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North Carolina State University
2006 Faculty Well-Being Survey

Executive Summary


This document provides a brief overview of the survey methods and response rates, and offers a generally descriptive summary of the overall results from the 2006 Faculty Well-Being Survey. A detailed report on the survey methods, a copy of the questionnaire including overall results, and tables of results to all questions broken by college, rank, tenure status, gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship, age, and number of years employed at NC State are available online on the Table of Contents page.

The findings described in the Executive Summary are representative of NC State University faculty as a whole - - they do not take into consideration variations in responses between subgroups of the population, e.g., between colleges, between women and men, etc. Therefore, these findings may not reflect the overall experiences and opinions of certain groups of faculty. Subsequent reports will explore variations in responses between groups, and will provide a more detailed analysis of these and other topical areas of interest.

From the point of view of the advisory committee, there are some interesting and useful findings, but no particularly surprising results. Overall, the results are very positive. When we have completed sub-group analyses and done more detailed analyses of specific topics, the data will be more useful and the implications of the results more clear.


To skip directly to a particular topic, select the section below.

Survey Methods and Response Rates
Research Design Survey Population Response Rates

Summary of Overall Results on Specific Areas of Interest
Overall Satisfaction Service Diversity/Multiculturalism
Life in the Department Performance Review, RPT, PTR Assessment
Students Funding and Support Faculty Senate
Workload Contracts/Grants Pay and Compensation
Teaching Leadership Work-life Issues
Extension and Engagement Vision

Survey Methods and Response Rates

Research Design: An advisory committee of top-level representatives from Office of Institutional Planning and Research, Faculty Senate, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity, Office for Diversity and African American Affairs, and Human Resources was responsible for developing the overall research design and questionnaire for the Faculty Well-Being Survey. The committee sought input on the project from NC State Executive Officers, Vice Provosts, Deans, and the Faculty Senate, and pre-tested the instrument with several groups of faculty. The questionnaire was designed to be very comprehensive, covering a wide range of concerns related to faculty well-being. UPA administered the survey, which was available online from September 6 through October 10. Members of the survey population were sent a pre-notification letter from the Provost and the Dean of their college informing them about the survey, an email invitation from the Provost and Dean when the survey went live online, and up to two follow-up reminders to non-respondents (via email and/or campus mail) sent by Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research at UPA. UPA is responsible for all data analyses. The advisory committee, in consultation with the campus community, is responsible for identifying further topics for analysis, and in preparing and presenting reports on the findings.

Survey Population: All on-campus tenure-track (tenured and probationary) and non-tenure-track faculty and lecturers with an FTE of at least .75 (regardless of funding source) in both the AY05-06 and AY06-07 NC State University Personnel Date File were eligible to participate in the survey. This group included those "special faculty" designated as "practicum," "research," "extension," "clinical," or "teaching." Eligible lecturers were those meeting the FTE criteria above and not having a time-limited appointment. The survey population also included all department Heads, faculty designated as "instructors," those with teaching appointments in Music and Physical Education, and those in First Year College. No sampling was done - - all faculty in the population as defined above were invited to participate in the survey. The final survey population size was 1,625.

Response Rates: 1,132 of the 1,625 faculty in the survey population submitted the survey, for a 69.7 percent response rate (margin of error plus or minus 0.9 percentage points). There are no statistically significant differences in response rates within the various sub-groups that were analyzed (i.e., college, rank, tenure status, gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship, age, number of years employed at NC State). The overall survey results are generalizable to the survey population as a whole, and reports on sub-groups of the population to their respective groups.

Feedback on the Survey Itself: Anecdotal reactions to the survey itself (via email, phone calls, etc.) were generally positive. Many faculty expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to participate in such a survey. The most problematic issue was faculty who were not in the survey population wanting to participate.

