Dive Brief:
- Governors State University opened west of Chicago in 1969 for upperclassmen and graduate students but welcomed freshmen in 2014, designing a program around research showing the youngest students need faculty with the most experience.
- Inside Higher Ed reports the university staffs freshmen courses with full-time and tenured faculty only, defying norms that place less experienced instructors in the less desireable freshmen seminars, especially at underfunded state institutions.
- While some faculty were resistant initially, there seems to be significant buy-in, and retention rates so far are 10% higher at Governors State than at other institutions serving similar populations of students.
Dive Insight:
Many senior faculty prefer to work with upperclassmen who don’t require as much hand-holding, who speak up more in class, and whose intellects are more developed. As colleges across the country rely more heavily on adjunct faculty, there are more of them to take the least desirable courses. This has been an element in the argument against such a shift within the higher education teaching profession. The American Association of University Professors argues tenured faculty offer better learning opportunities for students because the tenure process includes review of teaching and they have more secure positions that allow them to focus more energy on their students. If Governors State University can maintain its model, given all it has going against it, other schools may face more pressure to consider it.