Articulating Academic Consulting as a Pathway for Faculty Development and Career Satisfaction

We conducted 10 focus groups with 32 academic consultants to identify three intrinsic rewards categories for academic consulting: meaningful work, professional development, and enhanced teaching. Based on these findings, we propose a typology of academic consulting, teaching-driven consulting, and a multifaceted framework of academic consultant career identity. Our framework provides rhetorical resources for faculty, staff, and administrators to discuss academic consulting identities, tie aspects of identity to preferred rewards categories, and advocate for consulting resources and support.