Humanizing students in a dehumanizing time—Faculty as crisis leaders during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract Having survived the disruptive global pandemic, the higher education community is believed to grow to be more adaptive and resilient. As contributors to the new ‘normal’, yet evolving post‐pandemic state, faculty have been painstakingly working to support students' learning and human needs during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Research documents faculty have enacted a collection of measures to respond to students' adversities inside and outside the educational space when the pandemic gave rise to a global crisis in the past several years. Yet, few studies have offered an in‐depth interpretation of how faculty conceived of, selected, and implemented those responses, approaches and strategies. Guided by a crisis response model, we conducted a qualitative inquiry in an effort to unveil this process. 14 faculty who were from the college of education in a national university in United States and varied in career stages and teaching experience participated in the study. Data were derived from one‐on‐one semi‐structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The study yielded three themes: Supporting from a place of humanization; turning downsides up; and adhering to the standard. The themes reflect that the faculty exuded the capabilities and attributes characterizing the crisis leadership. The findings hold for faculty and institutions the implications that promise to gear up the higher education community for contingencies, crises and uncertainty in the future.