to make meaning of the lived experiences of mid-level student affairs administrators by examining worklife balance. A secondary purpose was to gather administrator perceptions of their environment to gain insight into infrastructures that may promote or hinder worklife balance efforts. Respondents consisted of 30 mid-level student affairs administrators from an array of post-secondary institutions across the United States. Data were generated from semi-structured telephone interviews and two projection exercises. Findings suggest that mid-level student affairs administrators describe their worklife experiences as driven by a shortage of time. Administrators maintain that time is a limited resource that causes difficulty when juggling competing worklife demands. Their involvement in multiple, interdependent roles is rewarding but presents ongoing personal and professional challenges. Administrators report that shortage of time, coupled with the demands of multiple roles impacts personal well-being and career satisfaction. Mid-level student affairs administrators also identified environmental infrastructures that promote and/or hinder worklife efforts in the context of several cultural dynamics. Formal and informal support mechanisms such as policies, programs and resources, effective supervision and campus support networks assist administrators in mitigating worklife challenges. This is in contrast to expectations, behaviors, and values that reinforce unhealthy workplace norms. In addition, the lack of organizational policies and programs and poor supervision also hindered worklife efforts.