Examining Transformation on the Road to the Professoriate (original) (raw)
Related papers
Learning to Become: An Exploration of Transformative Faculty Development
This multi-article dissertation explores the experience of becoming a professor who effectively facilitates students’ identity formation. While the growing body of literature on student transformation suggests that faculty must transform themselves to authentically invite change in others, little research has been done on helping professors become mentors who facilitate students’ movement toward their potential for meaningful contribution. To address this gap, this dissertation suggests a framework to facilitate transformative faculty development based on a review of the literature on learning as a process of becoming (Article #1). The major components of this framework are (a) facilitating meaningful engagement in communities of practice, (b) inviting community members to take on new responsibilities, and (c) construing learning as a process of identity development. I also propose several interventions in each of these areas that may increase the likelihood that professors will engage in transformational learning practices. This dissertation also explores the identity development of faculty who invite transformation in their students through narrative case studies of professors’ transformative learning experiences (Article #2). Through a series of semi-structured interviews with highly rated faculty at various career stages––one from the humanities, one from the social sciences, and one from the natural sciences––we examined six turning points our participants’ identified as pivotal in becoming the kind of mentor who helps create transformative experiences for others. The findings of this study suggest that transformative faculty formation is a process of moral becoming that occurs as professors take purposive stands in their communities of practice. Cross-case themes also suggest that transformative learning is most effectively invited through relational activities that are meaningful, authentic, and altruistic. Keywords:
2006
Becoming a college professor brings both the feeling of self-accomplishment and discernment regarding this prestigious achievement. Most doctoral candidates are practitioners in the eld of public education and will hopefully transition from a principalship to the oce of a college professor. While this journey is lled with personal attainment, some of the doctoral graduates experience a variety of struggles along the way to their positions in higher education. This study examined this journey for some of those who have made the move. The questions posed to the participants centered on the benets, disadvantages, and suggestions on ways to assist fellow completers who have decided to take a position in higher education. Four primary struggles were identied as a result of the study: (1) struggle with the role, (2) struggle with self, (3) cultural struggle, and (4) future struggles. Through a narrative approach, the participants addressed their feelings regarding the move to a professorship, struggles they faced along the way and the impact the professional change had on their lives. *
Intersections: Critical Issues in Education, 2018
This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 22 male assistant professors of color as they navigated the tenure-track while working in various disciplines at four-year institutions nationwide. The notion of intersectionality provided a theoretical framework to unearth how participants’ experiences were shaped. The guiding questions for the study included: 1) How do male tenure-track assistant professors of color describe their experiences in navigating academia? (2) How does intersectionality theory assist with better understanding their experiences? Findings revealed overarching themes related to how they negotiated and struggled with their various work and personal roles and responsibilities, understandings of their unique experiences within academia, and how they recreated their perceptions of self and how others viewed them given their personal and professional roles and multiple social identities. Findings reiterate that the experiences of male faculty of color cannot be unraveled from their intersecting social identities, nor from the contexts in which they live and work. Supportive environments that allowed for fluid understandings of what male faculty of color can and should be doing were appreciated and seen in varying instances, although less common.
The Review of Higher Education, 2002
This article draws from the excellent research concerning graduate education and early career faculty conducted by many colleagues. Here I particularly acknowledge my use of research conducted as part of a study entitled "The Development of Graduate Students as Prospective Teaching Scholars." This study was funded generously by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Spencer Foundation and was conducted collaboratively with Jody Nyquist, Jo Sprague, and Donald Wulff, as well as several graduate students. I appreciate their influence on my work, as well as the contributions and influence of Mary Deane Sorcinelli, with whom I have collaborated on a number of related projects.