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BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY–IDAHO FACULTY ASSOCIATIONAnnual Survey Comments2014–2015QUESTION #1If your professional well-being has changed significantly over the last five years, to what factors do you attribute that change?I enjoy my job now much more than the one I had 5 years ago. Also, the work environment is much better here at BYU-I.Increased opportunities and flexibility after finishing my education.Being employed by BYU-Idaho-I love working for this university!Aging children have created an opportunity for me to be away from home and working more.I have little input on department direction or use of funds. Changes are made to curriculum, facilities without my input being considered, even though those changes affect my job as a teacher or are in areas that I know more about than those making the decisions. I often don't know what is going on because of little information exchange with my department chair. For example, a new degree program in which much time, personnel and facilities were invested that was suddenly terminated. No clear explanation has been given as to why that was eliminated. It may have been the right decision but why can't the faculty be told the reasons? I am troubled by what I see as a waste of money in some of the decisions that are made - I am more frugal and careful with sacred funds than some of those above me. I enjoy my classes about the same as before and the students seem to enjoy them, but I feel that I am not growing as much as I could/should. No one else currently in department can teach several of my classes - if I stop teaching them for a semester or two, I fear the students will suffer. I don't have a Ph.D so I don't feel able to do research or take a leave to do research as is suggested--for example, I can mentor students in some research trials but there doesn't seem to be anyone who can help with statistical analysis and I don't feel capable of doing that correctly. I think the university has been trying to create more PDL opportunities and this is welcome - I will try to take advantage of that.In the past five years I've gone from temporary full time to adjunct and back to a five year full time contract. So five years ago I was very apprehensive about my future. As far as the effort I put into my job, I've always tried to do my best.Curiculum changes is the easy answer. However, the change in the curriculum is not the primary reason for the downgrade. The primary reason is for the lack of communication regarding direction, the lack of vision regarding a new direction, and the lack of caring or concerned leadership. One the whole, I feel of less worth to the University and feel less of an overall vision than I did 5 years ago. I feel my best contributions are either ignored or are of no value. I feel that verything from committee assignments to individual reports that I have done regarding anything other than my classes have been ignored or of no value during the past 5 years. I currently feel almost no motivation to participate in anything outside of the classes I teach. I used to seek out many opportunities to participate and learn outside of the classroom. The words of our leaders too often do not match their actions.The research load at BYU was immense, but that is gone here. With it went the collaboration and teh pressure to stay current in the field and develop a personal line of research and thus a reputation. I told people i would continue doing that upon my transfer here, but i have been so bogged down by prepping 6 new classes that i had never taught before, that it feels impossible to d so far.not working in the industry.The life style change that came from new employment with the university. Industry had me working longer hours with emergency call involved.I changed jobs!Lack of communication within the college and the university as a whole / Constant pressure to changeThere have been several big changes within our department which we as members of the department were not privy too until they were announced to us either in email or in person. When decisions are made which effect departments, courses, faculty, students and programs it would be great if administrators asked those impacted if they thought a change was needed and if so what their recommendations would be. Administrators are not always aware of what goes on within departments, programs or courses.more time devoted to learning about teaching and not just teachingFull-time jobI love teaching. Being at BYU-I is an amazing experience. I love exploring the process of the learning model and the support I'm receiving regarding my ability to improve via "trial and error."The change in environment and the people I work with. The students and their energy.The work environment is much better. People are more tolerant of my limitations and have great patience.I completed my PhD!Currently in school for a doctorateIt really has notFinished my MBA, started a new professional career and have now started teaching at BYUINew opportunity to teach at BYUIStudent Work ethic...attitudes; and technology demandsCensorship Re-entering the work force after being a stay-at-home mother. Getting the opportunity to use my expertise and talents in a professional setting again.A number of things happened that resulted in the removal of intellectually stimulating teaching challenges and teaching autonomy.Having a new department chair who is open and more receptive to change. He also appreciates the field I teach in and is open to new ideas and ways to advance the discipline. Other chairs made decisions behind closed doors and never were open to advancing the dicipline. I am doing what I love most-teaching.Loss of full-time employment. Working under a one-year agreement is nice, but it still leaves me with an uncertain future.Opportunity to change focusPunted 1-credit courses to online which reduced my teaching preps about 75%Diminished capacity of the students. Instead of teaching content, we spend our time teaching students how to study.I finished a doctoral dissertation which was killing me ?€? in some senses more than literally.1) 12 hour leave spring 2013 / 2) Taking on a new prep fall 2013 (leaving 2 old ones that had lost their appeal) / 3) New admin assignmetn (50% load) that I find intersting - and compliments my main teaching focus of International Business Being moved from my area of professional expertise of over thirty years into a new realm that has been both a stuggle and rewarding. Better sense of purpose. More pay. More freedom to make choices. More power to act on my choices. Excellent relationships with my colleagues and supervisors.My current workload seems more managable. Rapid increase in personal responsibilities with additional children, church callings, increasing demands in my professional development program (doctorate), health difficulties for my children, my wife, and myself.I was disappointed that a very good professional development opportunity for a 12 hour leave was denied. Under the "use it or lose it" premise, I arranged a much less satisfying and less productive PD opportunity here on campus. Now, I have another potentially great opportunity before me, but I must wait on it to get my years back up. Hopefully, it will still be there.It is easy to become stagnant in my professional ability. Most of my time is spent in grading and preparing for classes which leaves little time for professional development. BYU-Idaho administration began emphasizing leave for professional developmentToo much administrative work and responsibilities over online courses; not enough finances or time to do professional development. Lack in communication and trust; hard to voice an opinion in fear that it will cause repercussions.No opporunities to stay abreast of the field professionally.No longer being in graduate school. :) Working with a great department of colleagues and great students.I'm finally teaching, which has been my goal for quite a long time! BYU-Idaho is a much better employer than I previously had, and I appreciate the balance here in work/family.I feel that I have very little real power to influence conditions that impact me professionally and personally. The Administration sometimes seeks input, but I feel that it is mostly for show. Edicts come from on high, and heaven help the poor soul who has the audacity to question them.Department politicsThe atmosphere at the school has become "corporate". It is far less collegial than it used to be.I have had the blessed opportunity to work In my field since I started back in school at BYU-I and worked hard to get a chance to obtain my dream position at a University teaching and growing academically, and that has finally started to happen for me and my family.In my previous job (not at BYU-Idaho), I was asked by my admonition to take on several additional responsibilities. I don't mind taking on additional responsibilities, but I felt like I had too much on my plate and so spread thin that I wasn't able to handle my professional and personal responsibilities well. I recognize that my situation is not typical, but my satisfaction went up considerably when I was no longer dependent upon the university for my primary source of income, and no longer expected/hoped to gain full-time, permenant employment there.I wasn't teaching five years ago.increased education, opportunity, switching jobs/roleHaving large class sizes (100+) where it is difficult to employ the learning model (lecture hall), no TA due to being adjunct.I do appreciate the 3 hour leaves two semesters a year, but I don't want to feel pressured to take them.I feel more stress associated with my jobComing to BYUIteaching at BYUI- the unity , autonomy, focus, and training are fantastic!!!There was a level of respect and professionalism that I enjoy now that I did not quite enjoy in my previous appointment. Also, there was a level of trust but I have never before experienced. Coupled with that great trust, there is also a level of excellence that the University expects, which validates my self-worth, and makes me feel wonderful.You should define what you mean by professional well-being. I am as happy now as before, but wish I had more time to do research and other professional activities. Five years ago I was on a mission and my professional well-being was completely in neutral.N/AI observe many of my co-workers doing so little, working short hours, dropping responsibilities, etc. For years I have tried to pick up more to cover things and continue to improve our program. I have often done more than expected, just to make things work. I have come to the realization that just as their low investment is unnoticed so are my additional efforts. / / I love teaching and find great satisfaction in that part of the job. It is the department dynamics that are the drag. / It has improved because of the 2 credit per semester professional development leave. I left the Teacher Education ProgramI honestly think the students are getting a little tougher. The best are the best, greater than ever. But there are a few more with problems, and with distractions and short attention spansContinued professional development, participation in professional association, recognition for contributions to my field, increased sphere of influenceThere are several things that I would attribute my increased sense of professional well-being toward. One is that I am back in the classroom after being out of the classroom for three years to write curriculum. Another is the great faculty that I get to work with, who are so supportive and encouraging and intellectually and spiritually challenging and stimulating. Another is that I have so many more opportunities for autonomous professional development here.Teaching students who are motivated to learn / Being at a university where I am free to discuss and promote my personal values and moralsI really enjoy teaching multiple preps and having the freedom to choose what courses I would like to focus on each semester. The PDL opportunities give me more time to do in-depth study and preparation for current and future courses as well as time for general scholarship. I love teaching here! Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it seems too good to be true.I have a temporary, full-time position on campus now. I was working only a part-time adjunct position before.I miss research and want to do bigger projects with grants but my timelines do not fit well with professional development leavesGraduating from PhD program, landing a job, working with great students, opportunities for professional development, wonderful colleagues, brisk winter weather (maybe not that last one)becoming department chair (significantly increased work load)I am now able to take advantage of the two credit per semester leaves to help prepare for new courses or use them for professional development.The challenges never seem to get resolved, they just keep coming.More administration and less time spent teaching students and advancing my professional knowledge.No longer teaching and serving in my area of expertiseGetting my Ph.D. Being hired at BYU-I where I am working for an institution that matches my professional and personal goals. Getting a competitive salary for the position I was hired on for.I am working in a different setting than I was five years ago. The work load at BYU-Idaho is rigorous, and I am fine with that. I feel privileged to be here and I am so often blessed to feel the Spirit in my work here on campus. What has been most difficult for me here has been the surprising politics in my work environment. I have been stunned and chagrined by the unkind and unprofessional behavior of some of my colleagues.I've experienced change, due to assignment. The change occurred due to a shift in administrative duties with less emphasis on instruction. Although the change takes me away from what I enjoy most, it has offered me the chance to grow in new ways, to meet new people, and to gain a greater appreciation/understanding of the university.Management. 5 years ago initiatives were being ignored or shut down. Today, they are being allowed (still waiting for actual support which would slide this baby further right. Still ridiculously happy. I taught seminary students for 22 years and loved the experience but it was time for something new, challenging, and more rewarding. Teaching college students who actually want to be there and and learn has been extremely rewarding. I love how I continually learn and grow myself from the forums, devotionals, class discussions, seminars, professional conferences, and the classes I take from other professors every semester.Dramatic changes at department and program level / Not being heard/understoodMy professional well-being has not changed significantly, but I do feel that the need for my position as an on-campus instructor has dramatically changed with the introduction of the online courses. I don't have as many students sign up for my on-campus classes, therefore I haven't been able to teach as many courses as I would like to.I wasn't very involved professionally before. I was more focused on my family. Now I am constantly stimulated and motivated to find ways to more adequately learn about my subject and effectively teach it. However, there is a great deal more stress in my life, primarily because of grading and lesson preparation. Not really.The opportunity to teach in addition to my professional experience. Before moving to Rexburg and teaching at BYUI, I was able to publish, present papers and mentor/tutor a few individuals. Now I am learning how to teach an entire classroom. This is very challenging and I am able to grow each year through classroom experience the feedback provided by my students. Going from being a full-time mom with younger children to being a part-time employee with slightly older children and the opportunity to spend more time developing my teaching and furthering my learning.Working for BYU-I is one of the greatest blessings that I have ever experienced. My department (English) is flexible and caring. Despite my adjunct status, I am welcomed with open arms to make as much (or as little) of the experience as possible. I feel included. Additionally, I feel that the pay is fantastic. Working as an adjunct faculty member, I've been able to pursue my graduate degree and still have time to do what I love--teach. This is a huge difference reflecting on five years ago when I was working in a field that I did not love and working double the hours (even though the pay was about equal).I do activities outside my work at BYU-Idaho. Not feeling appreciated by administration despite the fact that adjuncts do their best to work as hard as the full-time professors. Always worrying about whether I'll have employment next semester because my work status is and always has been "temporary". Earning barely enough to pay the bills (I am the sole bread-winner in my household).I have recently joined the BYU-I faculty and have loved every moment. My department is awesome with great colleagues. The administrators on campus have a clear focus and direction; I love that BYU-I has a clear mission and goals, which do not seem to change from year to year. I have experienced stability and have received an outpouring of appreciation for what I do from my colleagues, administrators, and students. This leads to greater job satisfaction for me. The culture at BYU-I is vastly different from other institutions in which I have taught. There is no competition among colleagues within a department and I have no personal experience of competition between departments. Everyone that I have encountered on campus has been loving and supportive. I am very happy here.One-year hires are given no time for professional development or developmental leave. This means any professional development I participate in, I have to do after hours. This makes for very long days and limited time with the family. Five years ago, I was in grad school, so I was focused solely on professional development.I now have the opportunity to receive full time employment.I got a 75% contract, so it feels a little less like all that I am doing in my life is teaching for BYUI.The caliber of students, the respect level, the demands of I-Learn and online accountability for everything -- it all takes more time at home, and then conflicts with family and personal time.The university is making efforts to address heavy work load and time for professional development. Also, efforts at the college and department level, as well as the Faculty association, have increased opportunities for intellectual stimulation. Finally, the administration seems genuinely more interested in hearing from