1. Introduction to EDL 9290 –
The Academic Profession
Read through these slides to understand:
What this course is all about
Learning Objectives for this course
How to navigate this course
2. What is this course about anyways?
Overall, EDL 9290 -The Academic Profession - is grounded in the
assumption that “the faculty” matter to higher education.
Accordingly, we will explore and contemplate how and why
professors/professors’ work lives matter to the higher education
endeavor. We will consider philosophical, historical, theoretical,
and empirical arguments that suggest how the academic
profession developed over its multi-century history. Some of the
specific questions we will consider include:
3. What is this course about anyways?
How and why was the faculty role developed in its “tripartite”
fashion?
How do faculty roles differ? And why were differentiated faculty
roles developed to begin with?
What are the legal parameters surrounding academic freedom and
tenure and how are those changing or being rewritten at this
current moment?
How has the professoriate changed – in terms of faculty
background, appointment types, knowledge, skills, and priorities?
And how do these changes in the professoriate impact how faculty
conceptualize and carry out their work?
How do some of the pressing issues of today, including pressures of
grant writing and fund raising, assessment and accountability
cultures give shape to the experience of today’s academic or how
are they shaped by today’s academic?
4. Course Learning Objectives
place the academic profession in a historical context
place current issues of the academic profession in a
philosophical, political and social context
understand the basic tripartite structure of the faculty
role
understand how faculty roles are assumed to differ by
institutional type, discipline, tenure status, and career
stage
understand the impacts of race, ethnicity, linguistic,
gender, and other personal identity markers impact the
experience and evaluation of faculty members
identify emerging trends and directions for new research
relevant to the academic profession
identify important areas of attention for faculty growth
and development from a number of different perspectives
5. How to Navigate the Course
• This is a hybrid course, meaning we will have face to
face meetings as well as online meetings. When we
meet online, we will utilize the Blackboard Platform.
• Your Blackboard Dashboard has a column on the left
hand side, which has several important tabs and
information:
– Start Here
– My Bio – Meet me Here!
– Syllabus & Rubrics (individual rubric for each assignment)
– Course Readings & Resources (links to your readings,
extra resources)
– Discussion Boards & Lessons (discussions, assignments,
Q&A forum)
– Tools (email, collaborative chat rooms)
