Influences on Personal and Professional Stress in Higher Education Faculty

• In Event: 25.067 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 25.067-7 - Faculty Identity and Decision Making

Abstract

Stress, which can emerge from both personal (e.g., child care) and professional (e.g., committee work) sources, is an important predictor of the productivity and satisfaction of faculty members in higher education. The purpose of our study is to understand how institutional and personal characteristics can influence both personal and professional stress in postsecondary faculty. Using data from the 2010- 2011 Higher Education Research Institute’s Faculty Survey, we find that a number of factors (including gender, race, tenure status, department, and home life) influence the four measured areas of stress: personal stress, professional stress in research, professional stress in teaching, and professional stress in service.

Authors

• Dan Berebitsky, Southern Methodist University

• Molly K. Ellis, Southern Methodist University