Proceedings from the 2019 CEA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana: The Joy Project: Helping Faculty to Find Joy in and out of the Classroom

Authors

  • Erin Clair Arkansas Tech University

Keywords:

administration, advising, leadership, work-life balance, happiness, joy, faculty, teaching

Abstract

One of the main challenges facing colleges and universities today is student retention. To help in this effort, many institutions have looked to improve their training of faculty advisors. Research shows that the vast majority of time, students do not drop out of college because they cannot do the level of work expected of them, but rather because of “life challenges:” financial struggles, the inability to cope with stress, mental or physical health issues, or family pressures. To help many students stay in college today, faculty need to advise students in these areas as much as they need to advise them about what classes to take. But what we found in my college and in the surveys of faculty at other institutions is that faculty members themselves tend to struggle in the same areas as their students. The question then became, “How can we help our faculty members build an effective work-life balance, as that will also better train our faculty as advisors?” In search of that answer, we thereby asked, “How do we help faculty to experience joy (i.e., epiphany, transcendent revelation, breakthrough discovery, synergy) within their lives and within their classrooms, especially at an underfunded state institution where the rewards for faculty are unlikely to be financial?” This column explains the steps I have undertaken in my work for the dean’s office at the Arkansas Tech University College of Arts & Humanities to address the above questions via a college-wide endeavor called “The Joy Project.”

Author Biography

Erin Clair, Arkansas Tech University

Erin Clair is Director of College Operations for the College of Arts and Humanities and Associate Professor of English at Arkansas Tech University

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Published

2021-03-22