the faculty. I hope this continues. As I am new to the University this is a difficult question to answer. My previous job was incredibly demanding of my time and abilities. It required a tremendous amount of time that little or now recognition or compensation was given. However, my experience thus far at BYU-I has been very rewarding. The demands are targeted and specific to my expertise and an appropriate amount of time is given to meet those demands. My job here has made me very happy.I moved from another university. Moral is much better here, as is the pay. The teaching load is much higher, so I have less time for research. I am doing what I love.Things have settled down. New course development post 4 year transition has been worked through. Adjusting courses to fit three semesters has been completed. Confusion associated with implementing the learning model is more settled in my mind.My well-being remains about the same, though I have enjoyed--and thoroughly used--the six credits per year of professional development time. The University is adopting a better Foundations program that will provide a higher-quality down micromanagement. The refusal of our administrators to seek faculty in-put or advice to improve the quality of the BYUI educational experience. Their refusal to give faculty a voice in the University's decision making processes. The way administrators have sought to marginalize the Faculty Association and its elected representatives.Burnout from the cumulative weight of a 3-semester teaching load and frequent curriculum makeovers in Foundations courses. / Dealing with an increasingly large, inflexible, and authoritative beaurocracy.The ability to do work that means something. The ability to have the autonomy necessary to complete my job.I'm disheartened by a number of policies and cultural practices that occur on campus that appear to run counter to our doctrine. / For example, when a student fails to produce competent work and I accurately assess that work, all the student has to do is complain to a chair, a dean, or someone higher up. Inevitably, if the student or the students' parents complain enough, we cave in and award whatever grade the student demands. This is unethical, and it happens nearly every semester. / Another example, I enthusiastically support the mission to develop disciple leaders here on campus. But a hyper-sensitive focus on mere trivialities--the outward man--does not seem like a particularly effective way to invite our students to care about what truly matters. Couching the arbitrary minutia of the dress and grooming standards in terms of righteousness and honor are a disservice to the students and to the very worthy ideals of righteousness and honor. I am not arguing that we remove the standards or even change them (although, it is worth noting that the year is no longer 1969). But it would be nice if we could focus a bit less on those ultimately petty concerns and a bit more on what Christ actually values. I would humbly suggest that we call it what it is: a dress code, and nothing more. The entire canon of scripture and the words of the prophets and apostles indicate that we are focusing on the wrong thing. I'm aware of no compelling argument to the contrary, and it's not because I haven't been paying attention.The administration here at BYUI is a bit too protective of its "power." They are not nearly as open as they could and should be in decisions made and other concerns facing the faculty and university. Decisions seem rather arbitrary.New job. The sliding scale doesn't allow you to show nuanced chanes in well-being, so my professional well-being change might seem more exaggerated in the images above than it actually is. However, I do think that a few things have happened that have lowered my sense of professional well-being. First, and most importantly, the administration threatened major changes to our department that would have drastically lowered my sense of well-being because it would have cut me off from what I am most passionate in teaching. While the changes didn't happen, the threat made me realize that the happiness I get from teaching what I want to teach is very tenuous and could dramatically change without any input from me. I believe many of my colleagues feel the same way. I have been working on my PhD, administrating English Education, and teaching a full load. I would have liked a bit more support with time.Heavier work loads, more grading-heavy composition courses. I really appreciate the support of the university in pursuing my graduate work. They have been very generous with time and resources. I feel that my graduate work has made me a better teacher.An environment where the Spirit is present and deemed necessary to our well-being and success.I have job stability, professional autonomy, and wonderfully friendly and interesting colleagues. Working in an environment with inspired people who care about our well-being and progress.I'm learning to manage anxiety and stress more productively. I just want to say the recent changes to the CFS process are a great improvement. A few years ago I was laboring under the old system which seemed to emphasize the numbers over any other sort of less quantifiable excellence. I survived the process, but I am glad that others won't have to "survive" the process like I did. Thanks to whoever helped make that happen. I am on a CFS committee now, and it's a pleasant experience.Greater freedom to choose courses I teach. More opportunities to write in my discipline, travel to conferences and presentations.Different department chair. / I had an extended sabbatical to do PhD coursework. That was refershing in all sorts of ways--academically, emotionally, etc. It was great to talk to new people, to have time just to read, to learn new things. I got into academics because I love learning, but that had stagnated previously.regardless of where you were LIVING OR WORKING .IF I'WAS M'T LIVING I WOULD NOT BE ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONSI'm tired. The three semester load is very taxing.Trying to keep up with the technology (ILearn, etc.). It is killing me--and I hear that it is going to change again. I intend to wean myself off of it ASAP. Whoever said technology was the great panacaea for education never really had to maintain it.Personal and professional stress level has increased.I attribute it to where I work now. I enjoy teaching. I love watching the students light bulbs click on as they discover and grow. I feel like I'm serving everyday rather than working. It's a wonderful feeling. I'm now working in a wholesome environment where I am not being micro-managed but instead being encouraged to be the best I can be. I am given the freedom to make decisions over my stewardship and for myself. Growth is encouraged. Pay is signficantly more which makes me feel appreciated for the professional that I am plus I am not continually distracted because of financial obligations. I can devote myself to my vocation. My biggest change was over the past five years was applying and getting a position here at BYU-Idaho. No options to leave without working MORE / Inter-department pettiness and jealousies are a DRAGTeaching is so fulfilling, and I feel like I've learned so much from the process. I wouldn't trade it for anything.I finished my degree and got married.Change in working environment and loving my job now, with great co-workers.Two major factors attribute to that change. / / 1- I started working at BYUI about four years ago and that has improved my professional well being. / / 2- Certain developments in my freelance art career, my main career focus and full time work, has improved dramatically over the past few years.Employment at BYU-Idaho and perusing my masters degree.Teaching more challenging classesPolicies that limit my ability to make decisions based on what seems right for a student or course in addition to negative comments and accusations from colleagues when no offense on my part was intended. Also, my pay has steadily decreased over the last five years while my workload has not. I try not to let this bother me too much, but it is tricky maintaining the same motivation for less pay.I am working with more guitar majors than ever before.1) I have less autonomy to make decisions for my classes now than I did 5 years ago. Perhaps because of economic changes (I work with a performing group), but also due to an increase in administrative regulation from all angles. 2) Unfortunately, there is no effective mechanism for communicating changes in procedure to part-time faculty. This has always been difficult, but has seemed to become more of a challenge in recent years. 3) On a personal level I struggle to stay motivated to continue to create new course materials and teaching strategies when my work load has increased at the same time my pay has decreased. The cap on adjunct hours has hit my bank account, but has not lessened what is expected of me as a teacher. I would love to receive some kind of load for course or professional development, but there appears to be no mechanism to allow this in my area. The time I spend during the spring and summer developing materials for the coming fall is completely without monetary compensation. For me, it is the reality that my life is changing but my "career" is not. I am older now, I don't have small children, and I would love to be more involved with the university. But teaching adjunct is not a CAREER. It is a JOB. I am ready for a career. Honestly, I just can't teach adjunct forever. Most semesters I work between 30-50 hours a week, and I simply don't get paid enough, nor do I feel like an integral part of the department. My Dept chair is wonderful, and very sensitive to these matters, but after 12 years, trying to teach 150 students without an office is starting to really get to me. And, I make enough money to help in small ways at home, but not enough to make my life easier to be able to accommodate the hours I put it. It makes me sad, but I think my days here are numbered. I would like to have a career at some point in my life. I have added administrative responsibilities in both the department and university.Personal health, well-beingI left a position in California three years ago to come to BYU-Idaho. From a professional development standpoint, there are many more resources and options available here at BYU-I than there were in the state university system where I taught before. The teaching workload was heavier in California as well. It may not be perfect here, but I find it a much more supportive and development-friendly environment here than where I was for 15 years.There has been no substantive commitment (i.e. resource) to reducing teaching load.Less administrative work, more classroom/teaching time. The ability to do professional personal work.... Attending Teaching workshops.1. I have taught at the college or university level for over twenty-seven years and feel very disconnected with my professional discipline. This generates a psychological reality that is deeply anxious, frustrating, and stressful. / 2. There is a very serious generation gap between my students and me. My words and ways are not their ways. / 3. The few selfish and manipulative students far outweigh my professional satisfaction with the many. / 4. Despite recognition from the university, which is much appreciated, gratification from teaching is at an all time low. / 5. My professional satisfaction is inversely proportionate to my early retirement date.A lot of overloadFatigue Added administrative responsibilityReduction of overload/more normal load assignments. Time for professional and course development.Job related stressChange in career from administrator on campus to faculty member has added many opportunities for growth.I wasn't working in my chosen field. I find that I am happier not only working in my area of expertise but in interacting with these fantastic students. The daily teaching opportunities and challenges they bring are the most positive part of this position.Tired and stressed. Little or no time out for pletion of degree and now application of knowledge / changing professions, becoming an instructor on campusNew credentialThe headaches of childcare when I work. The couse I taught moved on-line, which removed the hands on lab and reduced the classroom contact time by 25%.More preparation time, less of other duties.A full-time positionI'm not a student anymore. I get paid well to do something I love to do.I went from being a respected grad student who had a large degree of control over my education and development to being a "junior" faculty member with less control over what I do professionally. Because how and what I teach affects more than just myself, I am not able to change my courses as much as I would like.I received my PhD nearly 6 years ago, so 5 years ago I was still publishing and felt like I was doing well professionally. In the past five years I have nearly exclusively focused on course and instructor development, which I believe has sacrificed my professional standing and confidence.NANothing comes to mind.five years ago I was on leave doing graduate work, researching and teaching and being challenged. Today, I don't have tome for researchingExcessive work load / Change in responsibilitiesNo longer in administrative position.Getting to work here at BYU-Idaho. (I started this fall.)Finishing my PhD and obtaining full-time (albeit not permanent) employment.Change in job and locationI find it fulfilling to work with students.Leaving an employer that didn't value their employees and was basically moving all of its workforce, including me, to China.More certainty and stability. / A shift from research to teaching.1. Class size has significantly increased requiring more time for grading and less time for individual students. / 2. I have had to work on and deal with On-line classes development as well as their impact it on Face to Face classes in our department. Our department has been focusing more on On-line classes than standard curriculum or other university issues. / The number of students our department serves as a whole has increased significantly which requires us to teach larger sections, / add online sections, or teach multiple sections rather than a more variety of topics. / / Development leaves for the department seem to all be take up with On-line class development rather than other professional development leave activities. / / My department chair uses tyrannical methods that prevent me from using my experience and expertise to bless students and be happy professionally.My professional well-being has changed due to my administrative responsibilities. There has not been time, and probably proper motivation, to invest myself professionally.Partly I'm less personally invested in my work, so I'm not as stressed about it, partly the changes in the development leaves allow me more breathing room, partly my family is at a different stage now and not so demanding.Higher teaching load, schedule is much busier.Changed jobsI started here!I am now taking medication.Being the department chair.Improved access to professional development leaves. Better understanding of the process. Becoming the department chairDifferent opportunities, more leave time.Too much work, not enough sleep, too many students.An inability to make any significant professional contributions in my area of expertise.Sabbatical helped to rejuvenate through change and getting additional points of view..Overwork - especially with creating and maintaining an online course. / / No longer the department chair.Prior I experienced significant health troubles trying to "do it all" professionally. I have tried to set more realistic expectations of pletion of Doctorate Degree and obtaining a wonderful job teaching at BYU-Idaho.It hasn't changed much. I love teaching and I enjoy the impact I have because of my leadership responsibilities, but two things wear on me: 1) I do not have time to do anything with excellence (and being mediocre drains me) and 2) My intellect, my soul is hungry. I need time to feed my mind and to be active as a scholar. That time seems to be opening up, but to date my other responsibilities (teaching, leadership, course development, and professional and university service) have not allowed me to consistently feed my mind and make scholarly contributions in my field. If I could do that, I would be able to characterize my professional well-being as a "full-on smiley face."1) Micromanagment: The university is so concerned about its outward appearance to the world that faculty activities and the manner in which we carry them out are ever more monitored. I have become afraid to make any decision, no matter how small, without first running it up the chain. If I don't before hand, I will hear about it from the chain afterward. / / 2) Obsession with conformity: The policy of "You don't own your classes" is detrimental to both students and faculty. Virtually every class I teach now has a committee to ensure that everyone does it the same way. I feel like I have been placed in a box with a recipe. We MUST own our courses, and we need to recognize that, just as students are individuals with different learning styles; faculty are individuals with different teaching styles. While it might be important that each of us covers the same topics for a course with a specific name, is it really essential that the material be delivered in the same manner by all? Our teaching needs to reflect the individual's personality, background, and skills. Just because each section of a course is delivered in the same manner does not mean students are getting an "equal experience," which seems to be the objective. It is good for instructors of a course to discuss how they have taught a particular topic, but to force others to follow suit when it does not fit that instructor?€?s teaching style is counter productive. This is particularly a problem with "Foundations" courses and a "one size fits all" application of the "Learning Model." / / 3) Emphasis of delivery over content in our courses. Despite our slogan of "Rethinking Education," we tend to adopt the latest fad in education, put it on steroids, call it inspired, and force it upon faculty. A good example is "Foundations," which is called interdisciplinary studies elsewhere, and the "Learning Model," referred to by most as peer instruction. Because of micromanagement and insistence on conformity, we spend much more time concerned with how we are going to present material than what that material should be. / / 4) We have turned the university over to the students, like the old saying of "The convicts run the prison." I know many faculty members who have a fear of student evaluations, because evaluations that are not favorable tend to lead to remedial action by the department and university administrators, who rarely read student comments on those evaluations. I have had such discussions over my "Foundations" course evaluations, in which students have expressed that they enjoy the course but the exams and assignments are too difficult, therefore making it my fault that they can't maintain their high GPAs. I can't count the number of students who have come to my office to tell me they have an A in every class but mine, and that I am going to cost them their scholarships. I have finally succumbed and now prepare my "Foundations" courses with student evaluations in mind, something I never would have dreamed I would be doing before teaching here. The driving factor is not whether or not it is the best way to teach but whether or not students will be happy. Do we do parenting based on performance evaluations by our children? This, again, is a disservice to our students. We are the experts, and we know how to best convey necessary information and to evaluate the results. They have been spoiled by an institution that grants 56% A grades (despite admitting students with ACTs as low as 9) and allows them to dictate how they receive information and are assessed. Again, this problem is particularly significant within the "Foundations" program. To be honest, I have begun to feel more like a high school teacher than a professor. / / 5) It has been almost impossible with time commitments to remain current in my field. I came here as an expert. I can't say that that is still the case.We have had so much program growth that it is affecting all faculty as far as load. It is a great problem to have but we need more help. Yes, we have adjunct faculty; in fact, we have more adjunct than full time. Its really challenging because they are not fully vested in the program nor are they knowledgeable as far as advising students and in maintaining the lab. They teach classes and labs but the neglect the lab in a major way. It adds more to my load on top of my classes becoming larger and larger each semester. We have had steady growth for the past 7 years. Our adjunct simply wish to only teach and then get home. I request and give assignments but they do not complete them. Again, they do not share the same vision that full time faculty share... I cannot really fault them because they are, and should be, committed to their full time professions off campus. I am burning out and have to turn to the scriptures more and more to remain positive. I love what I do and I love the students but I'm not as patient and caring as I was 5 and 10 years ago. The past two years I feel we as a program are MAXED and I am also MAXED. I often spend 15 hour days in behalf of the program. Again I love what I do but it is wearing on me. The biggest change was the opportunity to complete my masters degree, and have the opportunity to teach at BYU-IdahoWorking for BYUI, just came come IndustryToo much work. Too many preps. Not enoght support. Extra assignments. We are short staffed, and just getting by.About five years ago I started here, teaching on average 17 credits with 3-5 preps. It was a bit crazy. It gets a little easier as time goes on. Dept chair that micromanages and goes against dept concensus. How the dean and previous department chair treated me which was demeaning and UnChristlike.QUESTION #2What could you do to improve your professional well-being?Continue with some form of outside, professional experience. I have noticed that faculty are often "out of the loop" when it comes to current real-life job practices and are teaching students out-of-date practices.Receive more training.Have more input on the changes being made to our program. Hire me full-time.I'd like more direction on professional development for adjuncts. Our faculty advisor is worthless and no one seems to know anything about what adjuncts should do for professionsl development. When I do ask about professional development, I'm told that it isn't in the budget for me.Have the administration seriously listen to my ideas about program direction and development. Programs come and go without faculty input below the department chairman. Have a department chairman who is a facilitator and understand that the faculty team should make decisions by consensus not by one-person fiat. He needs to administer with the "counsel with councils" idea. Have a department focus that all of us can work as a team to achieve. Find an opportunity for a leave that will give me more contact with industry or meaningful service in my field that I can bring back to students. I love the conferences on teaching and professional meetings that I have attended and want to continue to do that if possible.Continue to look for things I could change for the better. I've tried lots of things and some don't help but many do.I am working to find my way within the curriculum changes that have been made to find where I fit. I have completed a proposal for a sabbatical leave that will hopefully aid me to "retool". I have been told by word of mouth in a very casual way that the sabbatical was approved. However, I have never received any kind of offical word. We are asked to complete forms and have them turned in in a timely manner. It seems however, that that same policy does not apply to our leadership. I have been waiting and asking for months. I was told by several people that the leave was approved. At what seemed like the last minute I desired to change the leave. I was granted approval if I could meet a very tight deadline. I did so, only to wait again. I was also told that the first leave was not strong enough. What would have happened if I had not desired the change? Would I have simply been rejected? Why did it take months for me to receive a casual word that someone of authority thought my proposal was weak? We are asked to take professional leaves, but what I am finding is that there is little support to do so. There is an apparant support that makes us look good, but there is little support where it counts. The politics of the process has left me with little desire to ever do it again. I am trying hard to have a positive attitude toward the changes, but circumstances do not make it easy.I would like to keep publishing articles and i could find partners here, rather than other schools.work in the industry on my days off.Continue to develop skills to make classroom time more productive.Quit one of my jobs.I would like to change teaching assignments a little. I teach a couple classes that I would rather not teach and there are a couple classes in the department that I would be very excited to teach (but I currently don't have the opportunity to teach them)!Be positive.See the above comments. Basically, let faculty be part of decisions which will effect them. Don't just tell us what changes were made with no prior idea that a change was even coming.Not have to do so much administrative paperwork that is passed down from administration. Everytime someone gets an idea for a program to implements then we have to stop what we are doing and fill out a ton of paperwork. I wish we could be allowed to concentrate more on teaching and improving our personal level of teaching then be slammed with all the university based programsspend more time in the primary literatureMore organization in my office/lifeI need to be patient with my peers.Less time for administrative responsibilities and more time for professional development.Attend/ take part in professional development as time permits.I need to be more diligent in the organizational aspects of what I need to accomplish. Figure out a better way to learn and master the understanding of the programs in our department so I can be more helpful to the faculty. If I felt like I was doing that better, then I would be less stressed about it.I am currently very satisfied with my research career and teaching career and professional developmentgraduate with the doctorateNo problemsOpportunities for professional developmentMore support for well being, not just qualifications. Teach more classes. Take some classes. I'm looking forward to helping in the development and teaching of new coursework.It would be nice if we could have more interaction with our faculty, but do to limited office space, some of us are scattered. It would also be helpful if sabbiticals did not have so many strings attached. Have more responsible and diligent students.Find full-time, long-term employment.Find more opporutnities in the focus of my careerMore development opportunities especially one's that challenge us. More variety to prevent burn out.Set better limits and say no.Stop worrying about whether the students are learning and about upholding the integrity of the major.I am a satisfied employee. I would like to write more.I need to continue to learn more about my new admin assignment, and reap the benefits of this assignment (International Study Programs) in my teaching. I am doing so by working with Instruction Development to improve my teaching skills in my new found area of curriculum.I could participate more in the workshops and training provided on campus and at professional meetings.We learn best by doing. I just need time to actually do what I teach. For example if you are teaching social media marketing, you actually need to practice marketing products using social media. The same holds true for teaching business entrepreneurship. If you have experience starting your own buisiness it would help you be more qualified to teach others how to do it. However, if you spent time starting your own buisness, could that become a conflict of interest as far as univeristy standards are concerned?Exercise more. Apply for a 12 hour prof dev leave.Take more of an initiative to attend professonal-development opportunities on campus. Take opportunities to communicate more with colleagues in an open and non-threatening environment. Find something that would provide some additional training and time to do the training.I need to spend more time on research, that aren't my late evening hours if possible.Find permanent faculty employment rather than 1-year/temporary.I would like to spend more time updating my knowledge of social media, analytics, etc.Care less. Keep my head down and do my job.Reduce the number of preps I do each semester and attend learning communities. Apply more case studies of current situations. Improve my attitude.Continue to do more then average and get a full-time position at a UniversityNothingBecome more technology literate.With regards to university assignments, I could request the courses I would like to teach, rather than accepting the course assignments the department chair extends to me. I have accepted assignments under the assumption that that made it easier for the rest of the department.Keep teaching, keep learning and doing all I can to improve my course and my teaching. I am always doing that.cut back on the multi job status, and focus on doing one or two things really well.Smaller class size, TAI think as I get to know my faculty better it will only improve. Although, / I am very happy right now. Brainstorm more creative ideas in advance.Do more work in my area of expertiseMore time to do projects that I determine rather than feeling like I have to fit some mold from the administration. No one knows better than I do what will help me to improve. Decisions about leaves and sabbaticals should be made at the level of the department or college.Keep at itChange assignments I could keep a tighter focus on my teaching duties and not let other duties infringe on that time.I have a couple projects that I'm working on, but really need to be completed and published. Though we are not a publishing University, there is enough freedom to explore these projects if I so desire. Though there is little time, I think there's great support among my peers.I will continue to strive to develop professionally and to not allow myself to become complacent in my work.Spend more time improving my courses, including updating myself along with my courses.N/A. Everything is going well. I'm contributing to my own professional well-being and the university is as well.Obviously, I need to stop comparing myself to others. But, I also plan to stop taking on more. I will put my focus into my courses and my professional development. I need to do just my part, and not others?€? parts, as well.If the load were simply reduced to 10 credits per semester / 30 per year.Read and write moreI have new preps, new associates, new office with a window and a new professional life. Change is better than a rest!Be at my best, be at the top of my game.Continue to participate in professional development opportunities and professional association, and continue to look for ways to expand my sphere of influence and pursue those opportunities.I would love to have more time to research and write as a means for professional development. I hope to have more opportunities for that once I achieve CFS and am finished teaching so many new courses and piloting new courses and helping to develop the new religious education curriculum. / Continue to use my professional development time wisely to improve in my content area and teaching masteryPerhaps not take on too much at one time. The move to 4 preps each semester has been exhilarating and daunting at the same time.I am pursuing a doctorate.do more research and teach fewer unique courses (I teach 5 unique courses)Schedule more time for reading and writing, take more lunches with colleaguesI could be more on the ball / Have a better office assistant / Give professional development time to administrators (not just release for the administrative duties)I would like the opportunity to teach in other departments and other academic areas that I have unique expertise. I will attend conferences more often so I don't feel like an academic dinosaur when I attend them. I need to read more to connect to the recent research literature and to what acadmics at research universities are writing. I need to write and conduct research. I want to meet more often with colleagues in other departments and talk ideas.I am planning on traveling to Europe to go on site and study aspects of the Reformation in 2016.Develop a more synergistic relationship with my colleagues, so we could work together more efficiently and effectively toward common goals.My time in administration will end and then I will rotate back to teach and learn more than I currently do.Continue doing what I am doing now.That is hard. I feel I am doing quite a lot to strengthen my professional development, my teaching ability, and trying to expand on my experiences. I expect these efforts to help a lot, however, it would also help if I were to be hired as a CFS. Even if I'm not though BYU-I is helping me prepare for future employment elsewhere.Frankly forgive others and wax more confident in the Lord.Be more intentional and focused on areas I've identified as ways to improve. / / Become a better collaborator.Figure out how to be content with mediocrity. Exercise . . . if there was ever time. / / Attend more conferences - would help me stay abreast of my field more than just recent book. I need to quit worrying about students liking my lessons and teaching. I worry so much about preparing a lesson that is well thought-out, full of participation, and worth the students time, that I take too much time preparing them. My colleagues seem to not worry and stress over it as much as I do. I would love to have more time to prepare discussions or to learn how to do it in an a more effective and efficient way so that I have more free time to read students journals and give feedback.To be able to serve the students and do my job well, it seems that I have to put in over 55-60 hours a week. I love my job and am very passionate about what I do. I view it more of a calling than a job, but it is also taking its toll on my family, health, and overall balance in life. I realize that I could just do the norm and give multiple choice tests and only meet with students when it is an emergency, but I can't let myself do that. I suppose it is up to me to find a healthy balance, not the university.Retire earlyFinish up the continuing education I need.I would appreciate more idea sharing within the department. Fortunately, I have found myself a few mentors who don't mind sharing effective teaching strategies.Will do as much as I do right now.Become more involved in the department.I would like the opportunity for more travel and professional development.When I retire from my professional job, I would like to be able to tutor students individually in addition to classroom teaching.Attend conferences, talk more to others in the department and in my fieldThe only thing that I could do to improve my professional well-being is to adjust my own attitude and feel confident enough to speak up. Take a 75% contract. Obtain a higher degree, I suppose. Figure out a way to tighten my belt even tighter for my cost of liviing.As I am recently new to campus, my first priority is to gain a level of surety and confidence with my classes. Once I do this over the next year or two, I will undertake research projects that will help me to improve professionally. However, I do not have any scholarly activities on the horizon at the moment.I'm currently applying to PhD programs in my field.If I could, I would like to be able to read and study more, especially to be more fresh in what I am teaching.Refuse to use Brainhoney. / Ignore the demands of students and administration?Make time to do more reading in my fields. Continue to learn and grow with regards to the learning model.Encourage more collaboration with department members BYUI making my position permanent instead of the revolving faculty door that it is.Attend more conferences. Spend more time writing and publishing.I could set more goals and create a more disciplined structure for reading and writing in my content area.Do more research and writing. I really dont consider myself a professional within my discipline any more. It is difficult to find the time and I dont feel like professional development, as opposed to teaching development, is really valued on campus. For the most part I feel that the phrase professional development as it is used on campus is really a euphemism for experimenting with new teaching methodology. / / Dont make me feel guilty for not buying in to the idea that on line and hybrid are the answers to better teaching. In some ways it is demeaning to me as a teacher. In other ways it has created an excuse for non-teaching. "If hybrid and online is as good as face to face, what does it matter if I just put the lessons online and take a trip to