Pros
* pretty campus, easy parking, nice offices * depending on College and department there are options for remote work/online teaching so not required to be on campus every day * students are generally nice, diverse student body * enrollment is growing, so less risk of "cliff" than other institutions * efficient IRB * great Center for Teaching and Learning and amazing instructional designers in office of Digital Learning Innovations
Cons
* ONLY CARES ABOUT RETENTION AND GRADUATION RATES; the only metric they care about to determine teaching effectiveness is DFW rate, but will not be courageous enough to actually put that in handbook or evaluation guidelines; absolutely no support to hold students to academic standards (even with proof of significant student supports, scaffolding, evidence based pedagogy); been told that the only way to succeed as a faculty member here is to have at least 80% of class receive A,B, or C, regardless of level of class, difficulty of content, student preparedness entering course, or provision of student supports (and regardless of research/publication output), many students are academically unprepared for college * administrative turnover is outrageous, priorities and initiatives change quickly and seemingly on a whim, every new President/Provost/Dean/Department Chair demands faculty do something different, therefore, senior faculty have given up doing anything since it will just change again next year * academic administration at the department and College levels have ZERO leadership or management training, secretive, cowardly, unwilling to stand up for their employees; no consequences when chairs evaluate faculty on criteria that are not actually written anywhere, no true shared governance, policies and procedures give disproportionate weight to department chairs and other admin * low pay, salary compression *increasing expectations in all categories without additional resources (told to publish and disseminate more, but do not provide enough travel money to cover a single conference or pay open access publishing charges; told to do academic advising which is not in contracted workload; told to do more to promote student success and prepare students for careers, but will not approve field trips or course work outside of the classroom or provide funding to take students to events) *USG trying to cripple higher ed similar to Florida