Vicki J. Rosser

Faculty Members' Morale and Their Intention to Leave: A Multilevel Explanation

The purpose of this study is (1) to advance our understanding of the quality of faculty worklife, morale, and intentions to leave at both the individual and institutional level, (2) to examine relationships among these three constructs, and (3) to determine the extent to which these relationships operate within or between faculty groups.

Academic Deans and Directors: Assessing Their Effectiveness from Individual and Institutional Perspectives

The intent of this study is to present a systematic approach for evaluating the leadership effectiveness of deans and directors. We demonstrate the utility of multilevel structural equation modeling to examine variance in faculty and staff assessments of effectiveness and discuss the relevance of our model from individual and institutional perspectives.

An Examination of Faculty Work: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks in the Literature

There have been numerous books, monographs, articles, and opinion pieces examining the various roles and responsibilities regarding faculty work (i.e., teaching and advising, research and scholarship, and internal and external service activities). These roles and responsibilities consist of an incredible range of valued and tiered activities that add to the complexity, as well as to the debate, to adequately define and measure faculty workload and productivity, including the influence of culture and technology. The purpose of this chapter was three-fold: to examine the various scholarly approaches within the burgeoning research conducted on faculty workload and productivity, to explore the various conceptual and theoretical frameworks within the empirical research, and to present those motivational or affective responses to the quality of faculty worklife, such as job satisfaction, institutional morale, and the intent to stay in or leave an academic position.

Preparing and Socializing New Faculty Members

This review provides an overview on three books that offer advice to graduate students and new faculty members. The goal of these publications is to supplement and support graduate students and new faculty members with details and reinforcement that may broaden their professional and academic socialization. These books were selected for review because of their broad audience appeal and because they represent the most current and comprehensive professional guides for advanced graduate students and new faculty members.

The Extent and Nature of Scholarly Activities Among Community College Faculty

This study used the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty data from1993 and 2004 to examine the work roles of community college faculty. Results indicated that the average reported work week (i.e., time spent on instructional activities and on scholarly activities) of faculty in 2004 was significantly longer than that of faculty in 1993.

Using Multilevel SEM to Study Leadership Effectiveness in Higher Education

Despite countless efforts to define and understand administrative leadership, it remains an oft-debated and even controversial construct. Explaining effective Leadership is even more elusive and continues to intrigue and challenge the best of scholars, administrative teams, consultants and, most of all, leaders themselves. In fact, within the literature on administration in higher education there has been no commonly accepted definition of leadership effectiveness nor agreement about which aspects of leadership may be most important to assess in order to evaluate one’s performance in the administrative role (Bensimon, Neumann and Birnbaum, 1989; Birnbaum, 1992; Dill, 1984; Fincher, 1996; Neuman and Bensimon, 1990; Whetten and Cameron, 1985). In order to determine the effectiveness of those in leadership positions accurately and. fairly, researchers must understand how individuals, as well as groups of individuals, construct their perceptions of effective leadership within complex organizations.

Closing up Shop: Perspectives on the Departmental/Programmatic Elimination Experience.

Departmental and programmatic eliminations represent a new paradigm in the history of American higher education. Hastened by a national economic recession and competing state funding priorities, public postsecondary institutions have turned to academic attrition as a solution to continuous budgetary shortfalls. As a means of addressing the lived experience of faculty members and department chairs, the following qualitative case study explores perceptions of implementing departmental and/or programmatic eliminations. Utilizing uncertainty reduction theory as a conceptual framework, interviewed faculty in units that were initially selected for elimination, but eventually saved, experienced considerable strategic uncertainty, failing to understand why they had been included within a budget reduction proposal. Guided by a college-wide strategic planning process, faculty in eliminated units understood the rationale for abolishing departments, though they experienced considerable structural uncertainty in terms of adjusting to a new, nonacademic reporting structure. These findings indicate that a transparent strategic planning process diminishes strategic uncertainty, while the elimination of traditional departmental structures heightens structural uncertainty.