Mexico."I do all I can, even though it means I have to put in a lot of work "after hours"--and before--each day. Re-engage in my discipline by reading the professional journals.Find more time to be active in my discipline.I find myself continually stimulated as I work on new courses and change my present teaching assignments in various ways.Adopt a fatalistic attitude and mindlessly conform to ill-conceived administrative policies instead of trying to kick against the pricks. Find ways to spend more time on keeping abreast in my field and less on developing curriculum. Make time for personal study and research into my field of expertise.I could manage my time better. I would increase my ethos with my students and my ability to teach them if I were to publish more. But I find it quite difficult to find the time to research, write, and seek publication in my discipline. I suppose I could start coming in at 5:00 a.m, but I'd prefer if I had more time during regular working hours.What could I do? I could work at another university, or, I could try to avoid interaction with people or projects that might put me on the radar of the administration, or, I could keep my mouth shut more often, or, I could grow more "selfish" in the eyes of the administration and close my door more often and work on actual professional development and scholarship, not the so-called teaching and learning scholarship that is highlighted on campus that really isn't scholarship by any traditional definition, or, I could say more prayers and be more grateful for the chance to work with some great colleagues and students and do my part for the Kingdom, or, I could withdraw into my office, avoiding any substantive interaction with other faculty, my department, college, and the university itself--simply, quietly teaching my way to retirement. I'll probably try doing all but two of the above.Continue professional development in both my subject matter area and the scholarship of learning and teaching. I could improve my professional well-being by taking a more systematic approach to a number of projects I am working on. I tend to jump between projects when I have inspiration and time, but I could do a better job of focusing on and finishing a project before moving on. While time is offered for professional development, the reality in our section is that it is extremely difficult for us to take advantage of those offerings and fulfill the needs of the major. We need additional faculty resources to accomplish what we could and should be doing regarding our professional development.Have better time-management skills so I can find the time to engage in research and writing which will be personally enriching and benefit my students.Give me professional leave for administering English Ed.Require less writing. Complete my dissertation.I could more consistently carve out professional development time in my schedule, and use my faculty development plan to pursue realistic, significant development goals in a more systematic way. Prepare as much as I can before the semester starts that way I will be less stressed during the semester.Keep learning to control my anxiety.Lower my course load and increase opportunities to read, write, research in my discipline (and travel to conferences, workshops, and presentations)Finish my dissertation.I will remove all of the material I have in ILearn and Equella either to a hard-copy text of my own make or to some other system that isn't constantly changing.Manage stress better. Make time to learn more new things about the subject matter and dive deeper into topics already known.Personal factors are the only thing that currently affects my professional well-being. Once my husband is out of the army I feel that I will have more time to devote to my professional well-being outside of working hours. For now I strictly need to stop working at the end of the day so I can devote myself to my family. I am a temporary faculty. This is my 3rd year here so to improve my professional well-being would be to get a full time position which I am applying for now! :)Have a rejuvenating 12 hr. leave.I could attend more training meetings. It seems like I have a hard time getting a babysitter and attending regularly.Take classes more often to better improve my skills.Maybe getting the opportunity to teach more, but other than that it's great.Focus more on my freelance work.Obtain a full time teaching job that provided benefits for my family.certifications / Understanding and use of technologyAttend workshops or other professional conferences, travelLove the students, try not to think about workload and pay :)I would like to start a guitar ensemble next semester. As well, I would like to travel and attend guitar festivals and masterclasses now that my children are grown.Tough question. I try to stay focused on creating a good product rather than worrying about whether or not the pay is commensurate with the hours spent. I've debated setting a limit on my unpaid work hours, but am then frustrated that I don't have the materials I feel my classes need. I'm open to good suggestions :)Well, that is an interesting question. I would say I should go back and get a doctorate, but let's face it: this is Rexburg. There is ISU, but I am not really interested in pursuing a degree outside of my field. I would have to live apart from my family. Valid options for other career possibilities are very limited by geography and logistics. If I had an office where I could meet with students, and felt justified in involving myself more, and if I got paid more, I am sure those things would help. Of course I am always invited to meetings and such but really, there is no point. I don't want to go to meetings for fun--I don't get paid enough to do that--but it would be different if I weren't adjunct. Less administrative responsibility, and more time to improve my content knowledge and skills.Currently doing very well.Mostly, I'm satisfied. However, I think it would be important to have a more realistic dialogue between faculty and administration on curricular and resource decisions. The idea that a blog for sharing ideas is anything close to a realistic and useful conversation is ludicrous. There are no real faculty committees with any kind of what you might call "constitutional" clout here. That is where the state system had a better arrangement than we have here: there was a constitution, a faculty senate with some decision-making (or at least input-giving) authority which could respond to and inform administrative decisions in a way that led to genuine input/dialogue. I don't know that we absolutely need a system like that here, but increasing the faculty voice in these matters would go a long way to improving the outcomes of all decisions. Really getting to 80/20.Manage my time better. I will have more time & less stress when I am released as bishop. :-) Continue taking the time to do research and reading. Attending workshops...I am constantly doing this. I try to practice my discipline. And, I continouously strive to improve my courses, desiring to deepen and improve student learning.Seek more balance.I'm Not sure. I feel as though we are placed in a double bind. At this point the 80/20 contract is a complete myth in my department. We have taken our concerns and needs to administration without receiving resources to address our needs. Return to teachingComplete the transition to the 80/20, 10+2, 30+6 (not sure what to call it) load model so professional development time is regular. Organize my business more efficiently / Find a couple of extra hours each dayBeing pulled in too many different directions makes it difficult to complete any one assignment satisfactorily. On-line classes take time and effort to develop and manage. So do on-campus classes. So do various administrative responsibilities. Too much fracturing of attention affects quality of effort.I need to find a way to spend less time at work and more time with my family, a better balance in the time spent on work vs. personal time.Not work on campus so much.Spend more time developing ideas instead of just maintaining the status quostudy abroadHave better backups and more than one option. I wish that there was a guarantee that adjunct teachers would have their jobs. The emotional stress of not knowing whether I will or will not have a job has been VERY depressing for me. / It would be easier for me to deal with not having a job if I did something wrong or my evaluations were not good, but I do a good job and get great evaluations.Lock my office door and not answer student questions, however that will not happen.Teach more upper level division coursesI miss research. I do not think I will ever be able to do research comparable to my graduate work while here. Having the opportunity to do research outside of the university as well as doing student-mentored-research on campus would be great. I seek out more opportunites for collegeal collaboration nd prfessional development. I have always taken charge of my professional well-being and no one has never stood in my way. Gain more influence or control over my department/courses.I have a 12 hour leave in Spring 2015, where I hope to regain my confidence in my professional/non-academic abilities1. Become more involved in University functions/activities/etc.read moreContinue further education and seek to get a doctorate.Find the time to conduct a meaningful analysis of my professional activities and how to execute my e up with some specific goals to work towards.Read more professional journals. / / Follow up on advances in my discipline, outside my particular area of research.Get away from curriculum development and do more student-centered research projects. I was drawn into the curriculum development black hole because of the demand for online courses and to decrease reliance on expensive textbooks. Also, I didn't want my courses to be a "let's just cover what's in the book" kind of experience.Retire (in a few years)Find the time to accomplish all that I want to accomplish.I feel reaching outside of my discipline helps.I'm satisfied with my professional development, and feel that BYU-I gives the opportunity to maintain it well.Research more without teaching less.Participate more in student-mentored research and expand course offering in the department in my area of expertise.Make time to exercise daily. More exerciseMore collaboration with other professionals inside and outside of the University.In industry, if I recognized inefficiencies or challenges to policy or procedures I corrected them. Here I play a different role and sometimes it is difficult to watch from the sidelines as students, faculty, or the university struggles with issues which hinder the goals and objectives of the institution.Stop accepting assignments that are paid as overload and find a way to deal with the guilt that I would feel for letting my department/the university down.Quit taking on course development projects that overwhelm me and take away from my teaching and advising responsibilities.Read more literature in my discipline. Do fewer student-mentored projects.I need to learn protect the professional development time that the university allows me. / I often find that those hrs get easily taken-up by students that require some form of assistance, and who are unable to come see me during my regular office hrs, or by having to develop additional remedial materials to support the learning of a one or two non-representative students who might be struggling severely in class. / It is very hard for me to say no to those individuals when their demands can be accomodated by me "being flexible". The net result is generally that when I have leave I serve students more and don't do the scheduled development activities, and when I don't have leave, I serve students still and take significant work home. I want to help my students, but I think that I should not continue like that, that I need to take time to invest in the upkeep of my professional skills, and to stay current on the industrial and academic trends of my field, to both maintain my quality and relevance as an instructor. Find better ways for grading and assessment, so I don't spend so much time grading! / / Be able to do more professional development in my discipline area rather than always doing curriculum development. Reduce the number of emails that I am asked to respond to.I need to provide professional leaves for myself to be involved in my discipline.Be serious and earnest about maintaining life balanceFind a better balance between activities that improve my teaching ability, increase my understanding of my area, build relationships with peers and students, and improve my personal life.Find ways to make teaching & grading more efficient. This will come with time.Put more time towards professional development after course development is sufficientI just need to gain some additional experience in teaching!Reduce the busy work. I seem to have a lot of new things I feel I'm required to do to "improve teaching and learning". This causes a lot of anxiety and causes regualr change. The univeristy also keeps changing things. It is hard for me to know if I am doing well.See response above : )See above....Find an area of research that I could get involved that would also involve studentsReduce the number of preps. Withdraw from the foundations courses (I love foundations, but the workload is tremendous).Exercise more discipline in setting aside time regularly for professional work and not allowing that time to be consumed by university overload. Most likely I will move to a 75% percent contract in order to have a full semester to dedicate to professional development. Take time for personal growth. Professional Development opportunities that do not relate to course development. I would like to have time to just read and ponder and breath and think about what I do. Currently I barely have the time/energy to do the bare minimum of teaching my classes each semester. I LOVE teaching, and I LOVE working with students. I teach an introductory science class with lots of "story problems" and "math" - 2 really scary, hard things for most of my students. I wish I had enough time, either in the classroom, or outside the classroom to spend more 1 on 1 time with students. I have on average 150-200 students a semester, I don't have the time to help them as I wish I could.Would like to have time to read journals and study material I haven't had time to study deeply.Get caught up enough that I could get a fresh start in considering such things.Change my status from pre-CFS to CFS. Continue to improve expertise in teaching and mastery of subject matter being taught.Not be such a "good soldier." Perhaps I am too quick to follow where my university leaders lead? I usually feel guilty when I try to set aside time to develop myself. I need to protect the time the university has given me to develop myself better than I have. I need to repeat the mantra "I can be a scholar at BYU-Idaho. I am valued. I belong" until I can feel that it is true.Leave.Probably revamp classes to move away from paper based assignments and other assessments that require more instructor time to grade and provide feedback so that more time could be devoted to professional development. With class sizes increasing 2 to 3 times, the way I was doing things does not scale, especially with the amount of time required to continually revamp classes due to the changes in technology. Of course, revamping classes due to changes in technology is a form of professional development. Be allowed to have additional help / more full-time faculty in our program. It would allow me to enjoy things more like I used too. I truly feel that there no way I can continue on this course. I assign as much as possible to my lab aides as far as grading, lab maintenance, teaching in lab, etc. Our labs are full time demanding as far as how we spend our time. I can't and have rarely leave my students in lab for more than 5 min at a time. It is too technical. Most students are so new to the technology that my lab aides and I have to monitor quite closely as to what occurs or they make costly mistakes. But they learn so much in lab. It is great to see them progress. After about 2-3 semesters students either 'get it' or they wash out and change majors. Most stay with it and graduate and obtain great employment.... again it is very rewarding. Bottom line is we need to teach smaller sections = have additional faculty so that we can offer more sections. Continue to work hard at improving courses and student learning experiences. I feel caught in a trap. If I decline assignments, I am percieved as not dedicated. So there is a penalty for responsibly managing what I do. It sometimes seems like any whim or pet project of the administration is more important that our mission of educating students. Family life, callings, and personal wellness is the "sacrafice" that is "required" to work at BYU-I.Those I work with are always willing to share with me and help me to develop.QUESTION #3What could the university do better to help you improve your professional well-being?I wish that the university had more permanent, part-time options. Because they don't (and I do not want full-time faculty status at this time so that I can focus more on my family), I have to maintain an outside, part-time job. This stretches me, and does not allow me to focus solely on one job. It's a bit of a challenge sometimes. Better pay for adjunct. The more I work and prepare, the less I earn.See aboveStop treating adjuncts like second-class citizens.Have the dean, department chairman, perhaps vice-president meet with the faculty and listen to our input on facilities, programs, ideas. This needs to be more than a few minutes (our meetings usually are just directives from above for some immediate deadline we need to meet-top down direction). Better instruct department chairs how to do their job in the BYUI/Spirit of Ricks mode, not like the standard model used by the world (openness of finances within departments, finding consensus before action, representing everyone's interest, etc.) Be sure to treat faculty with master's degrees with same value as those with doctorates. I am a little worried that research prowess will eventually be more valued than teaching effectiveness if we are not very careful.To be as supportive with adjunct and temporary factuly as they are with full time. Communicate and don't be hypocritical. Do what you say and say what you do. Don't ask for feedback that you do not want to hear or that you are just going to ignore (this includes committees). The expectations are creeping in the direction of publication, so why not provide some incentive aside from guilt?Continue to have brown bag luncheons and other development type activities.nothingI appreciate all the support I receive from the University. This is a wonderful place to work.Better communicationSee above statements.More support for working mothersSame as aboveremove administrative demandsI often wonder if I will actually be assisted by my brothers and sisters at this University with their teaching insights. The feedback is stiflingly silent and I actually have no idea where I stand. This place is cursed with kindness and ?