ACHE 86th Annual Conference and Meeting - October 14-16 2024

30-Minute Presentations

Higher education can currently be described as a turbulent climate in a state of change due to the competitive academic job market, financial instability, administrative bloat, student enrollment decline, institutional striving, pressures from government oversight, and more. These factors have an impact on faculty members’ well-being and their experiences with the tenure process. New faculty may face several challenges in being new to academia as they navigate research, service, and teaching, such as work-life balance, lack of training in teaching, unclear tenure expectations, and a lack of guidance and collegial connectivity (Gosling et al., 2020). Faculty may also feel the pressure to say “yes” to requests from their tenured colleagues or administrators to avoid jeopardizing their tenure. Furthermore, considering the evolving financial state of higher education along with the deceleration of tenure-track faculty and growing openings in administrative positions, some faculty are serving in dual roles, as both faculty members and administrators simultaneously. This duality poses a unique but not uncommon experience for the tenure process. This presentation, therefore, will share with audience members the findings of a phenomenological, qualitative study on the challenges experienced by tenure-track faculty members serving in dual roles. Moreover, this presentation will explore recommendations for tenure processes, dual role processes, and faculty-well-being advocacy. Audience members will engage with each other to share experiences with tenure processes, dual roles, and job creep, whether from a faculty perspective or administrative perspective. Audience members will also discuss and reflect on well-being and advocacy strategies during the tenure process.