Yes, Faculty Members Work Hard Enough! – Innovations – The Chronicle of Higher Education

I’ll be Tweeting my workday, as part of an organized grass-roots response to a recent essay that claimed faculty members outside research institutions earn professional salaries for just 9-15 hours of teaching a week, for just 30 weeks. That essay assumes that 1 hour of prep time is all a prof should need. It takes me almost an hour to read and respond to a single student’s freshman comp paper, and I give that feedback six times per class (three drafts and three revisions).

Here is one of several responses to that misleading, uninformed essay:

There are the exceptions, but I know faculty member at all types of institutions across the country—research institutions, small liberal-arts colleges, black colleges, community colleges, tribal colleges, and more regionally focused public colleges—and all of them work long hours during the academic year and throughout the summer. Most faculty members invest countless hours in their teaching, are constantly thinking about new research and writing, have a commitment to service both on campus and off, and care deeply about their institutions.

By the way, I wrote this essay at 12:39 a.m. My day rarely ends at 5 p.m. Regardless, being a faculty member is incredibly rewarding. I do it because I love it, but I definitely earn my salary!Yes, Faculty Members Work Hard Enough! – Innovations – The Chronicle of Higher Education.