Professors Describe ‘Mass Exodus’ From Technical College in Boston
Ryan Rogers, a molecular geneticist and former full-time professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, stands in her home in Boston on August 24, 2021. (Meredith Nierman/GBH News)
Juggling a full load of courses as a biology professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Ryan Rogers reached her breaking point when administrators required her to teach laboratory courses in-person during the pandemic.
“My mental health was trash,” Rogers said. “I felt it declining day by day. I did not sleep very much. My hair started falling out. I felt like I was running a race with no water stations in the heat and a moving finish line.”
In the fall, the thirty-three-year old molecular biologist and mother of two young children says she was running out of steam. “I just felt pulled in so many directions. I was doing a bad job as a professor and a terrible job as a mom. And then don’t even mention trying to be a successful partner,” she said.