A multidisciplinary team of researchers is examining the role of workplace flexibility and its effect on the work experiences of full- and part-time faculty in STEM and Social Sciences at BSU.
Professors Martina Arndt (Physics), Laura Ramsey (Psychology), and Pamela Russell (MAHPLS) along with Michael Young (Academic Affairs) were awarded a 2-year National Science Foundation Advance Program Grant of $194,000 to fund this research. Professor Kimberly Fox (Sociology) is also part of the research team.
Employing interviews and surveys, the team has compiled results from well over 100 full- and part-time BSU faculty in STEM and Social Science departments. The analysis phase of the project is currently underway. However, the data are already revealing interesting findings.
“The general findings are that full-time faculty who have greater workplace flexibility, especially women, tend to be more productive, experience less stress, are more dedicated to their job, and have more job satisfaction,” Dr. Ramsey said. The findings from part-time faculty are related but contextually different, necessitating an even more-nuanced reading.
“We found that part-time faculty have a variety of backgrounds that led them to teach at BSU, and we found that once they’re here they are met with a number of challenges around limited resources and opportunities to maximize on their experience outside of academia,” Dr. Fox said.
Ultimately the findings will be shared through conferences and journal articles, and be widely discussed across campus, where members of the research team hope it will have a real effect. The team anticipates that the results of this research will influence Human Resources policies at the university, and eventually spread to other institutions. “The goal is that this research will have broad impacts,” Professor Fox said.
“This is a huge project,” Dr. Arndt said. “This year, we’ve been focusing our advocacy efforts on family leave policies on campus, and we’re hoping to affect change by working with the president, HR, union leadership, and Academic Affairs.”
The federal Family & Medical Leave Act provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. Within the Massachusetts State University system, in the case of adoption, birth, or the arrival of a new foster child, full-time faculty can take two weeks of paid leave and an additional 10 weeks unpaid.
The team’s research found that the current family leave policy is inadequate for the needs of our faculty. Dr. Russell points out that “this is a broad problem, and not just a faculty problem but a problem that also impacts student learning, especially if students need to adapt to a new teaching style with a different faculty member or a hybrid/web class mid-semester.”
In addition to their advocacy work, the team is currently preparing for an upcoming presentation at the CARS Celebration in May, along with presentations off-campus. This work is also providing a foundation for the next grant the team plans to apply for that would provide support for institutional transformation. (Story and photo by John Winters, G ’11, University News & Media)
