A long-respected leader in the efforts to build diverse faculty at universities, Susan Carlson provides a look back on how she achieved success borrowing from a key feature in theatrical comedy — the “middle space.” Using the idea of middle space allowed for the testing of new roles, ideas, and relationships among her colleagues and faculty.
She reveals that the middle space, as well as her research into comedy as an early-career professor, played a pivotal role in her leadership work.
Creating Transformative Spaces to Build Our Future Faculty
By Susan Carlson, Professor Emerita, UC Davis and
Vice Provost Emerita, UC Office of the President
I recently completed two decades as an academic administrator focused on building a vibrant, diverse, and forward-looking faculty, at two different universities.
I am happy to report that, in this time, I have seen change, real change in how we hire new faculty and define their work and achievements. I have also witnessed the incredible commitment and tenacity it takes to change the basic patterns of faculty recruitment and advancement.
In looking back, I also now see that the research I did as an early-career professor — on the transformative space of dramatic comedy — provided a framework that has guided my leadership work as well.
Download Carlson’s piece to read more from her guest column for COACHE, Partner Perspectives.About Susan Carlson Author Susan Carlson has spent over 20 years in leadership positions where a major responsibility was not only maintaining the quality and excellence of the faculty but increasing its diversity. Currently Professor Emerita at UC Davis and Vice Provost Emerita, UC Office of the President, Carlson served as the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Programs in the Office of the President at the University of California from 2010 to 2022, including a period as Acting Provost and Executive Vice President. Prior to this she served as the Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement and Diversity for almost 10 years at Iowa State University, including a period as Interim Provost and Senior Vice President. She was a Professor of English and a scholar of drama and theater at both institutions.
Carlson is the author of Women and Comedy: Rewriting the British Theatrical Tradition (University of Michigan Press, 1991) and many other publications on comic drama, theater, and women writers.