Theory vs. Practice: An Administrative Perspective on Teaching and Learning in a Pandemic

As Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Education and a political science professor, I learned the hard way that teaching about disasters is not the same as living through one. In IR, the study of pandemics and communicable diseases falls under neoliberal institutionalism because the prevention and management of global pandemics require the cooperation of states, through intergovernmental organizations like the World Health Organization, to overcome a collective goods problem. Students of IR learn that global health security is a collective good (common or shared interest for all humans). Yet with the Covid-19 pandemic, today’s students and future generations will learn that the lack of global governance produced a worldwide health crisis in 2020. This essay offers the perspective of an administrator at a small liberal arts institution to examine how colleges and universities can avoid the collective action problem at all levels of the organization to deliver education remotely. Relying on anecdotal evidence from faculty and student surveys, the discussion focuses on the lessons learned for effective delivery of remote teaching. The chapter draws parallels between global and university governance to show that states, like campus units, can collaborate to conquer an unforeseen challenge as a pandemic.