Stanford's commitment to family friendly policies and services is a core to its culture. The University is committed to hiring and retaining the world’s most accomplished and imaginative teachers and scholars as faculty members. Doing so is integral to fulfilling our research and teaching mission and cannot be done without an equal support to their work-life balance and to their families.
Stanford's Commitment to Faculty & Their Families
During Stanford University’s opening ceremonies in 1891, Leland Stanford set forth his view of the centrality of faculty members to a university. He said, “Ample endowment may have been provided, intelligent management may secure large income, students may present themselves in numbers, but in the end, the Faculty makes or mars the University.”
Those words, although more than 100 years old, remain true today. Stanford University is committed to hiring and retaining the world’s most accomplished and imaginative teachers and scholars as faculty members. Doing so is integral to fulfilling our research and teaching mission.
This commitment to excellence means that Stanford must also recognize its obligation to faculty members as people—with personal, as well as professional, aspirations and goals. After all, this university was founded by two loving parents who tragically lost their only child. In their grief, they promised to commit their extraordinary wealth and energy to helping “other people’s” children.
Stanford offers many resources specifically to support faculty members and their families. We know, too, that “family” takes many forms. So we are constantly reviewing the services we offer to best meet the needs of our faculty and of the people with whom they share their lives—spouses, partners, children and adult dependents.
The freedom and ability to pursue a fulfilling personal life in whatever form it takes contribute importantly to a successful academic career. We believe in supporting that aspiration for those who choose to pursue their careers at Stanford University.
— John Etchemendy, Provost and Professor of Philosophy
