Surface – Going Beyond Rank and Tenure: What Defines the Value of the Academic Nurse Educator – Part 2

[MCM] Welcome back. Last episode we talked with  Dr. Kate Jones to explore how we define and   assign value to faculty contribution. Today we  return to revisit faculty value and discuss   more about opportunities to expand redefine and  articulate faculty value. Thank you for joining us.

I go back to what you were saying Kate  about when you have you know scholarship and   teaching and research or service do they have to  be equal and what percentage is assigned to each   of those and what does that look like for a...and I  want to also make a transition to a little bit to   a novice educator you know a kind of mid-career  I don't know if there's a word for that and then   a really an educator that's in more having  a dual role role in leadership and education.  

What does that look like? It's like  a stair step or a ladder? I don't know.

[RO] So Michelle I really like the reframe that  I heard here I could like hear the reframe   going on as you were talking because it made  me think about how we often throw around words   like junior faculty right and this is a whole  other conversation for another time and the   connotation and the value that is placed on the  words of junior faculty versus early career or   junior researcher versus early career researcher  um okay I think that opens up a whole other  

realm of the labels we put the credentials we  add the titles that are on things that also   can have positive and negative connotations of  value. [MCM] Well, when I hear the word junior faculty, I'm like, oh I'm on the JV team. I didn't  make varsity. That's what I think. [RO] Right, well.

[KJ] Yeah it's a it's a really interesting. There's  a lot of interesting language that's used in   academia and again you know five and a half  years in to academia myself I'm still learning   it and it's quite different from what   language is used in other settings and so when   I started talk about novice to expert you know  I had been an expert at what I was doing before   and suddenly I was a novice and so as we hired  new faculty and in some cases higher faculty  

who are coming from practice rather than from  another academic setting um I there's work that   needs to be done to help those individuals make  that transition effectively and learn what's   valued and you know all of those pieces because  nobody wants to feel like a novice for very long.

[MCM] I think back to how much it would have really  helped listening to you Kate when I was a coming   into education as a novice teacher it would have  been really helpful if somebody had said to me   your job is to teach these two courses really  really well like over the next year two to   three semesters we want you just to dig in and  just do these two things really really well   and maybe sit in on this one committee as a  member or as a even just maybe auditing right  

just audit this committee just listen right and  learn you don't have to really have any additional   responsibilities because you're going to do  these two things or these three things really   really well that's just really what it helped I  I think I got very quickly overwhelmed with the   the responsibilities of academia learning them all  these different hats we have to wear learning them   navigating them doing them was very overwhelming  when I was new because in my even though I didn't  

go right from practice I did take a master's um  program in leadership and educational courses I   still wasn't taught some of this real nuts and  bolts skills of teaching I had to learn that   on the on the ground just like we do with our  nurses you know. [KJ] I think the interesting thing you just said is "I want you to teach this 

class really, really well." You know we get assigned   classes you know here's your teaching assignments  there's very little conversation about how well   you should teach the class until the end when  you get your evaluations and then it's like oh   um maybe you didn't teach it well enough so  it would be great if that messaging was on   the front end for for faculty whose primary role  is teaching we want you to teach not only do the   job but do it really really well now if that's 

being said though that implies that there's time   and energy and effort devoted to that really  excellent level of teaching and so you know   bringing it back to that value question okay I  can do that I can teach it really, really well   it's going to take me this amount of time and that  might mean that this other thing over here doesn't   get as much of my attention.

[MCM] Well you know I'll  never forget ever ever forget when I got my first course evaluation after being a teacher for  I say poor my Dean I think she meant well because  I really adored her I respected her very much   but I she said so your evaluations you essentially 

like got a C, like you like as a grade, right. Like   if you look at like your grade point average, you're like a C teacher and I was like so,   not only am I on the JV team but I'm also I  got a C and I you know tend to be a bit of   I always tease a recovering perfectionist so  I'm used to being an A. I want to be an A teacher   and I worked hard to like I felt like the work  I was putting in was A but it wasn't you know   and I needed a lot more support on like you said 

what does teaching well look like? And I had to   figure that out over many semesters going forward  that wasn't easy work to figure out it was how   to get a lot of feedback that was hard to process  and I needed to lean on a lot of mentorship in   those early years and it took years. It's not like  a semester thing, it's not like 15 weeks. It's years   of growing into that role right for me. I might  be, yeah, I might need to stay on JV for a while.

[RO] You know, I'm thinking up to this point a big  focus has been us talking about articulating and   capturing the value that the individual or the  educator the nurse professional right wherever   they may be is bringing to the institution. I  I would like us to flip that coin for a second   on the other side of that coin is the value that  the institution can create for the employee, right,   and within the context of academia the school or  college of nursing, can create for the faculty  

member. And I think this is incredibly important  because we're facing a time where we have a high   attrition out of academia we know we are facing  a faculty shortage and we're going to continue to   face a worsening faculty shortage. And so Kate I'm  curious to hear your thoughts about how academic   institutions can increase value that really plays  a role in recruiting and retaining high performing   faculty that do their jobs well and are committed  to doing their jobs well.

