Meaning and Spirituality in the Lives of College Faculty: A Study of Values, Authenticity, and Stress

During the past three years more than 80 scholars, students, and educational leaders have participated with the Higher Education Research Institute in an extended series of dialogues about issues of spirituality, authenticity, meaning, wholeness, and self-renewal in higher education. These dialogues explored issues related to: achieving a greater sense of community, spirituality, and shared purpose in higher education; what are the causes of the divisions and fragmentation experienced by many academics in their institutional and personal lives; what it means to be authentic, both in the classroom and in dealings with students; and what disconnections higher education is experiencing within and in relation to the larger society. Through personal narratives the monograph explores expressions of spirituality, as well as obstacles to and facilitators of spiritual development; value conflicts; personal authenticity; sources of stress, including time pressures, competition between work and family life, research and publication, administrative responsibilities, students and teaching, tenure and peer review, and institutional climate; effect of stress; coping with stress; and sources of renewal. The monograph concludes with a brief review of ongoing and further work on spirituality in higher education. Appended are letters of invitation, the interview protocol, and a list of committee members. (From the Publisher)