Much has been written about the needs of mid-career faculty and their needs, such as their continued professional development, evolving mentoring needs, and maintaining an upward trajectory. Much of this work pertains to tenured faculty, though, leaving out the non-tenure-track faculty who make up over 50 percent of faculty nationally. My institution, like most these days, has a large contingent of non-tenure-track faculty who cover various roles on campus, from teaching lower-division courses to taking on wide-ranging administrative duties to running undergraduate and graduate academic programs. Yet many are on year-to-year contracts (with benefits, thankfully), are at times left out of important voting opportunities, and still feel locked out of available leadership roles, though that is improving as well. Many also feel they are being left out of leadership and professional development opportunities even as more leadership opportunities come to be held by people in similar ranks.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
