In Their Own Words: STEM Faculty Collegiality and Colleagues

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Experiences of STEM Faculty

Abstract

This qualitative study, comprised of in-depth interviews with non-tenure-track and tenure-track/tenured faculty, identifies meanings of collegiality and colleagues as perceived by STEM faculty at a large public research university. These faculty are of particular interest given the increasing focus on economic opportunity and the need for diversity within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Furthermore, STEM fields often employ faculty to teach and conduct research off and on the traditional tenure track. In this paper, I consider how notions of ‘collegiality’ and ‘colleagues’ relate to faculty appointment type as well as their years of post-PhD experience. This work is informed by Bess’ (1988) cultural, behavioral, and structural framework of collegiality as well as Bryk and Schneider’s (2002) theory of relational trust.

Author

• Jill Huynh, University of California - Davis