The Relationship Between Faculty Involvement In Governance and Faculty Vitality: the Case of North Carolina Community Colleges
This study examines the effects of governance involvement on the vitality of community college faculty members. This study explores the degree to which involvement in the governance of a college through a faculty senate fosters the vitality of elected faculty members. While faculty vitality is a difficult concept to measure directly, faculty vitality is reflected in such areas as faculty productivity, teaching, and job satisfaction. Faculty at six North Carolina community colleges were surveyed to gauge their activities in the areas of productivity, benefits to teaching of engaging in academic activities other than teaching, and job satisfaction. The responses of faculty participating in the governance of their college were compared with the responses of faculty members not participating in governance to determine if governance participation had any impact on the indicators of faculty vitality. There is not a significant difference between the two groups with regard to career satisfaction. Overall career satisfaction was high in both groups. However, respondents with faculty senate service reported statistically significant greater levels of satisfaction with their department and college service.
Community College, Faculty Vitality, Governance
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