Psychology Professor Phil Costanzo opens a faculty discussion on "The Professoriate" Thursday at the Academic Council meeting, the third and final of the council's conversations on change in higher education, commemorating the council's 50th anniversary.
Costanzo noted that the previous two discussions had focused on the rapid pace of change in higher education but said he wanted to approach the issue differently.
"Many changes have occurred, but I challenge each of you to consider what is of essence in higher education and to see if that has changed," he said. "I want to see if we have kept that. I think the institution is predicated on essential properties. We can look at change till the cows come home, but if we don't find what was at the core of the university 45 years ago and connect to it, we will have lost something."
Panelists Dr. Dennis Clements of pediatrics and global health; Anthony Kelley of music; and Helen Ladd of the Sanford School picked up on Costanzo's question.
Kelley said he was excited and energized by the new initiatives allowing faculty to enhance classroom learning and work with scholars across the university on large, complex issues. But he also warned that such ventures come with a caution.
"I worry that we're always accelerating toward the next thing," Kelley said. "And I can't help but think about Barry Gordy and Motown. Gordy started with his imagination about what pop music could be and he created something wonderful, but then he relocated to LA and the next thing you know he's making movies, and he lost a sense of what Motown was. We have to watch ourselves."
Ladd, who tracks trends in education, presented information about an increasingly aging faculty and the larger role of non-tenure track faculty. Ladd said that at some universities hiring of non-tenure track faculty leads to "second-class citizens," but at Duke, her evidence suggests that professors of the practice and research professors are part of the larger university community. "My experience at the Sanford School indicates that these professors directly contribute to our mission," she said.
Photo by Les Todd/Duke University Photography