Improving Faculty Governance

Improving Faculty Governance begins with a critical examination of the contemporary faculty member and the challenges of protecting academic democracy in the context of the increasingly corporate university. The ideas of trust and respect are examined between faculty and administrators, along with the positive and negative aspects of part-time faculty reliance. The book subsequently reports on the first ever five-year longitudinal study of how faculty governance can be improved, the specific roles to be played and challenges to effective participation from the perspectives of faculty, provosts, and even college presidents. The communication patterns of faculty among themselves in decision making are also identified and correlated to effective voting patterns. The identified strategies are then examined through an ethnographic case study and a critical profile of national issues, all culminating in key strategies for faculty and administrators to improve shared governance.