The Role of Faculty Socialization in Institutionalization Efforts

• In Event: Faculty Issues in the Academic Workplace

Abstract

The faculty is the constituency widely acknowledged to be responsible for curriculum at universities. As such, faculty play a key role in change efforts intended to influence the core educational work of universities. Faculty members therefore are an important group to understand in the context of organizational change. Securing faculty support for an innovation requires attending to the socialization processes. These encompass both formal rewards systems as well as informal cues about the activities that are valued (Kanter, 1972; Pratt, 2000). This study draws on the seminal work of Rosabeth Moss Kanter and the scholarship of Michael Pratt to examine the faculty socialization that foster culture change at four regionally-focused public universities that have attempted to institutionalize civic engagement.

Authors

• Matthew Hartley, University of Pennsylvania

• Cecilia M. Orphan, University of Pennsylvania