€?I love you?€? statements. I think the culture here is that I will be offended if someone cares enough to point out areas of improvement. I know that when I have ventured out to do just that, it is perceived as a threat or an act of unkindness. The consequence is that I remain silent and use the ineffective technique of telling my fellow peers how much I love them with the hope that they will figure it out. I actually miss the ?€?speak plainly with one another?€? approach, as experienced in other work environments. I want to be held accountable.The university is very supportive. Starting a new program just takes a lot of time.Have guests come in to instruct on current topics of interest so new information can be incorporated into the classroom.I'm not sure there is anything we can do. BYU-Idaho is a culture of rapid change, which might be the new norm for any type of work. This is, however, difficult to keep up with. I feel the weight of my anadequacies very significantly.The University has been very helpful and is a major part of the happiness I enjoy in my professional well-being.realize that online courses are three times the work as a regular face-to face course...should allow extra either time or load hours for that...Hire more faculty to lighten the load in our department. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in our department that works less than 60 hours a week. This is unacceptable in this University. It seems there are departments that the dean seems to continue to grant opportunities to, however, this is not equitable in all areas. No problemsProvide funDing for long term adjunct to receive professional development opportunitiesBe understanding of time. Leadership should not base big decisions on small sample sizes or on the loudest, most strategic voices.Create more opportunities to interact with administration one on one and not always use the same people and from the same department for administrative positions.Provide better technical and administrative support. For example, the wifi in the classrooms I use is very unstable, which creates difficulties for the class when students have to do work in class online. IT was notified but no action was taken to address it.I like it here and enjoy the teaching experience. It's a nice place to work. Would be great to work here long-term.More collaboaration with other faculty and employees - learn more from others and work more with othersImproved compensation. :)Fire people who are incompetent. / Create a culture where memos and brief face-to-face discussions are preferred over meetings, especially meetings with large groups of people. / Relocate to a milder climate. / It would be nice if administration would provide us the necessary faculty so that we could actually take professional development leaves. Instead they just tell us we need to make it work. Professional development would be great.I wish I could find the time to write more. I wish I had TAs who knew what they were doing. But that is on me, really, for not teaching.Things have improved a lot lately. Our current chair seems genuine in his desire to actually follow the guidelines in giveng 6 hours - in the past it seemed laughable given the demands on our courses from student enrollment. We are getting more 1 year hires, etc to be able to accomplish the 30+ 6. So I would say continue to work to provide departmetns with the wherewithal to actually follow the model as currently eestablished. Allowing me to teach in both areas. At this point, however, I am fearful that I have devoted so much time to my new area of teaching that I have lost the necessary edge in what had previously been my professional career prior to Ricks College/BYU-Idaho and my first twenty years here in on the Rexburg campus.I think it has come a long ways in providing opportunities for professional development. There is increasing effort to allow for professional development time.Make obtaining leave a much less arduous and intimidating process. I honestly feel like asking for it is rediculous because I can't plan accurately for it nearly a year and a half away. Also, knowing our department and our students, I feel like I'm asking too much of everyone else in order to take leave time for myself.Allow us to negotiate directly with key decision makers rather than being subjected to the used-car process of "let me present that to my manager" and I will get back to you. Very frustrating. Especially when you are not sure that your case is given the best presentation to the "manager." Revise or rethink conflict of interest concerns?? / / Perhaps rotate faculty around in different departments with various assignments so we could at least learn more from others outside of our own department. / / Partner more with professional businesses so that faculty could actually work or do an internship in various industries for a short time.Be more flexible in approving 12 hour leaves that are different from the ordinary. Also, loosen intellectual property policies. To write a book that someone actually wants to purchase requires more time and effort than a single 12 hour leave. BYU-Idaho should allow a faculty member to retain copyright to a work written during the 12 hour leave. This will give some incentive to faculty to reach higher during their leave.Create opportunities for us to voice our opinions in non-threatening environments. Ensure and show that faculy opinions matter and that faculty can make decisions that will be implemented, that they have a voice.Our department has not had the resources for leaves.They have been helping. The leave time helps, as does the funding for travel and workshops. Maybe some workshops on strategies to teach me how to have an open door policy sometimes, but "mean it" when my door is closed so I can focus on research and/or prep. Putting prep in my schedule just makes students think that it is another time when they can find me in my office. I really like my students and I want them to succeed so it is hard not to be open to answering their questions or talking to them, even if it is scheduled research or prep time.It might be nice for my department chair/dean/someone else to check in and see how it's going, keeping the reminder constant and show that it's important to them.Allow for more opportunities to learn from each other. I have information to share from my doctoral studies that might be of benefit to others, but have no place, platform or opportunities to share this knowledge. I would also like to glean information from my colleagues from areas where they specialize. Listen. Truly listen. Understand that while the Lord does inspire people on this campus, not all of that inspiration happens in the Kimball building. University leaders are not Priesthood leaders. Help me reduce the number of preps each semester. Demand fewer "consecrated" duties and pay for extra responsibilites. Have fewer non-teaching expectations.Offer me more training along with a full-time opportunityI find a constant threat to make students happy so they do not report any opinion I may have that is contrary to their own to the academic cadre of the university. I am not talking about opinions against the Church, but opinions of the difference in Church Culture around the globe. This causes me to feel academically stunted as the idea of sharing ideas is threatened if I feel I may lose my position over a few offended students.NothingAllow us adjuncts to attend the lower cost conferences and professional development opportunities. There are so many that would be beneficial to me, but that isn't allowed at this time. Perhaps if it was, we would feel more capable and do a better job and have more job satisfaction. Perhaps there would be less turnover. And I do put in many, many hours for my pay. It's also hard when I don't have a set number of classes. I only take up the slack. I understand that that is necessary. It's just hard sometimes to feel valued. But I feel like I do a good job with my classes.I need to make this decision, the university just needs to support it.Allow adjunct to have TAs if we are teaching over a certain amount of students. (I teach over 200 students with no TA.) Or increase department funding to allow for TAs.I cannot think of anything at this time. / The University is very accommodating!Reduce number of new initiatives and changes. Don't punish us for taking 12-hour leaves. Having to teach two semesters at 12 hours after taking a break destroys the very idea of having a leave. I would rather not take another 12-hour leave than have to do 4 classes on the other 2 semesters.Keep doing what you are doing. I love working here.NoneAutonomyI would suggest that online responsibilities should be quantified. The biggest frustration I currently experience is having all teaching duties along with multiple online courses that I oversee. Managing these courses takes a significant amount of time yet, there is no accounting for that time (e.g., it doesn't count for load of any sort). The only place I feel that it's out of place, is in security issues. Issues with keys and parking and the way security deals with us does not feel like BYU Idaho. They have removed the personal touch, And they have become very cold. As well as justify their policies bike what other universities do. We are not like other universities.I consider myself one of the most blessed employees on earth. I am just thankful for all the university does for us.Hire more faculty in Teacher Education so we aren't begging any available body to cover courses, which keeps us all stretched thin as we try but fail to help the adjunct bodies which come and go through the revolving doors. It's difficult to have stability in courses and know what we can depend on from a particular course.Things are going very well presently.Ha. The university doesn't even know who I am. At this point, I am not sure I want them to know me because I sound very whiny and entitled. Reduce the student load. As religion teachers, we average over 1200 students per year. / / Also, revisit the academic calendar. With no real dead week to prepare for finals and no real test week, it's a treadmill. / / Parking. It is demeaning to have to search for a half hour each day for a parking space, then have to walk forever, carrying a briefcase and often a laptop and lunch over the ice and snow to get to my office, as a senior member of the faculty. It's not a matter of entitlement; it's a matter of dignity. / / It would be good if the student parking by the Taylor was converted to faculty parking.Nothing. Thanks for allowing me the changeAcknowledge the issue of distractions and encourage students to regain the ability to engage one another (without earbuds and phones) and regain the ability to concentrate and ponder.Continue to support participation in professional development opportunities and professional association. Continue to support opportunities to expand my sphere of influence.Provide the means for me to do more of what I just listed above--time, resources, and student research assistants. I am really interested in exploring the new college of professional development and faculty-mentored research.I am incredibly grateful to be here at this university, though temporary hires are put in a very difficult position. I wonder if these temporary positions should be phased out in favor of more traditional permanent approaches (e.g., tenure, CFS) and practices (e.g., making it so you do not have to wait well past when most universities have already made their hiring decisions - doesn't this hurt BYU-Idaho's chances of getting the best/most qualified candidates anyway?).Continue to provide resources and time for professional development, including finding a way to permit independent academic research in my discipline (perhaps with student assistance) to stay sharp in my discipline and abreast of new research and developments.Less meetings at the beginning of each semester :).I would love a full-time opportunity.not sureI feel abundantly supported so far in my professional well-beingAllow administrators (chairs and deans) some professional development time.We should have the ability to teach in other departments if we have the expertise. I am frustrated that we have an overabundance of adjunct teaching our courses. We have had faculty members placed in administration or have transfered to another department or have retired and they have not been replaced by full-time faculty. It appears to me that the focus is on online courses, since it is less expensive. I would like to have more financial resources that would allow faculty to attend more conferences, purchase resources, etc. I would love to have monies to take students out to lunch to chat and visit. I would love to have time to work out ideas with colleagues and not be held accountable for it, but just know that I am collaborating with colleagues. I think we are moving in the right direction. There seems to be more freedom and willingness to let faculty take leaves for pro Fessional development.I'm not sure.Nothing. They are very supportive. I have just had back to back leadership roles and committee work....4 1/2 years so far and at least 2 years to go. It is just a long time away from my primary roles. There is also a lot of travel associated with my role and prior role. Travel is wearing on me.Recognize that not anyone can teach any course. Encourage those most qualified to teach specific courses, recognizing that it isn't just about scripting a course, but influencing students with your passion and depth of knowledge in a particular subject.For my Professional Development, I enjoy learning new things about the Religions of the world.Right now my department has many resources and tools to assist me, that is great. My department is also committed to keeping me here for the full term of my temporary status, which is also great. So, there isn't much I can think of that can be improved, unless you count rolling the temporary hires into full-time positions.I appreciated the meeting we had on stewardship. I think continuing to teach those principles until we live them well would be helpful.I feel as if the university bends over backwards to support my efforts!Figure out how to promote excellence. There is a vision gap between President Clark and the faculty member. President Clark tells us "Idaho is the new Mississippi" in relation to education. If the schools around this university don't get better, that is an indictment on us. Between President Clark and myself are several layers of managers who are content continuing to try and get better and what has never worked. More help with that could work would certainly be refreshing. Hire more teachers. / One year hires and numerous adjunct certainly appear to help with funding but they are terrible burdensome to faculty. / / Allow for real sabbatical leaves rather than just helping to maintain our programs by doing the same things and using our sabbatical to pay for help that we need full time. / / Support from the administration and autonomy would help. / Help in general. We are carrying a high load and just shifting credits to make it look good on the books.Great strides of late in pdl opportunities and academic travel - please continue to support both. I wish I had more time. I know you can't give that to me, but if there was one thing, it would be that. I would love the opportunity to travel to more conferences like the AECT conference I attended recently. Not sure.Even though I am an adjunct instructor, it would be really nice if our years of working for the university with consistent high student evaluation scores could count more for something. I feel like I am expendable and even though I have worked for the university for over 8 years and have done an exceptional job, I could be let go at any time if they decide to hire another person and don't have enough students to fill up the classes I am teaching.Provide non-monetary support for further education (masters or doctorate) such as an advisor.Smaller class size.The adjunct in our department, English, need a representative who is hired to be their contact with the department and with the university. (I'm sure many of the adjunct from other departments on campus have similar issues.) Right now the department head has his hands full dealing with "full-time" issues. There are concerns and challenges to being an adjunct instructor that aren't addressed by anyone. You're told to ask the secretary (who often doesn't know) or your questions are ignored. I don't think it's a matter of giving someone who is already busy the job described above. The person who has this job should be an adjunct faculty member so that he or she can understand the concerns and challenges first-hand.Provide the funds to get more professional development.Thank you for all the development opportunities for teaching. These are a big help. I will take advantage of any increase in on-campus development opportunities. I have adequate vacation time from my professional employment to attend these.Provide more opportunities to attend conferences; consider adjunct more integral members of departmentsIt would be helpful to feel more secure in my job even with all of the changes to the foundation program. With BYUI's current model, I know that adjunct faculty members are an important part of the system. I feel confident enough in my abilities; however, it is scary hearing about changes. I am not tenured, and there is a chance I never will be; however, I think that the feeling of even slight job security would be helpful. It would also be great if adjunct professors were allowed as many professional development opportunities and were alerted as to what would work within the budget. I know that there is a budget for adjunct development, but in the last couple years, no one has ever told me what is and is not acceptable. Be more flexible with 75% contracts. Try to work with faculty who would want to have a 75% contract. A semi-permanent position: for example, knowing that I had a job for at least a year. More classes = more earnings. Motivation to get a higher degree either in the form of financial assistance from the school or assurance of higher consideration for being hired full-time after