A candidate for the position of vice president for academic affairs at a small teaching institution was asked about minimizing faculty overloads while interviewing with the greater faculty. He replied, “I don’t like them; they sap teaching effectiveness and block the development of a scholarly agenda. I will try to eliminate any mandatory overloads that may exist.”
The candidate, however, misunderstood the question. What the faculty member meant was, “I teach as many classes as I can because I need the money. Will you cap how much I can teach?” The candidate later found out that the guy was teaching an incredible 48 hours in fall/summer and producing pretty decent scholarship. Evidently he never slept.
At what point, however, should we “save” workaholic or over-eager faculty members from themselves?
Follow On Hiring through your favorite RSS reader: