By Matthew Inman and Tony W. Cawthon
During the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals across higher education were challenged to reimagine how institutions operate, as they faced the dual responsibility of delivering remote instruction and supporting students’ well-being throughout the quarantine, among countless other demands. More than five years after the first reports of COVID-19 infection, new alarms are being sounded. Concerns about the well-being, burnout, and turnover of college and university staff have reached a fever pitch, with mounting evidence to support the need to address these issues. Many employees in higher education, including campus housing, have questioned their future in the field, resulting in large turnovers of staff in search of different jobs, better working conditions, more opportunities for professional development, and, most of all, a sense of well-being.
Kevin McClure’s book The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation (2025) faces the challenge of reimagining the higher education workplace, not with simple fixes or a detailed checklist, but with a critical examination of the substantial work necessary to implement organization-wide changes that promote employee well-being. As McClure noted, “Working toward the Caring University isn’t about making every employee happy, nor does it require subscribing to pop psychology or faddish management theories. It is a smart strategy based on what the data clearly show: knowledge organizations depend on capable, invested, and creative employees to prosper. . . . It is just a matter of ensuring that organizational cultures and structures reflect that personal ethic of care.”
The seven chapters illustrate an organizational shift that forms the basis of what a caring university looks like. McClure anchors his work in lived experiences, drawing from interviews with people from a diverse array of institutional types and roles, which gives each chapter a heart and soul to which the reader can relate and utilize as a vehicle to explore that chapter’s topic. In addition to a thoughtful examination of research and theory, the book provides a clear idea of how caring can be embedded in organizational practices. Some chapters reveal a set of action steps to spark change toward supporting employee well-being on campus and case studies that highlight specific organizational changes and how they are reflected in practice.
Chapter 1, “Organizational Problems of the Higher Education Workplace,” establishes a foundation that defines the organizational complexity of colleges and universities and challenges the reader to think about workplace issues using an organizational lens. The chapter provides a snapshot of current organizational problems prevalent on many campuses, including neglecting the employee experience, assigning excessive workloads, maintaining understaffed offices, and oppressing marginalized employees. These issues are particularly relevant in campus housing as excessive workloads and understaffed offices directly impact the effective management of residential programs, while neglecting the employee experience can lead to high turnover rates among housing staff. In addition, the oppression of marginalized employees in such settings hinders efforts to create inclusive residential communities. The chapter concludes by discussing the principles of organizational thinking and its connection to lasting impact and provides cautionary advice about not addressing workplace issues without first understanding the culture and frameworks of higher education that contributed to what is being called the Great Resignation.
Chapter 2, “Making the Employee Experience a Strategic Priority,” highlights the importance of incorporating both faculty and staff experiences into the documents guiding an institution’s direction and priorities. Throughout the book, McClure stresses that colleges and universities must be able to understand their employees better, not only who they are but also what they are going through in the workplace: “Instead of structuring jobs around ideal workers, the Caring University normalizes the needs of real workers: people who are parents and caring for parents, have bodies and minds whose needs cannot be shut off between business hours, and experience grief, hardship, and tragedy.”
Chapter 3, “Creating Working Cultures and Conditions for Real (Not Ideal Workers),” explores preexisting notions about work environments that are embedded in many higher education workplaces. Using the organizational lens detailed in the opening chapter, the author urges institutions to reclaim the soul of their organization by rejecting the notion that their departments should run like machines, favoring productivity over humanity. Practicing care can involve resetting professional norms, implementing flexible work practices and improved leave policies, utilizing universal design principles, and advocating for organizational “guardrails to prevent work from consuming employees’ nonwork lives.”
Chapter 4, “Committing to Professional Growth and Fair Compensation,” explores how campuses must invest their resources and expertise in providing professional development for their employees. Professional growth can also be supported by better-defined career pathways, strong in-house opportunities for professional development, and pay increases and equity.
Chapter 5, “Pursuing Cultural and Structural Change for Equity and Belonging,” contemplates the critical role that inclusion plays in supporting employees and preventing their feeling marginalized and invisible. Acting to advance equity must become second nature for colleges and universities in order to disrupt the structural systems that perpetuate oppression among employees.
Chapter 6, “Empowering Employees’ Rights and Voice,” considers the role that higher education institutions can play in supporting its workers. Labor unions and collective bargaining do not constitute an affront to institutional operations but instead offer an opportunity. Shared governance should be a defining characteristic of institutions that are committed to the promotion of democratic participation in the workplace. Colleges and universities can demonstrate care by providing better job security and better working conditions for contingent workers, fostering collaborative governance, and supporting organizational efforts on the part of workers.
Chapter 7, “Cultivating and Sustaining Caring Leaders,” examines how leaders can be supported and encouraged through intentional development of their capabilities, which include compassion, the ability to listen to and actively engage with others, vulnerability, and what McClure refers to as “critical hope.” The chapter challenges existing understandings of a leader’s role in higher education institutions, shifting the measure of success from results to the employee experience.
The Caring University offers a wealth of guidelines and actionable recommendations that we, as housing professionals, can bring to our work in an effort to improve and enhance employee satisfaction and motivation, as well as workplace environments and working conditions. The book serves as a solid foundation for questioning and changing existing practices and norms, both within our departments and across our institutions. It can be utilized as a resource for onboarding new staff and continuing professional development, using the text to spark dialogue, share experiences, and brainstorm new approaches to common challenges. In fact, the book is sufficiently flexible to serve as a vital resource in many different contexts within housing operations. Departmental leaders can draw on the book’s actionable steps and frameworks when reviewing or revising workplace policies, particularly those related to workload, flexibility, inclusion, and professional growth. The book’s emphasis on equity and belonging also offers a lens for assessing departmental climate, supporting marginalized staff, and initiating ongoing conversations about fairness, visibility, and voice within our teams.
The actions of caring leaders can be used as a guide for mentorship programs and leadership training, helping current and aspiring housing professionals build a more supportive and people-centered workplace. By integrating these lessons into onboarding, training, policy review, and leadership development, these professionals can move from reflection to action, shaping a more caring workplace. Ultimately, The Caring University offers both a framework and a call to action: challenging professionals to lead meaningful, lasting change and to foster environments where every employee can truly thrive.
Matthew M. Inman is a graduate assistant for residential learning at Clemson University in South Carolina. Tony W. Cawthon is an alumni distinguished professor at Clemson.