degree is obtained.Foundations classes are very large. I understand that this is to service as many students as possible, but I wonder if some of the educational experience is lost in the larger classrooms. Professionally speaking, smaller classrooms would help me to have more meaningful interaction with students.Lessening the work load -- either by a course or the number of students per class -- would be incredibly helpful, giving us the free time we need to pursue professional development.Hire better qualified faculty. Not ask us to teach year round with little breaks (even our August breaks seems very short in my case since I run a study abroad program that requires me to work even during my August break). you get really sick of teaching if you do it CONSTANTLY.Offer a better salary and more benefits for adjunct employees.More emphais on improving the academic side of the University's mission. Address grade inflation, encourage more intellectual dialogue (content not the learning process), use resources to foster rigor among students and faculty. I have an excellent department chair, Brother Hazard, who meets with me often and provides excellent counsel and guidance. There is little more that I need.Better office space. The university should drop to a 9-9-9 teaching load, and not require justifications for the extra time. Retain the qualified, trained, successful temporary full-time hires.Cap writing classes at 20 students or make 3-credit writing classes worth 4 credits of load for faculty. Writing classes require significantly more grading time and this should be taken into account when it comes to compensation. Excessive time evaluating and responding to writing is, more than anything else, what curtails my professional development time.Continue to encourage us. I sincerely appreciate the resources the university makes available to all who work here. I have been the beneficiary of such resources on multiple occasions.Notice and recognize faculty members who participate professionally in their disciplines as well as those who develop new teaching pedagogies.Continue to offer professional development hours and sabbaticals. If the university will simply do what they promise the accreditors (something they have not always done) then we'll be fine. Continue to simplify the professional development leave process.Reduce the teaching load to provide more time for faculty to do meaningful work in their disciplines.I appreciate having 3 credits of time twice each year to fine-tune my classes and create new curricula.Encourage administrators to consult with those whom their policies and decisions effect before chiseling them in stone, and making them nigh impossible to change.Provide the support to help me be able to do research and personal study in my field. In my case, it really comes down to TIME. Temporary faculty do not typically get non-teaching credit load hours, and can actually be asked to teach more hours that CFS faculty without being payed overload. If temporary faculty are to be competative on the job marked after they leave BYU-Idaho, they need to be able to demonstrate ability to do research and publish. That is difficult to do here under the current load.Increased academic freedom. I was hired to teach my students to become better thinkers, and my goal is and has always been to appropriately challenge them while providing a safe context for students to express their sincere opinions. Yet, I have found that this tends to be frowned upon by many here at BYU-Idaho. I have been advised to avoid discussing controversial or personal topics--the very foundations the students need to strengthen and examine most. The reason? Because some students feel uncomfortable. This reason is utter folly. Discomfort does not equal doubt. It does, however, provide an opportunity for growth. / In essence, I have been asked not to do my job--or at least, not to do it very well. / Dozens upon dozens of students have approached me during my years here and have expressed significant disappointment and feelings of betrayal because of their inability to express their legitimate thoughts, questions, and concerns. Instead of wise counsel, they have received censure. Instead of compassion, they have received judgment. Sadly, many of them have left the church. We may not be able to save all of them, but we could save more than we do. / These students come to BYU-Idaho that we may help them prepare to meet a world of complexity. We do not prepare them as effectively as we should. We live in an information age that no longer allows for the myopic vision and practices of the past. We need to respond appropriately and give our students the tools necessary to navigate a difficult future. If the gospel is true--and I have both a spiritual confirmation and intellectual reasons to believe it is--we ought not fear honest inquiry. Rather, we should embrace that inquiry on this campus and offer our students the opportunity to work through their issues while they're surrounded by people--their peers and their instructors--who can help them. / If we don't, we will continue to lose some of our most capable students. Everyone from dept chairs to deans to excutive administrators needs to be far more open and direct about concerns. Decisions about everything from CFS to course assignments to salaries to goals of the university need to be discussed openly and frankly. / / Course design or redesign should not be counted as, or expected as a result from, professional development.Stand behind the faculty and hold students accountable. Focus on the education being offered at the university rather than appearances. The university could help me in a few ways. First, the administration could do more to stress the importance of and offer praise for professional development in one's area of expertise. I feel that a disproportionate amount of effort, time, and money is put into discussing and promoting innovations in pedagogical practice rather than on scholarship within one's discipline. Second, I think that we need even more time for professional development--while the current leaves are helpful, they are not enough to provide time for serious and sustained scholarship. I feel like we get bits and snatches of time, but not enough to finish a project, and by the time we get back to a project, we have to backtrack a lot to get caught up. Take a hard look at the academic calendar. Summer session makes this impossible, but I think students and faculty would benefit from a calendar with equally spaced semesters.Allow English teachers to teach less than two foundation composition courses per semester.For the purposes of work load, count both Foundations composition courses and English compositions courses.Nothing.I feel that the university has been generous in supporting our professional well-being. I would suggest one slight adjustment that would give us more flexibility in our faculty development. I've been told that we can reasonably expect $1,500 per year for professional development. Rather than needing to apply for these funds annually, I would prefer that the university would distribute them automatically and require each faculty member to report on how they used the money each year. Some years I might use the money to present at a conference. Some years the money might be better spent on books, and other times I might elect to save the annual allotment for a more significant academic travel experience the following year. Knowing that this funding would come every year would give us more freedom to think broadly about our professional development and focus our efforts on our current need. We could focus on the development projects themselves rather than the application. Actively work to challenge religious extremism and fundamentalist thinking among our students. For example, last week, a student in one of my classes refused to read "Huck Finn" on moral grounds. She told me she was just, "really sensitive to the spirit," and that the book made her "feel dark inside." She was implying, of course, that those of us who do read such books aren't sensitive to the spirit and are perfectly comfortable with inside darkness. / / So, to avoid a battle which would inevitably make my life miserable, I gave her a substitute reading assignment. This is, I have learned from experience, exactly what would have happened anyway had I held firm, involved the administration, and maintained that I, a temple reccommend holder and an expert in my field and not an over-zealous nineteen year old, should get to control the content of my courses. But, by giving in so easily, I've avoided the extra scrutiny a student complaint will place me under, and I've avoided being labeled any more of a crazy liberal than people already think I am (because I do crazy things like read Mark Twain). / / But, ugh! We're not talking here about some contemporary Pulitzer Prize winning novel with a sex scene or two and lots of profanity. We're talking about "Huck Finn," arguably the most imortant book in American literature. / / Huck! Finn! / / And this incident isn't isolated. Students in the English department (and elsewhere on campus) all too often appoint themselves to the high and lofty position of "morality czar," and refuse, on moral grounds, to read some scandalous piece of trash like "Pride and Prejiduce." And yet, our practice on this campus is to coddle these extremists, no matter how absurd or outrageous they are. / / Frankly, it bothers me that a student who refuses to read "Huck Finn" is going to be given a degree in English from an accreditted university. These students who look beyond the mark make things hard and uncomfortable for the rest of us. Since we rarely, if ever, challenge their extremism, their ideas are, in their minds, reinforced and validated and eventually passed on to others. / / Finally, here's a sad truth: / / Anytime you gather thousands of religious people in one place (regardless of the denomination) you're going to have some segment of that population that's prone to extremism and fundamentalism. BYU-I is no exception. But as an institution we aren't challenging this extremism. Quite frankly, we're not even talking about it. Instead, by our actions, we're reinforcing religious extremism. I feel like a few isolated faculty are fighting this battle alone. Please help us stop it.The biggest negative factor in evaluating my professional well-being is the low quality of some of our students. It's becoming almost impossible to design a course that can meet the needs of both our best students and our worst students, and the number of the latter is increasing much more than the former. I didn't really sign on to teach years 5-8 of high school, but without remediation or dumbing down, many of the students at our college cannot actually perform at the college level. You have to draw a line somewhere in terms of students' prior preparation.Lower my course load and increase opportunities to read, write, research in my discipline (and travel to conferences, workshops, and presentations)Give me an early sabbatical so I can write the thing. I've been trying to do it while working full-time. It just doesn't work. There are too many disctractions and other responsibilities.Perhaps the administration could show a little more compassion for the very hard-working faculty. Although the arrangements for leave are wonderful and seriously appreciated, it is discouraging to hear comments (whether they be rumors or not) disparaging the work ethic of faculty. If there are some faculty with a poor work ethic, then deal with them individually; but, frankly, I don't know any such faculty. Every faculty member in my orbit is very hard working.Clarify expectations surrounding prioritizing the balance of time between faculty responsibilities and administrative responsibilities faculty are asked to handle. Nothing that I can tell at the moment. For now I feel encouraged and supported. Things are great for me! :)Be a little more liberal with the 12 hr leave... doing something revitalizing and educational but not always directly related to your field can be an incredible way to be a stronger professor.Not much. I am excited to not have 8:00 class next semester!Either provide some sort of financial help for me to travel elsewhere to take classes to better improve my skills, or bring people to campus to offer classes/instruction to help better improve my skills.The university and especially the art department have done a phenomenal job. I feel like I am more than adequately compensated for the work I do, I am grateful for the autonomy I am allowed in my classes and courses. I enjoy the courses I am allowed to teach. Provide funds for professional development conferences.Technology training (better use of I-learn, smart phones, computer resources, etc..)Give adjunct faculty some professional development money each year or each semester. It wouldn't have to be very much, but it would be nice to be able to count on some money to put toward new supplies or materials, conference fees without having to go to your dept. chair to ask for money. There is no protocol for how often or how much we can ask for.More flexibility in load, and paid opportunities to attend conferences and further my education.I can't suggest anything at this point; I love teaching here!I would love to see adjunct faculty rewarded for years of experience in addition to degree earned. I'm a good teacher and better than I was 20 years ago, but to my knowledge receive the same pay as someone with and equivalent degree that just graduated from college.I had many frustrations this semester and it would really help me if some small things were fixed. Can we somehow get an adjunct office that is always around/up for grabs in each building? This is a huge frustration to me. I teach a heavy writing component as part of an upper division class, and reserving an hour here or there in random offices that I can use simply is not adequate. I also had many instances this semester where I had discussions with students that needed to be private, and I had to make special arrangements every time to facilitate this. It causes a lot of stress. Also, can we get some kind of help from AV productions that is fast? Like an emergency line? I simply cannot "make do" in the humanities if my tech station is not working properly. They say to call the ext 9000 help desk, which is neither helpful nor efficient. I had many instances this semester where my station was not working properly, or I needed help, and students came slowly and never knew what to do. And since this is anonymous, I will also say that several of the employees in AV are very patronizing. And they hate Macs. REALLY tiresome. not sure, because someone has to do the "administrivia."Accomodate 20/80 teaching ratioI feel very well supported professionally. Really getting to 80/20.Smaller classes and/or better teaching spaces. The sabbatical in 15 is very exciting. It will give me new knowledge that I will use in the classroom for many years. / 1. Have more retirement options that make retirement financially feasible after twenty-five years. Sixty-two is too late when one has taught for more than 25 years. / 2. The three semester calendar is a killer. There are reasons that educators have traditionally had four months off for recovery time and professional development. You wouldn't need PDL and twelve credit leaves if you gave faculty four months off. / 3. Have graduation once a year. / Give us the support to get to 80/20Nothing at this pointProvide the resources in terms of FTE's to make the 10+2 model feasible.Expect more but in fewer areas.I would like to see the university provide more resources for the quality imperative, especially in the hiring of more faculty. It often feels that we are failing too many of our current students as we strive to serve more for less.Balancing the work load in the large class sections. I will state that the foundations course I teach is my favorite teaching opportunity. However, it takes more prep, grading and time than my major classes, mainly due to the volume of students I am interacting with. I am looking forward next semester to going to one section of 60 from the two I have been teaching, that alone will probably fit the 'improved professional well-being' bill nicely! :-)Two semester contract works a lot better for me but it is not feasible in this department due to specialization.Be hired by the college for more than 1 or 2 classes per semester. I have worked as an adjunct faculty member for more than 7 years in the ME dept. I have applied for full-time faculty work 3 times (3 different years) without an interview or formal explanation; yet they hire others and keep me on as adjunct. Somewhat discouraging at the very least. / I think I need to be more involved with the university, being off campus most of the day makes it difficult to attend the professional development put on by the universitykeep working at it and providing opportunities. Have an emergency childcare available? That's really my only headache. Everything else about teaching at BYUI I enjoy. Have some job security based on the really good evaluations that I receive.Hire a full time lab supervisor in the engineering dept.Give me another prep after my first semester.I think the university could consider better exit strategies for their temporary hires. It is hard to know what to do after BYU-I. I like the balance of teaching and research time I have been given here at BYU-I. Grant me CFS status.Continue to support professional leaves.1. More autonomy / 2. More honesty and open communication from Administration / 3. Appreciation for work that has been done in our departmentnadaGive more time, money and resources for them to be able to continually learn and improve in their profession: such as more money toward helping those get a doctorate, and encourage more time doing research.I think this is more of a departmental culture issue perhaps. I sense that the University would like to see inovation in professional development, but like most Universities the power center of change often has to come from reforming the culture for the faculty and in departments before any large scale change will develope. Certainly making resources available will help, but a change in the way we work and evaluate the work we do based on student impact needs to be considered.Maybe establish some common places for sabbaticals. I feel like I have to create something in a void. I understand it is my responsibility, but some suggestions or ideas about things that have worked before would be nice.The university has improved with respect to professional development opportunities over the past several years. I have nothing at this point to add, though I