Faculty Voices of Experience

Negotiating the Challenges of Mid-Career at JMU

What does it mean to be a mid-career faculty member at JMU? What unique issues, opportunities and challenges do tenured associate professors face? During the 2011-2012 academic year, five associate professors from across the university convened to assess the status of mid-career faculty at JMU with particular attention to job expectations, morale, mentoring, and work-life balance. Drs. Eck, McCartney and Whitfield will discuss what they learned from their research regarding these issues, including the results of both the focus groups and a Qualtrics survey of mid-career faculty at JMU, the challenges and rewards that come with being mid-career, and steps they have taken to address some of the issues. Participants will be invited to engage in a dialogue to determine the "next steps."

Facilitators:

Beth Eck, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology
Holly McCartney, Associate Professor, Elementary and Early Childhood Education
Toni Whitfield, Associate Professor, Communication Studies

Facilitator Bios:

Beth Eck received her BA in Sociology in 1985 from Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. After working in DC for four years, she received her MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Virginia in 1996. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Her research has been published in Sociological Forum and Gender & Society. Her current research is an investigation into the lives of middle-aged single men. At JMU she teaches Individual and Society, Sociology of Families and Interpretive Analysis. She has served on many department, college, and university committees, and most recently was the Principal Investigator on the Academic Culture Project.

Holly McCartney is an Associate Professor in the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Reading Education department of the College of Education where she coordinates the Early Childhood Master of Arts in Teaching Graduate program. She also serves as a freshman advisor. Her interests include Constructivist teaching and learning, teacher efficacy and teachers as researchers in their own classrooms.

Toni Whitfield, (Ed.D. University of West Florida, 2000) is an Associate Professor and Assistant Director in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University where she teaches courses in organizational communication. Her research is primarily in the area of higher education and experiential learning with a special emphasis on service-learning. In addition, she has vast experience in corporate training and development.