Professor–Student Interaction in the Midst of Illness: A Collaborative Autoethnography

Abstract

This article explores the complexities of navigating professor-student interaction in the midst of serious illness. Using collaborative autoethnography, the authors describe the experience of a student’s multiple cancer diagnoses, and her professor’s thought processes in deciding the best ways to support her while staying attuned to expectations for professional-personal boundaries in academia. The authors argue that health crises necessitate blurring relational boundaries, thereby igniting empathy and uniting us as human beings despite academic status hierarchies. The analyses presented have implications for other widespread illnesses, such as COVID-19, as college faculty are compelled to regularly conduct their work and interact with students from home, further complicating professor-student communication and the barriers that separate professional and personal spheres.