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Faculty Express Concern While Struggling to Adjust to Downsizing

Students sitting in a classroom

Low Moral among Faculty | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian


Wright State University faculty express feelings of stress and burnout due to the COVID-19 pandemic, university downsizing and the lack of support on campus. 

Faculty concerns

At the March Faculty Senate meeting, Senator Mindy McNutt raised concerns regarding faculty spirit and the stress they continue to face as the university ushers in new changes. 

“What is being done regarding faculty and staff morale? All of us faculty and staff are taking on more responsibility due to the number of positions that have left the university. They are not being replaced,”  Sen. Mindy McNutt said. 

This leads to a larger discussion of faculty morale and the stress of the past couple of years at WSU.  

Faculty Senate President Brian Boyd and Vice President Megan Faragher admitted that faculty are feeling the effects of the stress and burnout from teaching in the global pandemic and from the loss of faculty due to downsizing initiatives. 

Covid challenges 

For the past two years, professors and students adapted to teaching and learning online. While many classes moved back to in-person formats in the fall of 2021, this did not eliminate the challenges professors face teaching during the pandemic. 

Due to the situation and its complexities, many professors have had to instill systems of accommodation and/or change the way they teach because of the pandemic. While not necessarily a negative, this can add stress to their already heavy workloads.

“I would say some of the burnout relates to the stresses that students have going on in their lives and faculty trying to be understanding and accommodating,” Boyd said.

Challenges in staffing 

In addition to the pandemic, professors are also dealing with the stressors of university-wide downsizing initiatives. 

Over 100 faculty members faced retrenchment last spring and colleges like the College of Liberal Arts lost 50% of their faculty and staff. This ‘Wright Sizing’ puts extra work on those left behind. 

“We’re used to having a lot more of us and just the logistics of how to distribute this labor? How do we make sure that it’s not all falling on the same people? That we’re spreading this out?” Faragher said. 

This not only adds stress to faculty but to faculty leadership. 

Boyd described how it is difficult to find people to serve on committees due to the number of people that have left and that faculty leadership is having to consider ways they can combine committees and duties. 

Both Faragher and Boyd agree the adjustment to fewer faculty members is an ongoing process as retrenchment, retirement and voluntary separation agreements continue to take effect through the end of the 2022 academic year.

Support 

In addition to the challenges and work, there is little support for faculty members.

“If I’m trying to learn how to use this new tool to engage students, and how to teach my class in a different way, there’s very little support for that right now,” Boyd said. 

As discussed in the March Faculty Senate meeting, there is an effort to restart and revamp the Center for Teaching and Learning, a resource space for instructors and professors. Though it is uncertain when and if these ideas will come to fruition.


Jamie Naylor

Editor-in-Chief

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