Stress

A recent online issue of University Business dealt with the topic on stress on college students. From my days in college, the only stress I remember is social stress and the stress of fitting in but that isn’t the stress being talked today. Today’s stress is financial stress and it is clearly manifesting itself on today’s generation of students.

University Business summarizes a study completed by Inceptia which presents the following “key findings:”

One third of respondents said financial stressors have had a negative impact on their academic performance or progress. 

Seventy-four percent of respondents are working during the academic year and 15 percent are working full-time. 

Students who work more than 20 hours per week during the academic year are significantly more likely to report that financial stress has had a negative impact on their academic progress or performance and that they reduced their academic course load due to this stress.

None of these results are surprising; many students have always had to work while in college and a constrained economy inevitably results in this number rising. And the more hours that students need to work the more the stress level is enhanced. Not measured in this study is the fact that the financial strain and the hours worked can diminish the higher education experience in very tangible ways. Every year, I am sure we all hear about students who can’t accept internships (which are often unpaid) because they are dependent on the income earned through working part-time. Every year, I am sure we all hear about students who can’t take advantage of a study abroad experience because there are both extra costs and forgone income involved in taking advantage of such an opportunity. And every year, there are many students who can’t participate in co-curricular activities because the time involved reduces their ability to work. If the average full-time student is working more than 20 hours per week, something has to give.

The impact of financial stress is even more profound than the ramifications noted above. More students and their families are opting for lower priced higher education alternatives. These alternatives involve less personalized education, impacting everything from class size to advisement/counseling services to co-curricular activities. Many students can still do well in such an environment; others struggle and/or do not maximize their potential.

What can we do to help? Certainly government, both at the state level and the federal level, should continue to view higher education as a necessary and worthwhile investment in the economic success of our country. To compete in a global economy requires a sophisticated skill set; it can’t happen without a highly educated work force. And all of us should remember that a more sophisticated work force will likely earn more and pay more in taxes. But we in higher education can also do more to ameliorate the stress level. There should be more fundraising for scholarships that allow students to undertake unpaid internships or participate in study abroad opportunities. Co-curricular activities should be scheduled in such a way that even working students have opportunities to participate. We have known for a long time that the benefits of higher education accrue to society as well as to individuals and, more than ever, we should be guided by that reality today.

Technology Trumps Collegiality

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the drama department production of Cabaret.  I thought our students did a terrific job and the production was without doubt at a professional theater level.  During the intermission, I went over to a senior faculty member in drama and we had a chance to catch up for the first time since last spring.  The faculty member commented on how much harder it has become for faculty from throughout the University to just get a chance to talk.  And he talked with fondness about on-site registration.  Up to about 15 years ago, every semester just before the semester began, on-site registration took place.  During this registration, students who had not yet registered and those who wanted a change in program had the opportunity to do so by coming to a large room that had at individual tables, faculty representatives from every department.  For much of the time, the faculty in the room were busy advising students.  But there were periods of time before, after and during when the faculty had moments of time to mingle with other faculty.  It was a good opportunity to catch up with colleagues and inevitably you would also get a chance to meet new colleagues.   You would also interact with administrative colleagues, and in every administrative position I have had, I always made sure I attended at least part of the on-site registration. Every semester you could count on on-site registration to provide the opportunity for faculty from all areas to spend time together.  That opportunity ended when on-line registration began.  Much more convenient and a real improvement for students but the mingle factor was lost.

Also long lost is the social interaction that took place at the University Club when I first started teaching.  At the end of the day and especially at the end of the week, many faculty met for a drink. I don’t miss seeing my colleagues drink, but the socialization was welcome.  I know that faculty still have many opportunities to interact. There are department meetings, school or college meetings and full faculty meetings. The department meetings tend to bring together most if not all the full time faculty in that department.  The school or college meetings often bring together a substantial minority of the faculty in that unit (with smaller units tending to attract a larger percentage to these meetings) and the full faculty meetings at their fullest often attract just a fraction of those eligible to attend.  There are other meetings that attract faculty, most often along political or philosophical lines.   But the regular opportunity to have a large number of “random” faculty just meet—not united by a discipline, not united by a school or college, not united by politics or a philosophy, and not united by a drink, in fact often just united  by being assigned to registration duty, is sorely missed.

Add to this that as scholarly and family obligations have increased, faculty are much less likely to spend extra time on campus and you have a clear sense of the collegiality divide that now exists on most colleges and universities.

