College can be a time of uncertainty – whether a student is figuring out how to live far from home, balancing a tight budget or deciding on a career path. Therefore, it’s a necessity to find a bit of consistency and stability in the classroom.
So when the employee turnover rate within departments is high, students can be left feeling unstable.
Take the Department of Communication as an example. It has a small group of dedicated faculty members, but it’s also got a problem with retention. Many faculty members get hired, but they don’t stay longer than two years. Or, they’ve got an abundance of adjunct professors. This isn’t good for students or the department.
And this problem isn’t exclusive to the communications department. There are currently 13 faculty positions open and nine administrative and staff positions vacant – and these are just the ones we could easily find posted on the Bradley website.
It’s important to focus on faculty and staff retention, especially considering how many vacancies there are right now. It’s no fun to have interim fillers; these staff and faculty do a good job, but it’s not possible for a solid bond to exist like when the position is filled permanently.
In the interim time of university president Stan Liberty, these faculty and administrative vacancies could not be filled. But now that we have Gary Roberts as our permanent leader, the university needs to heed the opportunity to fill these.
It’s likely the university will launch a variety of searches to fill positions in the coming months. But search committees have to keep in mind that they need to spend the amount of time necessary to find quality faculty and staff.
Students need positive role models, leaders and professors who know their stuff. Not only are we trying to learn about our fields of study, but we’re trying to figure out our futures, as well.
And Bradley needs stability – for now and the future – and that’s something that can only be found in permanently filled positions. Hop to it, Bradley.
