Beyond Research: Analyzing the Challenges Professors Face When Confronted With a Variety of Work Responsibilities

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-16 - Understanding Faculty Throughout Their Life-Span

Abstract

Mexican graduate programs are relatively new; the first one to open at the university we studied was in 1994 (Maldonado, et al, 2014). Opening graduate programs demanded professors with higher levels of education but also managerial policies to determine their responsibilities, and financial policies to help achieve their consent.

Most researchers are primarily trained to do research but university policies expect them to work within seven main areas: research, creation and dissemination of knowledge, mentoring, teaching, administration, community engagement, and getting funding. This paper explores the challenges that arise in a system that expects professors to do a variety of activities; it especially focuses on their role in undergraduate programs and analyses whether the university structure facilitates this work.

Authors

• Elizabeth Ocampo Gomez, Universidad Veracruzana

• Silvia Jiménez García, Universidad Veracruzana

• Lilia Palacios Ramírez, Universidad Veracruzana