Important Factors in the Jobs of University Faculty

This week I readetwo articles: How Faculty Define Quality, Prestige and Impact of of Academic Journals and The University Cannot Love You

It is quickly pointed out in the first article that it is research that dominates the life of a professor, even if they are working at a university in which they are not focused on research. And the female faculty feel more pressure to publish articles than do their male counterparts. And yet, they publish fewer articles per year.  This leads me to wonder what these faculty are doing with the time that they put into their jobs. They have the same responsiblities within the scope of their employment as do the rest of their colleagues and they feel the pressure more minutely, and yet they publish less often?

However, there is some question in my mind about how the stereotype of the wizened and isolated old white man in academia came to be the one who is allowed to puiblishall of the papers. Clearly it is even expected. In fact, I recently found out that a friend of mine likes to put together groups of all-female researchers (particularly in a specific area of computer science education) precisely to challenge those kinds of assumptions that are made so often.  Why then do these stereotypes persist? Even as I contemplate my future and work toward a Ph.D., something I never dreamed I would do until I found a field I love, I never considered that I could be someone who wanted to pursue the life of contributing to academic research.

In my experience, I have seen that there are many people who focus particularly on areas of research taht don't always lend themselves well to the publication of articles with every project. Design-based research for an example, is not necessarily something that is goingt obe written up with every project. There may occassionally be case studies done on the projects, but the focus is on iterations and adapting the research and the design to the needs to the project. How does that fit into our definitions of scholarship?The second article tried to make a case that there are positions in which care is a central focus of the empoyee role. However, this essay was from a worker whose job is as a supoprt to faculty. Those who support are definitely going to be more in need of thoughtfulness. She makes the point that in the pandemic there are many women who are taking on more care roles in the home than they previously did and having to balance the work and care of their employment with those of the household responsibilities they are taking on, often out of necessity.  I've seen this, too, and others often end up getting involved so that young children aren't disruptive to teachers who are trying to teach virtually.Care should be considered as a part of support staff. Adding it to the shaky and ill-defined role of a faculty member is a concern that may lead to more discrepancies between male and female counterparts in higher education and academia in general.