Summary of Overall Results on Specific Areas of Interest

The following summary is based on those respondents expressing an opinion on a given question (i.e., does not include "don't know" responses). It is primarily a descriptive analysis of the overall results - - it generally does not include the exact percentage of respondents giving a particular response. Rather, results are described as "positive" when at least 75 percent of respondents gave a positive response (e.g., "excellent" or "good," "very satisfied" or "satisfied"), and as "negative" when more than 25 percent of respondents gave a negative response (e.g., "fair" or "poor," "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied"). The topics below are presented in no particular order.

Overall Satisfaction: About three-fourths of faculty report being satisfied at NC State. Faculty generally believe that things have improved during their time here and that things will continue to improve over the next several years. For example, faculty are more likely to report being "more satisfied now" than they were 5 years ago (or when they first came to NC State) than to say they are "less satisfied now" (42% vs 34%). Only a small minority of faculty (less than 15%) believe that either their department, their college, or the university will "change for the worse" in the next five years. Nonetheless, one-third of faculty report having "very seriously" considered leaving NC State to go to another university; only 20 percent of faculty have "never considered" such a move. Slightly more than half of faculty have considered leaving academe since coming to NC State, with about 10 percent saying they have given it very serious consideration.

Life in the Department: Faculty are generally satisfied with a broad spectrum of issues related to life in their departments and are optimistic about its future. Over 80 percent say they would recommend their department as a good place to work, and more than half expect their department to change for the better over the next 5 years (compared to 15 percent saying they expect it to change for the worse). Majorities believe their departments have a better than average reputation in education, research, extension and engagement, technological innovation, and contributions to economic development. A majority of faculty think their departments are doing a good job in recruiting faculty, but are less positive about efforts to retain faculty. Department administration is given high ratings in most areas, especially for their support for academic freedom, allowing faculty autonomy, advocating for the department, and promoting diversity. Faculty are notably less positive about department administrations' ability to resolve internal conflict, to provide and allocate necessary resources, and establish clear priorities for the department.

Most faculty feel valued in their department and are satisfied with how well they "fit." Although they are slightly less likely to say there is unity and cohesion among most of the faculty in their department, a large majority report that their department promotes respectful dialogue among colleagues with different points of view. There is almost universal agreement among faculty that the work and social environment of the department is accepting and welcoming, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Faculty report that they regularly collaborate with other members of the faculty in their department and that there is a great deal of informal (but not formal) mentoring among faculty members. The exception is help with issues related to balancing work and personal life, where mentoring appears to be rare.

Students: Faculty believe their departments have strong reputations for undergraduate and graduate education. They give high marks to undergraduate and graduate students' ability to meet the demands of their program, and are generally satisfied with the overall quality of the students with whom they interact. They report having good communication with students and being treated with respect by them. However, while about three-fourths of the faculty say they experience little or no stress from their relationships with students, about half report either "a great deal" or "some" stress from working with under-prepared students.

Workload: Less than 10 percent of faculty report having experienced no stress at all during the past couple of years over their workload, with over one-third reporting "a great deal" of workload-related stress. When asked to rate how well they are managing the demands on their time, on a scale of "1" ("managing everything just fine") to "5" ("completely overwhelmed"), over one-third of faculty placed themselves on the high end of the scale at either "4" (28%) or "5" (8%).

Faculty report working an average of 55 hours per week on NC State related activities. Responses indicate that faculty spend their time engaged in a wide range of work-related activities. Almost all faculty (97%) indicate that they spend some portion on their time teaching and mentoring students. Those doing so spend an average of 39 percent of their time on teaching and mentoring activities. The next most common activity reported by faculty is research and scholarly activities, with 88 percent saying they spend at least some portion of their time engaged in such activities -- on average one-third of their time is spent on research and scholarly activities. Some activities, like extension/engagement/economic development, are less common (39% of faculty), but take up a noteworthy amount of time for faculty engaged in these activities (18% on average). Similarly, the one-third of faculty who report spending time on administrative duties spend an average of 19 percent of their time on such activities. In contrast, several activities are very common, but take up less faculty time. For example, 87 percent of faculty participate in service work, but spend only an average of 12 percent of their time doing so. Eighty percent of faculty spend time on student advising, but spend an average of only 9 percent of their time in advising.

