Mitigating the “Great Faculty Disengagement:” Opinion

Faculty are increasingly becoming more disengaged as the pandemic continues, writes Kevin R McClure and Alisa Hicklin Fryar. McClure and Fryar write that though academics may not be resigning at the same rate as people from other industries, they are approaching their jobs differently. The authors say this change can be seen in an emotional withdrawal from certain aspects of their jobs, a loss of the “spark” they used to find in their work, and weakening ties to their institution. McClure and Fryar encourage leadership to acknowledge the issue, dedicate resources to researching how widespread it is, and act on any recommendations. “The pandemic will eventually transition into something else, but its effects will linger,” write the authors. “For how long and with what consequences depends on what college leaders decide to do right now.” The Chronicle of Higher Ed (Subscription) Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.