2025-2026 Faculty Research Grants

Anneris Coria-Navia (Teaching, Learning & Assessment), Daniel Weber (Visual Arts,
Communication & Design) and Pavel Zubkov (Practical & Applied Theology).

Leveraging wisdom and commitment to inspire the next generation of teacher scholars.

The higher education teaching force is aging. The median age of tenure-track faculty is 49, as compared to the median U.S. workforce age of 42 (McChesney & Bichsel, 2020). 37% of faculty are 55 or older and 13% are 65 or older, compared to 23% and 6% of the workforce, respectively (McChesney & Bichsel, 2020). As many professors and staff approach retirement, higher education institutions must consider strategies to retain the essential skills and expertise these individuals hold. Mendez (2019) suggests that retired faculty often possess wisdom grounded in lived experiences that can be beneficial to current or new faculty members. Mooney and Miller-Young (2021) discuss the benefits of a storying interview in exploring teaching experiences, suggesting that meaning can be co-created through shared exploration of a story. Limited research exists regarding the topic of learning from retiring or retired faculty in higher education. The purpose of this project is to create a short documentary comprised of interviews with retiring faculty in higher education in order to provide current and new faculty with valuable insights. The data gathered will also be used to write a scholarly article.