ABSTRACT
The idyllic English-inspired model of a residential liberal arts education designed to “cultivate the life of the mind” and delivered by student-centered faculty in a pastoral setting has been replaced by the massification of higher education and a climate of scarcity, competition, and disengagement. This chapter argues that productive and constructive collegial relationships, idea exchange, intellectual support and challenge, and a shared commitment to student learning and success can unite diverse faculty and create esprit de corps, the hallmark of a vibrant, successful, and motivated profession, especially in times of turbulence and change. Factors such as institutional type, discipline, age, and career stage shape individual faculty workloads. Adjunct faculty composes the largest single category of educators in the higher education workforce, constituting approximately 50% of all college faculty.
