Author ORCID Identifier
Lindsay Harris: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8573-6153
Amy Stich: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1260-5088
Kelly Summers: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-3692
Publication Title
Studies in Higher Education
ISSN
3075079
E-ISSN
1470174X
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Faculty (N = 205) at regional public universities (RPUs) in the United States were surveyed for self-reports of their primary academic identity (teacher, researcher) and qualitative descriptions of struggles related to their academic identity. Well-being and job satisfaction were examined as outcome measures of identity struggles. Participants were selected from RPUs in Illinois, a state with severe budget challenges, to assess the impact of financial pressures on academic identity at traditionally teaching-focused institutions. Responses were not uniform across faculty, with some reporting few identity struggles and others reporting difficulty managing, lack of institutional support, and feeling that something would need to ‘give’ eventually. Faculty who identified as researchers and who spent most of their time doing research reported the fewest struggles, while researchers who were not able to devote time to research most frequently reported distress. Implications and challenges to faculty work and strains on academic identity at RPUs are discussed.
First Page
312
Last Page
326
Publication Date
2020
DOI
10.1080/03075079.2018.1522625
Keywords
Academic identity, higher education, regional public universities
Recommended Citation
Dugas, D., Stich, A. E., Harris, L. N., & Summers, K. H. (2020). ‘I’m being pulled in too many different directions’: academic identity tensions at regional public universities in challenging economic times. Studies in Higher Education, 45(2), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1522625
Original Citation
Dugas, D., Stich, A. E., Harris, L. N., & Summers, K. H. (2020). ‘I’m being pulled in too many different directions’: academic identity tensions at regional public universities in challenging economic times. Studies in Higher Education, 45(2), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1522625
Department
Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations (LEPF); Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literature
Comments
This is an original manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Studies in Higher Education in 2020, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1522625.