Faculty Advancement Network
Advancing diversity & inclusion in the American professoriate
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Institute | Inquiries | Service and Workloads

Institute on Inquiry, Equity, and Leadership in the Academic Department

KerryAnn O’Meara, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost & Dean, Teachers College at Columbia University

INQUIRY #1: Equity-minded Workloads by Design

The unequal distribution of faculty teaching and service work is one of the most important, yet least talked about inequities that shape the experiences of faculty members within colleges and universities. In particular, faculty from historically minoritized identities and women faculty face unusually high service, teaching, and mentoring workloads. The lingering effects of the pandemic have exacerbated existing inequities. It is important for departments and institutions to identify and dismantle systems that maintain unequal workloads and avoid longer time to advancement, higher stress, increased burnout, and greater willingness to leave for women and minoritized faculty. 

In this workshop, KerryAnn O’Meara, P.I. of the NSF-funded Faculty Workload and Rewards Project and co-author of an American Council on Education report and set of evidence-based tools, shares what she learned with colleagues during this five-year, action research project aimed at promoting equity in how faculty labor is taken up, assigned, and rewarded. She will engage Fellows in discussions about how workload inequities emerge in "discretionary spaces" in their own work systems, and the evidence-based policies and practices departments can use to identify inequalities, assess faculty and university needs, and re-design workload with equity in mind.

Participants in this inquiry:

  • Interrogate the conditions that shape how faculty work is taken up, assigned, and rewarded in ways that promote equity and inequities in their departments and disciplines

  • Discuss specific actions a single faculty leader can take to foster more equitable workload systems.

  • Learn to anticipate resistance and how to manage/respond to it.

  • Leave with concrete examples and resources for designing equitable systems that will outlast their appointments.

INQUIRY activities

  1. Watch this Inquiry's 22-minute video prologue, then follow Prof. O’Meara’s instructions at the end to make a list of different kinds of “scripted” or “unscripted” service in which your faculty are involved. Share your thoughts or just questions or concerns--on the Discussion Board.

  2. Read "Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads: What We Can and Should Do Now" and “Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads: Worksheet Booklet”

  3. Engage with Prof. O’Meara during the workshop in a workload audit activity and vignettes and discussion prompts

for further inquiry