Understanding the Reasons for Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Exit at a Doctoral Extensive Research Institution

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development Poster Session

Abstract

Faculty attrition is often unavoidable and even necessary, yet high rates of faculty turnover negatively impact institutional and departmental costs, reputation, and morale. Through in-depth interviews, this qualitative case study aims to understand factors that led tenured and tenure-track faculty members to leave their positions at a doctoral extensive research institution before they were eligible for retirement. This manuscript provides an examination of the personal, environmental, and professional circumstances that led participants to make this decision, and what (if anything) the institution could have done to retain them. While some findings are site-specific, much of the data both complements and furthers existing literature on faculty departure.

Authors

• Heather Metcalf, The University of Arizona

• Lara dos Passos Coggin, The University of Arizona

• Helena Rodrigues, The University of Arizona

• Lydia F. Bell, National Collegiate Athletic Association