[KJ] Yeah, ironically, I don't think that there's that much difference between  what you have to do for recruiting and retaining   faculty than there is for other roles...it's  about that connection to the workplace and to the,   you know, the mission, vision and values is  that something I can go to work every day and   feel good about, right. So I think first I would  say know me, know what I need know, what I want   know, what's important to me as an employee, as an 

educator. You know, I don't want to be seen just as   one of the crowd. I want somebody and hopefully  it's the person that I report to or work with   closely to know me well as an individual  and I don't mean you know personally, we have   to go out and be best friends, but I mean know  my professional value and what I bring as   an individual. I think that's really important. 

I think providing development opportunities   is huge and we talked about that already kind  of helping people move from novice to expert   or wherever they may be in in their trajectory,  you know getting them off the JV and onto the   and you know, onto the upper division team. I think one thing we can do is whenever possible   have me teaching courses that I'm passionate  about. I promise you that that those will be   the ones that I'm teaching really, really well. 

Now, I understand that as an employee, sometimes   I have to do something that isn't the thing  that I'm most passionate about and if   we are having a good working relationship where I  feel valued and you are, I see the person who   does the assignments as someone who cares about  my work experience, then I'm willing to do what's   needed to help the bigger picture, right, but I  also want to have those opportunities to teach   what I'm passionate about and so I think 

if there's a way, you know, I don't know in the   recruiting process people often ask what they're  going to be teaching and you know we sometimes   say, whatever we need you to teach, you know, we'll  try to put you in the courses that you prefer, uh   I think that one's that one's an interesting  one. I think another thing we can do is help   faculty especially teaching faculty but maybe all 

faculty expand their professional network. We can   get really siled in our you know our department  within our college, within our university but   networks create opportunities and so, you know, and  leaders have networks and so the more that   you can pull people into networks and have them  start creating a network of their own, the richer   their professional life is going to be so if you  know I'm interviewing a school at a school and   I find out that it's there's a dean there who's 

really good at doing that that would be appealing   to me, I would find that something that I  would be drawn to. I think meeting one on one   is an example of demonstrating how you  care about this person's contribution to the   organization and again I know as you know a  leader myself the time it takes to do that   is is significant, but boy I think talk about ROI. You get a pretty big ROI from that time investment . 

And then the only other one I can think of really  is about developing a healthy work environment a   culture where teaching and research are equally  valued and so calling out when things   are said that make one seem less than the other  or making a special effort to elevate teaching   when it's important and so I think there's  you know a lot of things that that can be done.  

We're all humans and and it's hard sometimes  to do all those things on a daily basis, but to   me a leader's primary responsibility  is creating a healthy work environment.   So that's a question I would ask if  being interviewed, you know, tell me about   the work environment and if nobody says the word  healthy then I'm gonna be a little bit worried.  

[RO] You bring up a lot of really important points  and two things that are really resonating for   me that I hear in that is making sure that  employees are seen and that they have a voice. 

And especially when we think about a voice  that takes my mind to shared governance and   how we have many colleagues across the country  that are still working at institutions where   or they're working at institutions where the  institution is still not giving voting rights   to faculty who are not tenured correct, who may  be on a professional or a clinical track and so   I think that is a great example of opportunities  to work through shared governance to give voice to.  

And you also mentioned these one-on-one  meetings of being seen, you know, and   talking with faculty I hear a lot from  you know, Michelle and I do some work   across the where we get, we're very privileged  and lucky to meet folks from across the country   and a resounding theme I often hear from  faculty sometimes is that they feel like   everyone outside their institution can recognize  their contributions and their worth and people  

inside their institution cannot. And so your  words about strategies for helping faculty to   be seen and understood and known and recognized  and appreciated I think are incredibly important [KJ] And not...not just applied to teaching  or to being a faculty member. I mean,   those are the important things that all  individuals in a workplace really would   benefit from and can benefit from so, but 

while we're focusing on academia. I think as   as a faculty member knowing that someone there  cares about whether I'm kind of moving through   my professional path in a way that is not  only benefiting the organization but also   is contributing to my personal growth and  professional growth that's really important.   [MCM] And I'm thinking when those two things can happen 

that alignment it's pretty like magical. I mean I   think you would probably retain that person who  feels like their their contribution is really   helping them grow and it's also serving  the bigger institution because I think   it's human nature to want to belong to right  our family on a smaller level our communities   our organizations of you know where we spend  a lot of our time working. We want to belong   we want to contribute that's I think human  nature for the most part so.

[KJ] I agree yeah. [KJ] Well thank you Kate I just want to thank  you so much for joining us for this   really fantastic conversation and I want to  take a little bit of time right now to get to   know you a little bit more for fun and we have  some rapid fire questions. Are you ready for that?   [KJ] Okay. [MCM] All right, all right. Thanks. If you were  to write a memoir, what would you title the book?

[KJ] Okay, so I am the third of seven  children so I think that I would   it would be something like stories  from the third in line [Laughter]   My parents did often like even coming  downstairs on Christmas morning,   we were in order, although for that one I think  we were in reverse order so I was more towards   the back of the line, but yeah stories  from the third in line. [RO] That's awesome. [MCM] I love that, I love that. What is on the  top of your reading list right now for fun?

[KJ] the book that I just started my sister just  sent it to me it's called Lessons in Chemistry   and it's supposed to be a fabulous book. I haven't  gotten very far into it yet, but yeah that's what   I'm reading for fun right now. [MCM] That's great it's  on my list too it's on my nightstand. I've got I have a bit of a pile but it's in there and  What is your favorite quote?