Half of faculty said that in the past two years they had worked during the summer months at NC State without overload pay. A sizeable percentage (37%) said they had done non-paid outside consulting or freelance work during the past two years, while slightly more reported engaging in such work for pay. Secondary employment other than teaching or consulting is rare, with less than 5 percent of faculty reporting engaging in such employment.

Teaching: Almost all faculty report spending at least some time teaching and mentoring students. Two-thirds report working with students on research projects and serving on student thesis and dissertation committees. Almost half say they spend at least some time on professional development to improve their teaching. A large majority report being satisfied with opportunities to participate in workshops and seminars at NC State to improve their teaching; faculty are, however, significantly less satisfied with the availability of funds to attend professional workshops and conferences on teaching. Faculty believe that the University is very supportive of innovative teaching methods, but do not believe that the University rewards such efforts.

Faculty are very positive about the amount of input they have into curriculum development, change and review in their department. Majorities of them are satisfied with the courses they are assigned to teach and with their control over the content of those courses, as well as with the number of courses they teach and the number of students in their classes. They are very dissatisfied, however, with the availability of graduate teaching assistants.

A majority of faculty are satisfied with the labs, and to a slightly lesser extent, the classrooms in which they teach. They give positive ratings to the availability of learning technologies in their classrooms and to training to use those technologies.

Extension and Engagement: About 40 percent of faculty reported spending at least some of their time on extension, engagement, or economic development activities. The most commonly reported such activity was extension education in non-credit programs, with half of those involved in extension/engagement/economic development saying they spend time on this activity. About one-fourth of those involved in extension/engagement/economic development said they participated in service learning and mentoring of students, in public service grants and contracts, and in partnering with the private sector in job and investment creation.

Service: Almost 90 percent of faculty reported participating in service activities at NC State, although among this group it accounts for relatively little of their time (12% on average). By far the most commonly reported service activity is serving on department/college/university committees, with more than 80 percent of faculty engaged in service saying they serve on such committees. Two-thirds report spending time engaged in professional service activities. Relatively few faculty said that in the past two years they had never volunteered their time to a non-profit group, charity, community group, or similar organization, and about 40 percent reported doing so once per month or more. About three-fourths have at least a little interest in participating in international service project, and half reported having at least a little interest specifically in participating in the NC State Alternative Spring Break Service-Learning program.

Performance Review, RPT and PTR: A majority of faculty agree that departmental standards and procedures for performance review are clear and are applied consistently and fairly. They generally believe that the feedback they received in recent performance reviews was appropriately based on their Statement of Mutual Expectations and corresponds to how well they feel they are doing. However, about 30 percent or more disagree that their performance review is given appropriate weight in receiving merit raises, has been helpful in their professional development, or helps them understand how well they are doing relative to their peers in their department.

About one-third of faculty indicate they have only a limited understanding of the newly revised Academic Tenure Policy. However, most faculty say they understand RPT standards and procedures in their department. Among those expressing an opinion, about 70 percent or more say that their department rewards excellent performance in each of the six realms. One-third "strongly agree" that excellent performance in the discovery of knowledge through discipline-guided inquiry is rewarded. Eighteen percent "strongly agree" that excellent performance in teaching/mentoring of students is rewarded - - the next highest rating. Faculty are slightly less likely to agree that the university provides sufficient resources to support faculty success within each of the six realms of faculty responsibility than to say they reward such efforts.