I have a very high regard for my colleagues.  Faculty tend to have a high regard for other faculty. We should all look for more opportunities to spend time together.

Appreciating Memorial Day

In addition to having a long weekend, Memorial Day should be appreciated for its original meaning.  And during the actual day or during the weekend, we should all make time to remember, reflect and honor those who gave their lives to protect our country and our quality of life.

For many people, in higher education and in many other areas, the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend is an extra day added to the weekend. But for me, the day serves another vital function for which I am very appreciative.  It is the first catch-up day after the spring semester.  In higher education administration, meetings are a fact of life.  A University functions best in an environment of collegiality and collaboration.  This doesn’t happen without good continuous communication and meetings are a crucial facilitator of this good communication. External relations, which are also vital to a University, also require continuous communication and they typically also take place in formal or informal meetings.  Add to this the ever escalating number of emails, the new issues that arise on a regular basis, a mini-crisis now and then, and the day is complete and fully occupied.

I’m not complaining (and I enjoy my job) but in addition to needing time to  think through issues, there are always responsibilities that are part of virtually any position that need not be done in the moment but certainly need to be taken care of.  For thinking through issues, I recommend a combination of a very early start time in the office plus lap swimming.  Going back and forth in a pool is mindless and consequently for me the perfect opportunity to think without being interrupted.  But as we all know, different strokes for different folks.

Under necessary responsibilities, especially at this time of year, is going through all the materials on your desk, and organizing the materials.  What better day than that Friday to start going through the piles of paperwork.  Phone calls were at 25% of their normal level; emails were also at the 25% level and meetings were almost non-existent.  I might be lonely if I didn’t have all those papers and memos to keep me company. And by the end of the day, I’m pleased to note that there were patches of wood among the sea of white paper.

Working the Friday before Memorial Day works for me but it clearly doesn’t work for everyone. And everyone has to do what works best and makes the most sense for them.  Time, for all of us, is a scarce resource.  The balance of your job responsibilities so as to do all that needs to be done and the balance of work/personal life responsibilities are challenges we all confront.  And we should all realize there is room for improvement.

Tis the Season to be…Hardy

Commencement is one week away and the end of the semester activities are in full swing.  I presented my annual comprehensive report to the full faculty last Monday, the University’s major annual fundraising gala was last Thursday and before, after, and in between there were and are end of the semester gatherings covering virtually every area of the University from the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony to the Senior Athletes Recognition Dinner.  We even added a new event this month, a hunger banquet organized by student leaders to remind everyone that hunger is a major problem for one third of our planet.  And though I ended up choosing a card that determined my fate to be a low income table at the banquet ( with just rice and water ) this event stands out for me as one of the most effective ways of highlighting the plight of  many in our country and many,many more in many other countries.

Major college and university events are cyclical.  Whereas most classes are clustered in the fall and spring semesters, most major social events are clustered at the beginning of the fall and at the end of the spring semesters. With so many events at these times (especially in the spring) it is impossible to attend them all.  What should you do?  A number of years ago, late in the spring semester, I attended an event every night for 27 nights in a row.  By the end, it was just too many continuous events, and my appreciation of each and every event was clearly starting to fade.  It was just about at the three week point in time, when a senior faculty member in management approached me at one of the end of the semester functions and told me how fortunate he thought I was.  I had no reason not to agree with this faculty member but what was the basis for his comment?  When I asked, he responded immediately: he felt it was a privilege to have a job that entails attending a reception every night and he was sorry that he didn’t have a job like that.

It is a privilege to represent the University and I both enjoy the responsibility and I take it seriously.  But it is important to remember that the job is much more than public events.  And all facets of the job need to be addressed on a continuous basis.  Twenty seven nights in a row, in addition to a typical day and especially given a family with relatively young kids doesn’t fit with the balance in life that we all should strive for.  At the end of the day, we all need to remember that time is a scarce commodity.

My goal is to attend as many end of the semester events as possible and I know that the other senior administrators and the deans feel the same way.  And, we also strive to coordinate our attendance so that no major event is without sufficient senior administration representation.  It is important to be part of these major events for our students (especially our graduating students) and we are pleased to be in their company.  In addition, we work hard to provide University visibility in the community by attending many community events, which also tend to come in large numbers at this time of the year.  The bottom line is that we should do as much as we can, attend as many events as we can, and be there for our students.  But just as we stress balance for our students and the importance of a well rounded student, we also need to maintain that balance for ourselves.  And sometimes, regrettably, “all of the above” is not a choice we are able to make.