Hello, everyone–

It’s Sunday morning and clouds are rolling in over the Rockies. We’re waiting for the first snow of the year to begin this evening. It’s a lovely moment, full of promise (assuming that you can put up with at least a little bit of snow).

Typically when faculty members come to me to talk about concerns, I work with a structure of defining the problem, sharing emotions, and strategizing several potential paths forward.

This Fall semester, I’ve been struggling with the paths forward. I’m sure that many of you who work in faculty development…or who work in higher ed…of who just plain think about the future and what it means for the coming generations…feel a deep anxiety right now.

The faculty I’ve spoken with in past months have faced the normal pressures of higher ed, often layered with additional pressures of increased teaching loads and heavy expectations for research. We can talk through those things; not that there are easy solutions. But we can strategize.

The thing that we aren’t able to break apart and approach is anxiety about the Presidential election. That’s underlying and underscoring everyone’s pressures and fears. All of us, myself included, feel as if we’re at the beginning of a very scary “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel–except that we don’t individually get to make the choice.

Our students’, our colleagues’, and our families’ fears are layered on top of all this.

Maybe it will turn out fine (depending on your definition of “fine”). Either way, later this week we’ll know.

I wish that I had solutions or paths forward. You know me–I like to strategize and brainstorm solutions, even for the trickiest situations. But this is what we’re talking about when we talk about faculty development right now.

More soon, everyone. Hang in there this week!