Higher Education Faculty/Staff and Stress - "Group Stress Reduction Techniques"

Readers,

Today's post is focused on "Group Stress Reduction Techniques" among faculty and staff  in higher education. To reduce stress, our department often does one or more of the following...

1 - Group Impromptu Meetings - When one higher education professional meets with other higher education professionals, the venting and idea generation process begins! Among the faculty in the communication studies department, our BEST ideas emerge from these meetings (i.e. - nominating another faculty member for an award, etc.).

2 - Eating Lunch and Eating Lunch OFTEN! - The instructors and faculty enjoy spending time with one another and eating! As a result, our meetings usually revolve around food and special celebrations.

3 - Collaborative Writing - My colleagues and I enjoy publishing together. This reduces the amount of stress that we experience when writing articles alone. As a former writer who published alone, it was very hard for me to work with others, but now I value the help!

Do you have any "group stress reduction techniques" to contribute to the list?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Higher Education Faculty/Staff and Stress - Differences Among Women and Men

Readers,

Here is an interesting table focused on stress and the female faculty member. Just look at the differences between male and female faculty members and stress in higher education. Here's the interesting aspect, I do not see ANYTHING related to roles outside of work - family, church, community service, etc.

Percentage Reporting Some or Extensive Stress Related to Certain Job Duties

Duty/Issue Creating Stress	Men	Women
Teaching load	47.5	57.9
Students	49.7	65.8
Research and publishing	67.1	85.7
Review and promotion	44.8	65.3
Committee work	61.6	74.7

Do these percentages coincide with your experiences in higher education (either as a male or female)?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/23/stress#ixzz1qlKHNj3o
Inside Higher Ed 

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Opportunity - (Reminder) TSMRI seeks fellows for its 2012-2013 fellowship program

TSMRI seeks fellows for its 2012-2013 fellowship program

The Texas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI) announces its 2012-2013 fellowship program. An online application to become a TSMRI Fellow is available at http://www.tinyurl.com/TSMRIfellowapp. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 23 and fellows will be announced May 1.

TSMRI is a multidisciplinary collaboration based at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. The institute provides research and training focused on communication technology and social media for K-12 education, higher education, businesses, and non-profit organizations. 

The Texas Social Media Research Institute Fellowship Program aims to foster research on social media and provide researchers and practitioners resources for discovery, both applied and scholarly. Fellows will work with TSMRI to connect social media to their research agendas. Fellows will receive early access to the Journal of Social Media in Society, complimentary registration to the 2012 Social Media Conference and TSMRI workshops and a one-year membership to TSMRI. Fellowships are for one year (June 1 to May 31) and applicants may re-apply for one additional year.

We are excited about offering opportunities to scholars wishing to study issues in social media. We expect to have between 2 and 5 scholars for the inaugural year of the fellowship program and hope to have applicants from universities across the United States, various disciplines and research paradigms.

For more information about TSMRI, visit http://www.tarleton.edu/tsmri/ or contact texassocialmediaresearch@gmail.com.

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Higher Education Faculty/Staff and Stress - My Stress Reduction Strategies. :)

Readers,

This week is focused on something that everyone who works in the higher education environment usually experiences at one time or another...STRESS! I am focused on stress reduction and the different techniques that people adopt to reduce their stress.

First, I will start with several things that I do when I am stressed out from teaching classes and research.

1 - Graphic Design - I LOVE designing fliers, t-shirts, logos, brochures, etc. Recently, I started designing announcement cards (i.e. - birth announcements, etc.) for friends and family.

2 - Shopping at Thrift Stores - Surprisingly, I enjoy walking around our local Goodwill to discover ideas from other people's projects (i.e. - art projects, holiday projects, clothing projects, gardening, etc.). This is a HUGE stress reducer for me, because I have a small glimpse into another person's life for a small amount of time AND I get to purchase materials for a reduced cost (either to give to friends and family or to re-purpose inside of my own home).

3 - Gardening - I was very excited to start my garden a few weeks ago. I cleared all of my plants from last year (a few of them were still alive - swiss chard, etc.) and I started anew! Now, I have the following plants growing in my garden - red/green/orange/yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, stevia, kale, strawberries, etc.

What do YOU do to reduce your stress from the higher education environment.

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41