may in the future.Provide the laboratory equipment necessary to do simple research projects.Reduce my excessive work loadYears ago we had faculty groups that traveled. I went with one to Peru. I feel these really enhanced my teaching. We had faculty from many disciplines go, and the things we learned helped enhance my teaching. In addition, I made friends from other disciplines that I could later work with in collaborations.Much of it comes down to space--we have a lot of students without necessary space for labs or equipment at times, but I also know that we are doing the very best with what we have.Make a common hour each week set aside for faculty collaboration and professional development. (Maybe on Wednesday from 12-1.)Make me permanent.Have an office with a window. Sitting in an office with no external light all day can take its toll on one's emotional and mental well being.Keep from going into overload and ensure that 6 credits of professional development leave is givenMore time to develop curriculum. More professional experience.Facilitate more collaboration between professionals of different departments.Keep trying to improve, enforce the Honor Code, hold faculty to a very high standard.I continue to have overload each year and the pay is simply not worth the work for that. (Don't misunderstand, though: I have absolutely no complaints about the regular salary.)More resources. We need more faculty members in our department so that we can take professional development leaves and not have so many overload hours.Sometimes when a professional leave application is submitted the feedback that is given in my college is along the lines of: / "How will this benefit students directly?" and "Could not you involve students in this project?". / We are so focused on serving our students first that I sometimes feel that some faculty/administrators believe that is all we are expected to do, and might not value legitimate professional development activities that do not have an obvious connectionto students right then and there, or that are performed without students. / I would like to argue that for a person to improve his/her abilities that person needs to regularly practice at the very top of his/her abilities, and that practicing at lower levels than that does not leed to significant growth, and perhaps not even proper maintenance. There is a significant body of research about such "deliverate practice of expertise" that supports this claim and I would suggest that a balanced attitude needs to be developed about this issue.Allow more input on the class size for a particular course. With some courses larger classes size are not as much of a problem. But some courses with larger sizes become a real burden and affects both the teachers and the students well being. / / I agree we need to increase our online and pathway presence, but I think we a moving way to fast in the online area. It is decreasing the quality of both the online classes and it is affecting our face to face classes.Prevent inexperienced leaders from being appointed as department chairs. Establish a culture in which department members are peers (a flat organizational structure) and in which chairs cannot act unilaterally.This is largely a personal choice.Give more than lip-service to listening to my concernsI feel the university is doing a good job. I do not have any suggestions that are not already being worked on.Hire two more faculty in our department to lighten the teaching load and make it easier to take professional development leave.NothingProvide IT support that better addressed the needs of faculty.Not much. I enjoy working here!It would be nice to reduce the number of university changes. It would also help if the univeristy found specific things faculty are doing well an recognize this, so we do not change things that don't need to be changed. I often feel we keep reinventing the wheel. Promotion of more collaboration could also decrease individual anxiety and increase productivity. I feel we each try to do too much on our own when someone else has already done it. We waste our time, the university's time, the Church's tithing money, and create unneeded anxiety and competition.Make sure they provide FTE resources so the 30 + 6 can be fully implemented.We need to stop reinventing everything. The wheel works pretty well. Let's use it for awhile.The university is already making great strides in this area--the support of six hours of professional development leave is a huge step. By hiring of more faculty, the university has been able to increasingly provide reasonable leave for course development, professional development, and administration. Hopefully they can continue in this direction. This would also allow more faculty to move to 75% percent contracts (i.e., a normal university teaching load) without putting unreasonable strain on their departments.I appreciate the current opportunities such as department sponsored conferences, our local faculty conference, the university sponsored trips to learning conferences, Brown Bags, and other training opportunities that we have. Keep up the good work. Lighten the load - I am so overworked and overstressed that my health has taken a major downturn in the last 5 years. I can barely keep up with my teaching and other responsibilities at BYU-I. Pretty much all I do is work and sleep, I don't have "spare" time for my Family or Friends, I'm exhausted all the time. I used to volunteer at the Temple, but I've had to stop because I don't have the time/energy after work. I'm doing the best I can, but this is NOT sustainable. The university is very supportive of my efforts to develop my professional well-being.Time, and expectations which don't change so dramatically over time. Leaves are an example.Ample opportunity to develop professionally is being provided in my estimation.Support, value, encourage, and reward scholars and scholarship. Make scholars and scholarship a priority. I have been very productive in my time here, but I feel like an expendable piece of meat, a replaceable cog in the university machine. I would appreciate feeling like the institution values me; in particular, that they value my mind--value me as a scholar, a scholar who is deeply committed to student learning and development but a scholar nonetheless. The Lord brought me here. I stay because I feel like He wants me to stay. but I have never felt like I belong here. I'm not satisfied "just teaching and administering." In the deep past I have often asked myself the question, "As a scholar at BYU-Idaho am I leading the charge or kicking against the pricks?" In the past year, I feel like I've been able to "come out of the closet" as a scholar but I don't feel appreciated as a scholar and I've yet been able to consistently engage in scholarly activities. I am more hopeful than I've ever been but I'm also more worn out than I've ever been.Trust faculty members to do the job they were hired to do. / / Cut back on the micromanagement. / / Provide time for true professional development, in which we can actually be active in our fields. Sometimes, this means students won't be involved.Continue to provide the support they are providing in terms of adjunct, temporary and new faculty to help handle the increasing number of students we are seeing. Continue to provide resources to develop online courses. A review of how developing and maintaining online courses factors into the faculty load calculations.I ready stated this in the previous statementprovide more time for professional and course developmentHire based on actual need. If research projects are required, allocate time for them in the faculty schedule (our department is working on this). Keep comittee, foundations, and other assignments to a minimum, or allocate time based on actual requirements. / / I also think we might consider not penalizing people who responsibly plan their time. We are very frugal. So we expect faculty to responsibly use all their time. If this is true, then you can't add assignments without removing some other activity. Assignments would need to be made a year or more in advance (to match the class scheduling) and ad hoc assignments would have to be very infrequeny. Anyone who can immediatly accept an aditional assignment must either have free time that they are not currently using, or they must be willing to sacrifice family and calling time. Some sacrafice is expected. But years of sacrafice begin to seem family unfriendly.Sometimes I think the constant change makes it hard to feel like I am ever getting ahead or able to make a difference myself.The application process for leaves has become too cumbersome. Simplify.QUESTION #4Are there any university-related topics that you would like to see addressed by the BYU–Idaho Faculty Association?Nope. Unable to attend any of these sessions anyway.NoneThe above concerns would be great.See above statement. none identified at this MUNICATIONYes, provide a parking garage at this university. It's ridiculous that this has not been addressed. Provide for the expansion of departments that are maxed out with students by building new buildings, this can be done by making Rick page face questions and by having him stop cherry picking HIS priorities for building new facilities.No problems LGBT issues. They should definately address faculty evaluation changes and also the possible change to I-Learn. It should be put to a vote and if the majority of faculty want to keep Brain Honey, then why change it!None at this time.NoneCreate a "best-practices" web-site or wiki that can be search by faculty. Best-practices in teaching, course development, on-line etc.I don't think there is anything you can do. The present administration has made it clear, many times, that they are in charge and will do as they see fit.We are going to need help in transitioning to the new LMS system. I wish the Faculty Association to be very clear on making sure we have enough resources there.Can't think of any. Having served on the Faculty Association Board for two terms, I am proud of the direction that the FAB has taken in recent years. Keep it up!Yes, political clubs should be on campus. Our students need to be prepared to engage in the political process.No, please continue with the topics that you are currently addressing.Why and how a faculty voice matters, showing examples of faculty decisions being implemented. NoSee above.Online course load (for being a course lead). I would also like them to at least investigate if the time it takes to develop a course is equivalent to the 3 hour leave given to do so.See previous question.YES! 1) Grade inflation. If one of the initiatives of this institution is quality of education, I believe that the current grade inflation is the single most threat to that goal. When a student receives an "A" after never attending a single class, never taking a test (if there even was one), no participation whatsoever - well need I say more? The fear of our teachers to maintain rigor in their classes because they know they will not receive as high an evaluation from the students is self-serving and ultimately damages their future opportunities and destroys the credibility of the degrees from this, supposed to be, "University." / 2) Student perception of teaching modalities. We are being told that students like on-line and hybrid classes as well as or better than face-to-face. Well, I don't believe it. I have polled my classes over the past two years and the response of those who have taken either of these is overwhelmingly negative. Almost exclusively (95+%) they prefer face-to-face. About 80% have more negative than positive to say about on-line and 20% (these numbers are estimates) indicate that they are okay when they are forced - i.e. work constraints, off track etc. but otherwise would prefer the face-to-face. / / I suspect the reports we are hearing are misrepresented because the responses are likely overwhelmingly skewed by students in Pathways or others whose only chance for education is the on-line. When this is your only option, of course, they will rate this as high as the ratings will allow. Don't get me wrong, this is a great blessing that should continue to be offered to these who would otherwise have no opportunity. But I have concerns when it is implied that these courses are the same. They are not. I have concerns when we as a University do not identify those students whose whole degree is on-line. In my estimation this misrepresents the education they received and seems dishonest in advertising to those who will see their applications. If you ask graduate schools and employers I believe you will find that they overwhelmingly prefer applicants from face-to-face institutions. There are reasons for this and we seem to be ignoring them.No.What is the formula for showing need for faculty positions. Could you help clarify that policy?Not that I can think of. I was grateful to have the TED talk on stress pointed out even though I could not attend the workshop.More opportunities for college and program specific professional development. The faculty conference in the fall is good, but it is so general that sometimes it's not as applicable.NoneCould we get rid of the "Sister" "Brother" thingy and go back to "Doctor"?I think with the changes in how our Thomas E. Ricks funds are applied for and disseminated, we are actually taking a step backward and will once again see the majority of the funding going to a few people/colleges. I appreciate the idea of giving the money based on the merit of the applications, however I think the practical reality is that the money will simply go to people who ask for it most often and the humble/frugal workhorse- type of faculty will again be left out of the equation just as they were under the old system 4 or 5 years ago.You are doing a great job and I appreciate the fact that you are addressing these issues.Beards are bugging me. Could we have a consistent policy for how faculty should address honor code stuff?No. You are doing great.Perhaps a discussion about the standing of temporary hires when it comes to applying to full-time positions within the department. Would it be possible to consider allowing a person in a temporary position an automatic interview after applying to a position within the department? / / Even if not hired it might be helpful to know that being in good standing as a temporary employee here earns you some recognition in the hiring process. This might help reduce some concern and potential awkwardness as it would take a way any wonder about the entire hiring process. / / It's just a suggestion. / Where do good ideas go to be nurtured? If the answer is the department chair - dean line -- please disregard this topic. Hiring Pre-CFS people for department chairs. This has now happened twice in our department. It sends a terrible message to others who have worked long hours and many years.Efficiency in information flow in respect to college and dept meetings, so that more collaborative interaction/counseling/problem-solving can happen versus simply announcing things. We talk so much about our burgeoning online classes, but we're not sure what that means to us faculty. How will that effect us? Will we need to teach online classes along with face-to-face. / / How can I streamline and balance all that teaching at a college demands? Between lesson prep, grading, giving feedback, meetings, emails, and etc., what are some strategies to put first things first and get everything done yet still have time to visit with colleagues, students, etc. Grading policies such as attendance, late work, etc.Not in particular.Perhaps providing more contact with the adjunct representative, although your outreach efforts, surveys, and discussion of results are all greatly appreciatedFoundation changes and how that would affect all facultyDespite all that has been done so far, it doesn't feel like much progress has been made in helping adjuncts feel valued, appreciated, and needed. We still feel like second-class citizens here.An adjunct union.Grade inflation. The culture of intellectual inquiry on campus--discuss how to increase the value of academics here. Grade inflation.NoWhy does the University continue to let good temporary full-time hires leave? My contract ends in July; there is no reason not to rehire me except for University policy. They have posted my job because somebody has to do it. Why not me?As mentioned above, writing classes should either be capped at 20 students or count as 4 credits of load for faculty.Promoting "professional" development.Please continue the faculty lecture series. We don't need to be taught about teaching and learning outside the context of our disciplines. Let's have more of our great faculty members telling us about thier disciplines, their growth, their passion, and we will draw all the teaching and learning lessons neccessary from that. The Faculty Association could offer support to faculty to increase rigor in their courses and address grade inflation.Grade inflation. Attempts to remediate our students. Raising the rigor and quality of our students' learning. Talking about some future form of shared governance. Making more evidence based policy decisions. True transparency in the decision making processes at BYUI. Eliminating the priesthood line authority as the model for our decision making at BYUI.I am concerned about issues relating to international academic travel programs. There is an apparent lack of administrative vision regarding the role of academic travel; sharing of resources and knowledge among programs; consistency in advertisement, recruitment, and pricing of programs; financial accountability for tour budgets, training of program directors, academic quality of curriculum, etc.1. The University sends a mixed message to temporary faculty. They claim the purpose of these temporary positions is to fill temporary needs, such as leaves of absence. But many temporary faculty come to the end of three years only to be replaced by more temporary faculty. Contracts can't be extended beyond the third year, so capable and qualified faculty are let go. Long term needs should be filled by long term employment as much as possible, rather than by a constant turnover of temporary faculty. I'm confident the administration agrees with this principle, but the practices of the University don't always seem to square with it. Greater correspondance of principle and practice, and perhaps more clarity in communication, would go a long way to easing some of the worries of temporary faculty. / / 2. Temporary faculty positions are often described or justified as opportunities for junior faculty to get experience and professional development to make them more qualified for the job market. Many temporary