Reconsidering the workplace: faculty perceptions of their work and working environments

Abstract

In an effort to foreground the impact of the material environment on faculty activities, this study examines the dynamic intersections among faculty work practices, the academic workplace and professional identity. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 16 social science faculty at one public university in the United States, this study reveals the impact of the physical environment on faculty perceptions of what they do, where they work and who they are. Analysis of interview data revealed overlapping themes regarding perceptions of faculty work practices, the inability of places to contain faculty work, faculty socialization, and questions concerning the ownership and distancing of particular work types. Findings from this study point to a need for administrative policy changes to be accompanied by a respatialization of the local campus that resists tendencies toward isolating environments.