Faculty Work and Public Trust: Restoring the Value of Teaching and Public Service in American Academic Life

In this thoroughly researched presentation, James Fairweather examines the increasingly uncomfortable fit between today's academic environment and the changing societal needs facing America's colleges and universities. He explores the reasons for public skepticism and mistrust about these institutions along with the conflicts created as the goals of teaching, research, and enhancing economic development compete for faculty time and funding.As the American economy shifts from an industrial to an information base, universities are increasingly called upon to lead the way in educating tomorrow's workforce, retraining today's workers, and promoting technology transfer. Fairweather points out that while the public is being rocked by unsettling economic developments, academic institutions are perceived as immune to this reality, focusing narrowly on research, scholarly publishing, and prestige, rather than on teaching and public service. In this book, he proposes ways to restore a balance between activities that contribute to legitimate social needs and those that primarily serve the professional community.Fairweather offers the most comprehensive empirical information available about faculty work and rewards. Using this data, he examines the socialization processes and reward structures which encourage faculty to think more about research than teaching, to stress publishing volume more than quality, and to treat the publication of research as the principal source of prestige for faculty members and their institutions. He explains why traditional administrative approaches to these problems often fail to address their root sources in academic culture. And he proposes solutions - actions which can be taken by outside policy makers, college administrators, department chairpersons, and faculty members to reestablish the value of teaching and public service in academic life.