faculty do not feel like these positions do that very well. Many temporary faculty only teach introductory level classes. Temporary faculty aslo do not recieve professional development leave to do research and work toward publication. I recognize that this is not a top priority for the University, nor do I think it should be, but if temporary faculty are to be competative on the job market, they need to be able to demonstrate ability to publish scholarly work. Perhaps a teaching load equal to CFS faculty, including professional development leaves, could be considered.Keep the dialogue open, please. We need to be able to express concerns without fear of recrimination. Recognizing areas for improvement does not indicate a lack of faith or an unwillingness to follow leaders--it indicates commitment to the cause in which we all labor. / Thank you for your good work.Grade inflation. / Definition of, and expectation for,"professional development"While I realize that there will be no traditional faculty governance at BYU-Idaho, I would like to see more autonomy for departments and more trust from the administration in what the departments and faculty are doing. / / I also wish that communication between faculty and administration were clearer and more direct. I realize that there are attempts at this with questions and answer sessions and topical discussions, but I feel that these sessions are loaded and people cannot necessarily speak their minds openly. Transparency. / Communication.I would be interested in a survey asking the faculty if they would prefer an academic calendar with a three week break between winter and spring semesters (and 3 or 4 weeks between spring and fall) or the staus quo (with one week between winter and spring and a longer break between spring and fall). Personally I would take the three week break between winter and spring in a heartbeat, even though that means less time between spring and fall. Perhaps I am in the minority. If a majority of faculty would prefer spacing the semesters further apart, however, we may want to consider if the benefits of summer session are outweighed by the "hidden costs" to overall quality by having such a quick turnaround between winter and spring.No.I would prefer to administer paper copies of student evaluations in class, rather than online. Response rates would increase, and the evaluation would become a more accurate and useful assessment tool. The results would be more uniform across campus if response rates didn't depend on individual faculty members encouraging and sometimes even incentivizing students to complete the evaluation forms. Our ability to see which of our students have submitted evaluations undermines their anonymity, and I think that awarding credit for evaluations is unethical. -I would like to see student scholarships tied to something other than G.P.A., and I would like for students to be able to pass their major classes with a 60% or better. Paying students for grades and not allowing students to pass with a D encourage grade inflation.Eliminate fear of the unknown as an administrative tool; eliminate arbitrary systems of campus government; allow greater autonomy to teachers with respect to professional development, course content, and grading of student work (removing student evaluations as a factor in determining faculty employment).How do we determine summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude designations? It seems like people with associate's degrees receive those designations. They shouldn't even be in the calucations. People with degrees in University Studies shoudl be disqualified from such designations. Those students can skip any courses they think are too difficult and they're not required to take any 400-level courses. These designations matter and shouldn't be given haphazardly. / / It's ridiculous that attending conferences and workshops is considered a conflict of interest. That should be considered part of the requirement for our job. I THINK that question means--do you regularly leave campus to get paid to run conferences or act as a keynote speaker. But that's not what the question says. The Association is doing a great job. I fully support it.Not sureIt doesn't affect me personally, but I have a hard time with the idea of one-year-hires. I've seen several good families negatively affected by this approach. I think it hurts more than it helps. There are people in the community talking about it, and I think it gives our school a bad reputation.I don't think so. Keep up the good work. / / I don't think this is a faculty association subject, but I feel really strongly that anything that could be done to lighten the core curriculum requirements for the students so that their areas of emphases can have a more weighty portion of their required credits that would be a great thing in helping the students have the tools that they need to succeed in their careers. This is especially true for the art department.Parking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! / Especially the Manwaring Center/Taylor parking lots. Why is that lot student parking? I wish it could be for faculty only. The worst part of my job is trying to find parking each morning. My time would be better served by helping students. It often take up to a half hour to park and walk to my office.Increased pay for adjunct employees. At the adjunct faculty meeting Spring Semester, Kelly Burgener said that BYU-Idaho is right in the middle when it comes to pay for it's adjunct faculty as compared to other comparable universities in the West. Why not be on the high end? Why is average pay okay when we are trying to be above average in everything else we do here at BYU-Idaho. My husband and I both teach adjunct. One year he was given a one year hire position. His pay for one year was well above what we both make teaching part-time, even though our combined teaching loads equal more than his load as a temporary full time faculty. I sometimes feel like the Universities proud proclamation to give an excellent and affordable education comes at the expense of the adjunct faculty. Of course hiring adjunct is a way to save money, we all know that, but now that I have experienced the great disparity in pay between full time and adjunct faculty, it doesn't seem right or fair. I would like to see that change.Professional development opportunities for part-time faculty, and pay based on experience and proven success in the classroom.I feel I fall into a segment of the population of adjunct faculty that might be a little different. I have two masters' degrees. I teach an upper division class (and have been the only one who teaches it for the last 12 years). The upper division class is extremely time consuming. To be accredited properly we need the class to meet certain requirements, which makes the grading extensive. The load I get for it is in no way equitable for how much time it takes. I also have had the opportunity to develop several courses, and have been so grateful for that, but again, a three hour leave when you are adjunct does not really compensate you for the time you put in. Obviously, when given a task to write a textbook you are just going to work until it is done. At least I do. I feel in some ways like I belong, but then I get that contract every single semester which reminds me that I am always disposable. It would be so great if there was ANY hope of someone like me having a chance at a more career-like job. But, even though I have written texts, have an exemplary teaching record, have won many awards, etc., last time I applied for a full time job my application wasn't even considered for a second because I am lacking a doctorate. But how would I solve that? And honestly, how would a doctorate from ISU in some random field I am not interested in even help me in teaching the humanities? If the idea of 2/3 time positions, or "lecturer" positions could be explored I would be very grateful and interested. Thanks for listening. It seems that department chairs, deans, administrators, and committee positions change so often, it becomes difficult where everyone is learning the job and then is rotated out. I would like more continuity.NoneI feel that the "conflict-of-interest" statement we are required to sign and respond to is professionally demeaning and counterproductive. It is worded so that what we might normally call "professional development" is cast in a negative light, as somehow a "conflict of interest." Nothing could be further from the truth. It needs serious revision, or needs to be completely eliminated in my view. I am very concerned about top-down, centralized efforts to evaluate faculty, and would love conversations about localizing and outsourcing evaluation to professionals deemed trustworthy by faculty in their departments/areas of expertise. / / I am frustrated at the words spoken, particularly at times of accreditation, about our commitment to professional development, but no resources are provided to facilitate that. I am frustrated that I have always had a full teaching load -- even in semesters where I am given a 1-hour "leave," I am expected to take that "leave" on overtime. Moreover, my department has found a way to not have that overload show up on administrative review, so they are unaware of this challenge. / / One critical challenge to having time for development is our schedule: in a 40-hour work week, there are only 30 functional hours for faculty and students. I would like to see us reevaluate the source of that schedule (which I believe to be a former vice president), and to explore adopting the hour-by-hour schedule our administration uses, because our current schedule reduces productivity by 25% automatically. / / Please continue to advocate for development opportunities -- my development is done almost entirely on my own time, which I do because of my devotion to my students and my discipline. / / I am deeply concerned about sexism across campus, which I have witnessed first hand regularly but feel powerless to advocate against because it is so often couched in language of faithfulness. I am concerned about the emphasis on "through-put" that is, in my view, undermining a flame that was once bright here, but is now flickering (i.e. the Spirit of Ricks is dying). Combining "through-put" (which came through good motives) with a top-down administrative culture (that seems unaware that Pres. Bednar chose top-down as a tactic to navigate the crisis of transitioning to a 4-year university, not as a model for sustainable leadership) and you get assisted suicide. I am concerned that those promoted to upper administration are rarely those with opinions differing from others in administration. / / I wish there were a way to have in writing and in practice, a distinction between the priesthood lines of authority and the administrative lines here. / / I am deeply concerned about the cultural ghetto we are creating -- the lack of student engagement (from a place of respect) with thought outside of cultural mormonism. The surest way to make something die is to isolate it -- draw a circle around it -- cut it off. How do we prevent that? We are crippling our students' ability to fulfill Pres. Eyring's prophecy, because the majority position, in relation to those of other faiths and worldviews, one of condescension. All of these concerns are regularly weighing on my mind -- almost daily.If the Faculty Association were truely empowered, perhaps relevant topics could exist.More thorough and professional advertising of faculty positions. Better hiring practices. I have seen gender bias openly expressed. Also, better communication with applicants, especially those who are not chosen for positions.Anything that relates to improving learning and teaching is very helpful, especially when it involves improving the depth of student learning efficiently.I would like to see the faculty association provide input to the administration, even if unsolicited, on admission standards, student to faculty ratio, the credit cap, and grade inflation. I would like to see discussions on quality go beyond ?€?consecration?€?.Foundations should prepare our students to deal well with people all over the world, since we will be taking the gospel to the world. / The campus norm should be principle-based, treating all people (both students and faculty) as real people.1. If our college is accredited, why is BYU-Idaho giving so much teaching responsibility to inexperienced students rather than permitting faculty to really teach classes and labs. Lab assistants (students) do not have the experience nor much needed common sense to teach other students full credit classes. If faculty do not have the time to do labs, then the college should employ experienced full-time lab supervisors with experience. I know we say in the Church that we learn more when we teach. However, this college already does that quite well at the student level. But students must have that experienced hierarchy above them to set the example and have the background to show the way things should be done. / 2. As the teaching atmosphere is evolving more and more into virtual teaching practices via the internet-based web, and proxy settings, BYU-Idaho should be very careful which classes to broadcast virtually. Hands-on type careers, cannot be learned simply by seeing a youtube video or doing a google search. Theory can be done as such, but actual practicum cannot be taught by simply a video or even an interactive online tutorial. There must be a physical experience (in-person) with actual brick & mortar experiments and practice. Job security fo adjuncts.Change the dress code to more closely match BYU's.NoThe fact that salary is only based on previous experience and not correlated with the field of that experience. Make salaries based on both.NO!Perhaps the one major hurdle to my professional well being (which I interpret as meaning "professional happiness") is the disappointment that comes as I try new things to improve my classroom only to have students continue to fail. It seems that these failures often accompany apathy on the part of the students, a mismatch in expectations, or a general sense that they are entitled to "good" or passing grades for a minimum amount of effort. I wonder if the faculty association could start a campus wide conversation about ways to address these issues.Can't think of any.Grade inflation.The Faculty Association, as I have experienced it, is basically a place for long term faculty who have been here to long to go and gripe about things not being the way they were.Overload hour pay rate.Providing enough faculty for ALL programs and departments to operate effectively and manage on campus and online courses.Grade inflation and the pernicious attitude of "I deserve an outstanding grade for my mediocre effort" that it fosters in our students. / I recognize it is a national problem, but I also have reason to say that it is avery acute problem at BYUI. I often find that my freshmen students are more willing to work for their "A"'s than my juniors and seniors, who are used to "getting only A's" and who have not developed habits of professionalism, proactivity, self-discipline and an intrinsic intesrest in learning, which habits and attitudes are becoming of one that is close to graduating and arriving to a state of life where he or she will be expected to perform independently of tutors and professors. Study, consider, and address any negative impacts of On-line and Pathway course development on the standard university functions and curriculum.I love the development of the shared scholarship lectures. NoGrade Inflation, Equitable Distribution of Scholarship MoneyPlease change the title of "Temporary" faculty. It gives the wrong impression to students and potential employers. Teaching Fellowe or Visiting Faculty or something similar would garner more respect. When employers search your name, they would be more impressed. I have been told that the temporary positions are supposed to seed the world with trained teachers, so this change would help further that goal.More collaboration resulting in increased productivity and less stress.noKeep striving to elevate professionalism, happiness, and gratitude among the faculty and build bridges throughout the university community. Grading / What grading system would better motivate learning? What grading system would provide for improved feedback to the learner? What are alternatives to our current system? Etc.I worry that we are harming students by not addressing some dating issues. Students seem to feel more of an expectation that they get married quickly, rather than that they be actively dating to get well acquainted with a prospective spouse. The world's biggest jerk can pretend to be anybody for up to 6 months. NoI wonder if we could position ourselves (as a faculty association) to better accomplish what is essential if we became the BYU-Idaho Association of Faculty Scholars. The current association leadership is doing a great job of addressing faculty needs and I believe our near-future leaders will continue on this path. I worry, however, about the distant future (because of the past--and I know, respect, and love the people who have been our past leaders). ...just a thought.Is there a way to develop a meaningful dialogue between faculty and administrators? Facebook is a joke. That's how I keep track of my children, not have a serious discussion with adults. The President's Q&A is also a joke. It is simply a means for them to "teach" us why they are correct and we must listen. It's difficult to express ourselves without either anonymity or some type of tenure. Many faculty members live in fear of retribution if they publicly state their thoughts. I appreciate these surveys. They are the only means we have express our views on important issues to superiors without fear of retribution.A review of how developing and maintaining online courses factors into the faculty load calculations.No... we work in the greatest environment. It doesn't get any better anywhere else and I have little patience for those that complain about BYU-Idaho. If it is so bad, then go elsewhere... go and actually work in industry for a while. When you do you will see how good we have it in academia. Many who have spent their entire life only in academia and never in an industrial setting have no idea what long hours are and what a tough environment is. Most who complain do so simply because they to hear themselves talk.Consider aligning the semesters with the public schools, so faculty with families could actually spend their time off with their family. It would also help with ecclesiastical responsibilities. ................
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