Recent PhDs have stepped into an overwhelming set of challenges: an historic drop in public support for higher education, sharp increases in student debt that have contributed to enrollment declines, especially in the liberal arts, and parallel increases in the numbers of faculty without the protections and support of tenure. These daunting challenges are opening up some leadership opportunities for early-career faculty and staff: many departments and institutions are reaching a tipping point as they realize that traditional hierarchies are failing to address these trends. Faculty members’ teaching and service are being recognized in new ways, and new curricula and modes of instruction are being developed to engage first-gen students and the rising numbers of students of color (who are now the majority among Americans under 18).
I discussed these trends in a coauthored article with Charles McMartin: “The Challenging Opportunities Facing Next-Generation Faculty and Staff Leaders.” Related research and resources are included in the links below to my unpublished research on the leadership challenges facing next-gen faculty and new-majority students.. A link is also included to a second folder with handouts on leadership techniques and frameworks from workshops that I co-facilitated.
Research on Next-Gen Leadership: This Google folder includes a technical report on a national survey of recent PhDs in writing studies that Charles McMartin and I conducted during the pandemic in fall 2021. We have followed up to work together with Sonia Arellano and Eric House on a collection of articles by early-career faculty, staff, and nonacademic professionals that is under contract with Utah State University Press. The folder includes the introduction and table of contents for that collection: Next-Gen Perspectives on Leadership: Coalitional Strategies for Launching Careers, Building Networks, and Advancing Systemic Change.
Leadership Strategies: This folder includes workshop materials on
- The process of developing your collaborative leadership,
- Responding to feedback in annual and promotion reviews,
- Leadership development for community writing in the engaged university,
- Improving well-being through collaborative leadership, and
- Developing your networks to expand your impact.