A few months ago, I wrote my first post. Big plans – I was going to write and post twice a month, come hell or high water. Respond to those who shared thoughtful responses. Build community.

Life intervened. Life intervened in ways that have made me think about what faculty members *really* need in times of crisis. I’d like to use that experience, which is still happening to a degree, to think about the supports that we provide faculty members.

In early March, my husband unexpectedly needed surgery. (Spoiler: he’s doing well.) We went through the trauma of that surgery, asked support of a few close friends, and plunged into several weeks of recovery (him) and caregiving (me). Our child adapted by taking on a few new age-appropriate responsibilities. Right as he started getting noticeably better, our child and I caught one (or more?) of the respiratory bugs that we’ve been avoiding these past years. I’d argue that I’m not yet completely well. It was hard.

It was hard even though we had sufficient health insurance and sick leave. We had supportive supervisors at work. To a degree, times like this will just always be hard. But like many families where one or more adults works in academia, work has taken us far from our families, geographically. We haven’t got the social support system that we might if we lived closer to our families.

As someone whose work focuses on supporting faculty, this has me thinking. What are the supports that we can reasonably provide our faculty in times of crisis? I’m trying to think past my own set of needs. Some of the points that stand out to me are:

• Flexibility in terms of time, location, and modality
• Empathetic department chairs/supervisors
• Health insurance that covers as broad a range of care options as possible
• Childcare options – What have other countries figured out that we haven’t tried yet?
• Opportunities for faculty to build strong social connections with each other. As someone who does this in my work, I have many thoughts to follow up on later.

What else? What can we reasonably provide – or daydream? Are there ways that our institutions can formally build social supports? I’d love to hear your ideas. If you’ve lived in places with different options, please do share!

Yours in faculty wellbeing – KS

P.S. I’ve learned not to promise another post too emphatically…but I’ll do my best to follow up soon.