Investigating the interplay between institutional, spousal, parental and personal demands in tenure track faculty everyday life

ABSTRACT

Tenure track faculty face a multitude of work–family demands as part of their progression in academia. By engaging in a autoethnography, we examine the amount of time spent in institutional, spousal, parental, and personal demands. This research note, illuminates relational and logistical qualities of that time, providing additional depth to the concept of work–family balance. We scrutinize the interplay that institutional, spousal, parental, and personal demands have on both the amount of time dedicated and the quality of time spent engaging in each demand. Project implications highlight two possible suggestions for other tenure track faculty. First, the opportunity to embed different demands can be an effective way to mitigate the finite amount of time in a given day. Second, engaging in self-reflection can be both an informative and therapeutic process for tenure track faculty balancing work–family commitments.

RESUMEN

Los profesores no-numerarios se enfrentan a una multitud de demandas de familia-trabajo como parte de su progreso hacia la permanencia del profesor numerario. A través de una autoetnografía, examinamos la cantidad de tiempo dedicado a las demandas institucionales, conyugales, parentales y personales. Esta nota de investigación, ilumina las cualidades relacionales y logísticas de ese periodo de transición, y proporciona profundidad adicional al concepto de equilibrio entre trabajo y familia. Examinamos la interacción que tienen las demandas institucionales, conyugales, parentales y personales, tanto en la cantidad de tiempo dedicado como en la calidad del tiempo dedicado a participar en cada demanda. Las implicaciones del proyecto ponen en relieve dos posibles sugerencias para los profesores adjuntos o no-numerarios en su progreso hacia la permanencia del profesor numerario. En primer lugar, la oportunidad de incorporar diferentes demandas, puede ser una manera eficaz de mitigar la cantidad finita de tiempo en un día determinado. En segundo lugar, una práctica de autorreflexión puede ser a la vez un proceso informativo y terapéutico para los profesores no numerarios en busca de un equilibrio entre los compromisos del trabajo y la familia.

KEYWORDS:

• Demands
• work–family conflict
• tenure track
• autoethnography
• education

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• demandas
• Educación
• profesores no-numerarios
• autoetnografía
• Conflicto entre trabajo y familia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr. Jessica Branch is an Assistant Professor for the Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education program at Murray State University. She attended the University of Toledo's doctoral program, where she earned a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in special education. She has previous experience as a preschool intervention specialist and a preschool special education supervisor. She may be reached at [email protected]

Dr. Melissa Chapman is an Assistant Professor and Teacher Leader graduate program coordinator at Murray State University. She earned her BS (elementary education, ‘01) from Western Kentucky University, Med (curriculum design and instruction, ‘05) from Olivet Nazarene University, and her PhD (education-educational leadership, ‘12) from Walden University. Her previous experience includes teaching a variety of elementary and middle grades across the United States and overseas. She may be reached at [email protected]

Dr. Miguel Gomez is an Assistant Professor of Middle School Education and the Middle Grades program coordinator at Murray State University. He obtained his PhD in Curriculum and Development from the University of North Carolina @ Greensboro. Prior to acquiring his degree, Dr. Gomez taught technology education, math, and social studies in middle school. He may be reached at [email protected]