Faculty work as philanthropy or philanthropy as faculty work?

Abstract

Employing Robert Payton’s (1988) definition of philanthropy, “Voluntary action for the public good” (p. 4), Faculty Work and the Public Good: Philanthropy, Engagement, and Academic Professionalism offers a fresh look at faculty work as philanthropy. The purpose of this review essay is to provide a brief review of some of the key propositions in this book and to explore how faculty work as philanthropy may be understood in non-U.S. cultural contexts. We start our exploration of faculty work as philanthropy in non-U.S. contexts by examining this construct in the U.S. as presented by Faculty Work and the Public Good and by laying out key forces that it sets forth as shaping faculty work as philanthropic practice: institutional structure and employment frameworks, resource constraints, and discretionary constraints.