When: June 9, 2022, 3:30 pm - Thursday

Where: Ezell 232

Session 5

Session Abstract

The papers presented in this session will explore the power of communities of practice to build faculty agency as they live out their vocation and strive to excel within the professoriate, whether through teaching, service, or scholarship. Furthermore, we will discuss leadership roles that influence practice and the importance of building our Christian identity into the everyday structures of academic life.

Paper Abstracts

Julia Osteen, Lipscomb University, “Flourishing in Higher Education through a Coaching Initiative”

Catalyst Coaching is a coaching initiative through Lipscomb University’s Center for Teaching and Learning that strives to develop partnerships with faculty to engage in a thought-provoking and creative process that maximizes professional potential. The CTL seeks to inspire, activate, and energize teaching and learning in higher education classrooms through this initiative. Hallmarks of this initiative include building a mutually supportive community and building individual and collective capacity for continuous improvement. In its inaugural year, 19 faculty participated in the Catalyst Coaching initiative. This paper presents preliminary results based on pre and post-surveys of the participants and individual interviews.

 

Olga Pahom, Cathy Box, Amanda Ellis, and Shannon Rains, Lubbock Christian University, “Women, Writing, and the Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Study on Factors that Constrain and Support Women’s Research Writing”

Research studies have provided evidence that women face distinct challenges in higher education when it comes to research, writing, and getting published. The pandemic exacerbated those challenges as domestic and professional obligations often increased. This autoethnographic narrative study will discuss the context in which four women faculty members at a Christian teaching university joined a writing group and addressed the challenge of engaging in scholarly work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the factors that support and constrain women’s research writing during a pandemic can help shed light on the understudied populations of Christian women scholars and their writing practices.

 

Noel S. Adams, Marquette University, “Challenges and Opportunities for Christian Universities in the 21^st Century: Christian Identity Amidst Secular and Market Forces”

Strong, decisive, and consistent leadership plays a crucial role in strengthening and maintaining the Christian identity of religiously affiliated colleges and universities. The urge to meet changing secular and market demands can lead to compromises that undermine a school’s Christian identity. Many secular and market principles are inconsistent with the principles upon which Christian colleges and universities are based. Maintaining a robust Christian culture on campus is undermined even by rhetoric that uses the language of secular- and market-based systems. When society’s default culture is market-driven and secular, lessons can sometimes be learned the hard way—or so I argue.

Speakers

Hope Nordstrom, Lipscomb University, Convener

• Julia Osteen, Lipscomb University, “Flourishing in Higher Education through a Coaching Initiative”
• Olga Pahom, Cathy Box, and Amanda Ellis, Lubbock Christian University, “Women, Writing, and the Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Study on Factors that Constrain and Support Women’s Research Writing”
• Noel S. Adams, Marquette University, “Challenges and Opportunities for Christian Universities in the 21st Century: Christian Identity Amidst Secular and Market Forces”