Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share a typical week in the life of a faculty member with an appointment in one of the university’s professional academic units (e.g., schools of education, schools of nursing). I take pride in being a professor whose duties and responsibilities center on preparing and continuing the professional development of teachers; creating new and usable knowledge that will contribute to equity and excellence for all students in K-20 learning environments; and continuing my own growth and development as a professional educator.

 

My duties and responsibilities result in a 50-to-60 hour work week. I am in my office or in the schools by 8:30 a.m. and do not leave for home until between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. On those days that I have evening classes, I am in the office by 10 a.m. and leave for home between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. My work day does not necessarily end at those times, and my work week very often extends into the weekend.

 

I spend nine to 15 hours a week teaching. This includes delivery of content courses, supervision of student teachers in the schools, and meetings with doctoral students to help them prepare for comprehensive exams or develop dissertation proposals. I spend another 15 hours preparing to teach: reading, grading papers, and/or giving written feedback on student teaching performances; responding to on-line discussion boards; conducting pre-observation and post-observation conferences with student teachers; and meeting with individual students to further clarify material covered in class.

 

I am engaged in research for 15 hours a week. Although time spent working with doctoral students during the actual dissertation stage might come under the category of teaching, I include it under research. When I chair doctoral committees, my students and I become collaborators in the construction of new and usable knowledge related to their interests and my areas of expertise. We spend time examining their collection and analyses of data. I then read their dissertations drafts and give them feedback. In terms of my own research, I spend the remaining 10 hours a week conducting library research, preparing grant proposals, preparing new manuscripts, and/or revising manuscripts for resubmission.

 

I apply about 10 to 15 hours a week on service at the university, state, and national levels. These activities include advising undergraduate and master’s students, responding to email and telephone inquiries about undergraduate and master’s programs that I coordinate; preparing for, attending, or writing reports for committee or taskforce meetings; handling paperwork for grants; peer review of manuscripts for publication (textbook publishers or professional journals), peer review of proposals for presentations at professional meetings, writing letters of support related to tenure and/or promotion, etc.

 

I think that my work week is typical of the majority of faculty members in my academic unit, although junior (untenured) faculty probably have a longer work week, with the additional time spent on research.