Notes on Some Challenges and Trends in Higher Education

After returning from the CIC annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers earlier this month I prepared some comments related to a few sessions I attended and shared these at our monthly college meeting. They touch on issues of innovation in higher education, changing trends in faculty work, and the challenging issues of race and inclusive excellence on college campuses.

The conference opened with an address by Jeffrey Selingo author of There is Life After College. His research finds that expectations for what should happen at college have grown to the extent that the current model is being overworked- doing more than it was ever intended to do. In a time of unprecedented change, this has become increasingly problematic. Looking specifically at employment prospects for college graduates, Selingo noted that 50% of current jobs may be threatened by automation (and a quick Google search confirms that it is not just factory jobs but things like accounting, insurance, paralegals, marketing and other jobs where software can be utilized to analyze enormous amounts of data). Selingo asked a very pertinent question: Given the changing nature of the workforce, what kind of college is needed now? His answer was college as a platform for lifelong learning--a hallmark of the liberal arts. As others are suggesting, Selingo recommends an emphasis on the soft skills that employers are seeking:

Curiosity; Creativity (to navigate ambiguity); Digital Awareness (“every job is a tech job in some way”); Contextual Thinking; and Humility. He also noted the importance of experiential learning and internships as one of the top three factors that determines how well students “launch” after college (the other two factors were debt and the credential they received). He believes colleges should make greater allowance for space for students to explore careers as well as their passion.

A session on Faculty Workforce Trends sponsored by the TIAA Institute was very enlightening and provided the data for what has been the experience of many faculty: a dramatic shift in faculty life over the last two decades. Among the major findings: IPEDS data from 1993-2013 show a reversal in the percentage of full-time (tenure, tenure track, non-tenure track) to part time faculty: from 60/40 in 1993 to 40/60 in 2013. The impact of the recession in 2008 began to be noticeable in 2009 and 2010. For example, the percent of faculty spending more than four hours per week in committee work jumped in 2007-08, and has been climbing since. Fewer full-time faculty are having to do more of the work. Another finding was that there is now a drop in percentage of faculty who agree that they are involved in campus decision making. From a high mark in 2010 this has trended down and is continuing to trend down. At the same time there is a marked jump in perception that faculty are at odds with their administration, a perception that is trending up at four year private colleges. Adjunct faculty demographics were also quite interesting: 79% only teach at one school and only 4% teach at 3 or more schools. How satisfied are faculty with their academic careers? Among full-time faculty 69% were very satisfied; among adjunct faculty 41% were very satisfied. The session made a strong case for intentionality about where these trends go based on university policy decisions. There is a need to have the conversation on campuses: What is the national data saying about faculty work and trends? Where are we at? Where do we want to be? How can we get there?

A highlight for me was the presentation by Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College. Her session was “‘Why are all theBlack Kids Still Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?’ and Other Campus Conversations about Race.”  She is working on a twentieth anniversary edition of her 1997 book of similar title. Of particular note was her comments that our demography has changed (current k-12 students are more than 50% students of color), but school segregation is worse now than in 1980. She discussed a number of societal factors and reasons for this and then offered the pointed question: Is diversity a core value or just a selling point? She also discussed ways of hiring for diversity, as well as some positive examples that give some hope amidst the otherwise gloomy state of affairs in the area of race on college campuses.

For my part, while each of these talks were challenging in many ways (and what I’ve noted above is just a subset of their many insights), each talk enabled me to see some of Carlow University’s campus initiatives in a broader context.

• The Carlow Compass is our newly designed and launched general education curriculum: its forward-thinking design grounded in the liberal arts is designed to strengthen students’ abilities in just the ways Selingo was calling for. We are still building the curriculum as students are advancing through it. Selingo’s talk was an encouragement to continue to strive to fulfill the design intent of the curriculum even as implantation challenges arise.
• Faculty trends: this is an ongoing point of discussion at Carlow, as at many institutions. Currently, faculty are reviewing a draft of a workload document that has potential to be a focal point for having this kind of candid conversation with faculty and administration.
• Diversity and Racial Climate: I am pleased to note that this issue is being addressed proactively by Carlow University’s president in a number of tangible ways including a President’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, the use of “search advocates” on search committees, and by a number of other means.

I’m grateful to the CIC and these colleagues at other institutions who shared their insights and expertise. And grateful for my colleagues at Carlow University who are open to trying new ways to adapt to our changing educational context.

Liberal Arts Alive at Carlow University

Today the Carlow University Art Gallery hosted a “Liberal Arts Alive” session in which theology professors Maureen Crossen and Jack Alverson offered theological perspectives on the current exhibition: “Illuminations: Worksby Vanessa German, Peter Oresick, and Christopher Ruane.” Professor Sylvia Rhor, director of the gallery and an art historian in Carlow’s Art Department convened today's session which was followed by further discussion in the gallery.

The exhibit as a whole showcases three local artists who utilize aspects of iconography as they portray contemporary events using iconographic styles, portray biblical and sacred stories in contemporary settings, or portray secular “saints” in traditional religious and iconographic forms.

Maureen’s reflections focused on how these kinds of works “work.” She emphasized in particular the way that icons have the potential to open up a new perspective. The iconographer “would have us see things differently.” This was certainly the case in the works of Vanessa German whose works illuminate newspaper stories with iconic imagery and coloring. In particular, one is struck by the flood of tears surrounding images of those individuals touched by the tragic shooting at the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston last year. Maureen also cited James Keenan, SJ’s understanding of mercy as “entering into the chaos of another,” and suggested that Vanessa German was able to do that through her art. These were thus “works” of mercy in a very real sense.

Jack provided a philosophical-theological reflection starting with the notion of the difficulty that theology presents. Theology begins with the simplest of expressions: "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). And yet, theology is an impossible task since it is impossible to capture in human words a divine reality that is radically other. At the same time, it is impossible to “image” the invisible God. And this led Jack to a discussion about the difference between an idol and an icon, distilling the insights of Jean-Luc Marion from his God Without Being. In the end, Jack led to the idea that an icon is “a visible mirror of the invisible.” As a biblical scholar, this philosophical-theological approach is very fruitful, especially as I consider the mystery that surrounds the remarkable notion that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The works on display in this exhibit likewise express a similar paradox: they are human creations, and yet through them one can encounter divine realities.

To me the presence of the gallery in the heart of campus, the nature of the exhibits that have been hosted there, and the engagement of multiple constituents of the campus and community in these kinds of gallery talks has been a signal of the vitality of the liberal arts heritage at Carlow University. The Illuminations exhibit, in particular, invites viewers to see the world differently: to see the sacredness of all of of human life, to feel the pain of others, and to see the breaking in of the divine into the earthly realm.