Piles of books and desks bumped together are not necessarily what it is like for faculty who work in close quarters because they share offices, according to some Ball State University professors.
Robin Hicks, anthropology instructor, said some faculty share offices because those who teach in a prison education program are also teaching one class per month on campus and need an office space.
The prison program instructors learn skills from full-time faculty and vice versa, she said.
"It's a good idea," she said. "But the buildings are not exactly structured for this. We just have to make room."
Hicks is used to sharing an office with one or more colleagues, and currently shares with two other people, she said.
"So far it's working out fine," she said. "My things are still as I left them, and we are not often in each other's way."
The instructors share a telephone line as well, she said. Private office telephone lines can cost up to $400 per month and cutting down to just one might save the university money, she said.
Gary Crawley, assistant professor of political science, said he also currently shares an office with fellow professor Ray Scheele.
"We actually chose to share," he said. "We were initially going to have several people in here, so now there's more space with just Ray and I."
Crawley said he has never had a problem with sharing the space and it has never affected his work or his students.
Mai Kuha, assistant professor of English, said she also had shared her office for more than a year and hasn't had any major problems.
"We have conflicting schedules, so most of the time it's just one of us in here," she said.
Occasionally there is no extra room for meeting with students, but that hasn't been too much of an inconvenience, she said.
Susan Bourne, administrative coordinator for the math department, said part-time instructors in the department often share offices because they are not on campus every day of the week.
"They often dodge each other and end up having the office to themselves," she said. "We try to pair them up that way so that it's the least inconvenience to them and to their students."
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