TITLE: If You Want to Help Students, You May Want to Help Faculty
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 26, 2015  2:59 PM
DESC: 
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In
<A HREF="http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-missing-middle.html">
   The Missing Middle</A>,
Matt Reed recommends a way for donors to have a real effect at
teaching universities: pay for conference travel.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 I've mentioned before that the next philanthropist who wants to make
 a massive difference in the performance of teaching-intensive public
 colleges -- whether community colleges or the smaller four-years --
 could do it by underwriting conference travel.  Right now, most
 colleges are lucky to send one or two people to most conferences.
 When an entire team attends the same presentation, it's much easier
 to get what chemists call activation energy.  I've seen it personally.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

This echoes a conversation the department heads in my college had
earlier this month.  Ongoing professional development is important
for faculty, both in their research and their teaching.  Faculty
who are struggling in the classroom need more help than others,
but even good teachers need to have their batteries charged every
once in a while.

There tends to be more support for faculty development in their
research than in their teaching, even at so-called teaching
universities.  Even so, professional development in research is
often a natural side effect of external funding for research,
and faculty at these universities don't always conduct research
at a scale that is competitive for external funding.

And faculty development in their teaching?  There aren't many
sources to support this other than the university budget itself.
Given the current state of funding for public universities, which
is likely the new normal, these funds are being squeezed out of
the budget, if they were ever present at all.

Professors need to stay current in their profession, and many
need to address weaknesses over the course of their careers.
When universities neglect faculty development, the faculty
suffer, and so do their students.  Often, the best way to help
students is to help the faculty.

All that said, I am not holding my breath that dollars will be
coming in from donors any time soon.  People love to help
students directly, but indirect support for students and
support for other parts of the university are notoriously hard
sells.
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