Portraits of Academic Life in Higher Education

Institutions of higher learning offer academic careers with broad potential, but within that exist career trajectories that move forward or backward, perhaps even standing still. These chapters relate many wide-ranging stories of the professoriate’s triumphs and struggles within the institution. The academic experiences and emotions shared in these chapters can be described as thoughtful, courageous, insightful, and worrisome. Collectively, authors draw a troubled higher education landscape that has evolved over the years from, to put it mildly, a “more pleasant” working environment in more generous times, to a less pleasant working environment in today’s more restrictive, more competitive, and more financially difficult times. However, on a positive note, contributing authors share their understanding of the core purpose of the higher education institution and its mission as purveyors of that purpose through adherence to the university’s stated triad of goals: teaching, research, and service.