Watch the Recording: Planning for Rest and Recovery: An Agile End-of-Year Reflectionn Host:Rebecca Pope-Ruark, PhDDirector of the Faculty Professional DevelopmentGeorgia Institute of Technology Take a deliberate pause, recharge, and step into the new year with clarity, focus, and renewed energy. Have you had a year of intense teaching, research, service, meetings, and deadlines? It’s time to … Read more
Author: Rebecca Pope-Ruark I spend a lot of my time teaching faculty and academic leaders about burnout, which the World Health Organization (2019) defines as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It has three characteristics: exhaustion, depersonalization or cynicism toward those you work with, and real or perceived … Read more
Author: NCFDD Burnout in higher education is widespread and deeply felt. Faculty are teaching, mentoring, researching, and serving their institutions all at once. The workload rarely slows down, and many academics find themselves running on empty long before the semester ends. What was once fulfilling can start to feel like survival. Recognizing burnout is not … Read more
Author: NCFDD As the academic year winds down, many faculty find themselves running on momentum alone. The instinct is to push through the final deadlines, answer the last emails, and turn immediately to what comes next. But real progress often starts with a pause. Reflection is not about slowing down for its own sake. It … Read more
Author: NCFDD Faculty life is often described as a balancing act. Teaching, research, service, and personal responsibilities compete for attention, and the instinct for many academics is to grit their teeth and simply push harder. Late nights, working through weekends, and skipping breaks are treated as badges of honor. The message is clear: if you … Read more
Author: Chrystal Bruce, PhD, Associate Dean, John Carroll University The NSF ADVANCE Partnership Project, Advancing STEM Careers by Empowering Network Development (ASCEND), was conceived to support the professional advancement of mid-career women STEM faculty and administrators. Through this collaboration, we created regional peer-to-peer networks and provided participant-informed education, training, and professional support to equip faculty … Read more
Author: NCFDD As the academic year draws to a close, it is tempting to focus only on the next set of deadlines, the next proposal, or the next project waiting for intention. The culture of higher education often rewards forward motion, yet meaningful progress requires a pause. Reflection is not a luxury. It is a … Read more
Author: NCFDD When you first imagined your academic career, you may have pictured the mid-career stage as a time of ease. Tenure would be behind you, the pressure of constant evaluation would lessen, and you would finally have the freedom to pursue the work you love. For many faculty, the reality looks very different. Instead … Read more
Author: NCFDD At NCFDD, we’ve spent the past 15 years building programs, tools, and resources to support faculty development at every career stage. But one thing we kept hearing from graduate students, new assistant professors, and tenured faculty alike was this: “I feel like I’m doing this alone.” Whether it’s the pressure to publish, the … Read more
Author: NCFDD Faculty burnout isn’t new, but it’s getting harder to ignore. Between competing demands, shifting expectations, and an ever-growing to-do list, faculty continue to be stretched more thinly than ever before. The pursuit of teaching excellence, groundbreaking research, and meaningful service often comes at the expense of personal well-being. At NCFDD, we’ve spent 15 … Read more