Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Heather Dillaway

Abstract

The privileging of research over teaching is well documented in scholarship regarding the teaching-research nexus. In this dissertation I analyze the experiences and identities related to research, teaching, and service of sixteen faculty members at teaching-intensive institutions through intensive interviews. The focus on teaching-intensive institutions is driven by two goals. The first goal was to gain a better understanding of how the privileging of research over teaching and service is experienced, understood, and reified by faculty members at teaching-intensive institutions. Second, by giving voice to the experiences of those at teaching-intensive institutions I hope to increase the value placed on teaching (and service) in comparison to research institutionally.

I expected participants to privilege teaching more than research because teaching comprises a larger portion of their work lives than it does for those at research-intensive institutions. Participants received messages privileging research over teaching while in graduate school, and were not as well prepared to teach as they were to conduct research. They then perpetuated this privileging through performances during which they boasted about their research and lamented the lack of focus on research at their teaching-intensive institutions. Most of the effort put forth to improve teaching was informal and not prioritized by most participants, or their institutions. Participants also experienced service as a burden for which they were unprepared, with some participants feeling that the size and type of institution they worked at as being a factor in the perception of increased service load. Participants also described inequalities regarding service work based minority statuses. Recommendations are made for better prepare graduate students for the types of work they are most likely to encounter upon entering the job market.

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