SAFS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Blog
November 19, 2020
“Faculty Pandemic Stress Is Now Chronic” article
COVID-19-related changes to teaching and dealing with students’ mental health continue to weigh on professors, with implications for their own mental health
There have been recent discussions about work-life balance (or work-life integration) at our School. This recent article talks about how… “the early days of the pandemic took a toll on faculty members, but for many, peak stress is now, according to a new study of faculty mental health from Course Hero. Researchers for the study website surveyed hundreds of faculty members on and off the tenure track, across institution types, this fall. The findings suggest that faculty worries about the pandemic have morphed into chronic stress — with serious implications for professors’ mental health, their students and the profession as COVID-19 drags on.”
At the UW, there have also been recent workshops, such as “Trauma-Informed Pedagogy” offered by PR2ISM. Beyond the UW, there have been workshops, such as “The Impacts on STEM Undergraduate and Graduate Student Experiences of Higher Education’s response to COVID-19: Resilience and Innovation in Online Learning and STEM Progression”, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. During this workshop, one faculty expressed their success with small sessions of Hello Brain for mental health with their students. In other panel discussions hosted by PR2ISM, students expressed how useful it was for faculty to simply acknowledge the challenges of current times and ask their students how they were doing at the beginning of classes every couple of weeks.
As we enter a busy time of the year, let’s look out for each other and be on the lookout for many health and well-being services the UW has to offer.