Although two-thirds of the tenured/tenure track faculty in the survey report having some personal experience with Post-Tenure Review, a sizable percentage of tenure/tenure track faculty feel they are unable to express any opinions on the PTR process at NC State. Twenty-two percent of all tenured/tenure track faculty say they have insufficient experience to judge whether the process for PTR in their department is widely known and understood by members of their department. Among those expressing an opinion, one-third report that the process is unknown. However, again among those expressing an opinion, a majority believe that it is easy to find the information they need about PTR, and that the procedures and standards are clear and followed in an equitable manner. While a majority of those with an opinion on the overall satisfaction with the process are positive, 30 percent are dissatisfied.

Funding and Support: The majority of faculty say they have little or no understanding of how resources are allocated to the university or their college. Such awareness, though still relatively low, increases with respect to allocation of resources to the department, and increases fairly substantially with respect to allocation within the department. Only a slight majority of faculty believe they have sufficient input in decisions about the allocation of resources in their department. Similarly, a sizeable number of faculty are generally dissatisfied with the amount and type of support they get.

Both department and college administrations get relatively low ratings for providing resources needed for faculty to do their jobs and for the fairness with which resources are allocated. Forty percent disagree that they have the clerical/administrative support in their department to do their job effectively. They are slightly more likely to say they have sufficient technical assistance and support staff in their college. A majority express dissatisfaction at the availability of funds to attend and/or present at professional conferences, and for scholarly leave. At least 30 percent of faculty disagree that they get enough support to succeed in each of the six realms of faculty responsibility.

Contracts/Grants: Among those expressing an opinion, a sizable number of faculty (30% or more) are dissatisfied with pre- and post-award support from their college and from the university for grant and contract related activities. A majority of those expressing an opinion say they are dissatisfied with issues related to indirect costs, such as the way costs are allocated and the amount of control the principal investigator has over them. Comments from the open-end question on grant/contract-related activities will help to further clarify these concerns.

Leadership: With one exception - - communicating with faculty - - twenty percent or more faculty indicated that they did not have sufficient evidence to evaluate college or university administrations on various tasks. Among those expressing an opinion, responses included the following: Both college and university administrations received relatively higher ratings for supporting academic freedom, promoting diversity, and advocating for (respectively) the college and university, with 70 percent or more giving favorable ratings to each task. In contrast, about half or more of respondents were dissatisfied with the extent to which their college administration seeks input from faculty on the college vision, appreciates faculty contributions, incorporates ideas from faculty in decision-making, provides necessary resources and allocates them fairly, and resolves internal conflicts. With respect to university administration, a majority of respondents give low ratings to communication with faculty, the extent to which university administrators incorporate ideas from faculty into decision-making, and the amount of input faculty have on administrative appointments at the university level. One-half of faculty give negative ratings to the quality of the relationship between NC State faculty and the university administration.

Vision: There is a range of opinions among faculty regarding the clarity of and progress towards their department's vision. While one-third of faculty say their department has a clear vision and is actively working towards meeting those goals, slightly more faculty report that their department has a vision but progress in meeting those goals is slow. And, according to one-fourth of the faculty, their department does not appear to have a clear vision for the future. However, among those who say their department has a vision (regardless of actual progress), almost all (95%) report that they are in agreement with the vision. Faculty are also very satisfied with the extent to which their department administration seeks their input in the department's vision.

Faculty are also divided on the existence of and progress toward a vision in their college. A sizable group of faculty say that they are not familiar enough to make an assessment about their college's vision. About one-third report that their college has a vision for the future, but that progress seems slow, while slightly less than one-fourth say that there is a clear vision and active progress on it. Another one-fourth say there does not appear to be a vision for the college.

Diversity/Multiculturalism: A large majority of faculty are supportive of the University's institutional emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism. Department, college and university administration are all given top ratings for their efforts to promote diversity. Faculty believe that their department administration actively works to recruit, retain and support students and faculty from historically underrepresented groups. Faculty also believe that NC State is successful in preparing students to live and work in a diverse society. However, while about three-fourths of faculty believe diversity is important to enhancing learning in their classroom, slightly less than half actively incorporate diversity in their course (e.g., topics, scholarship, etc.). In addition, one-third reported that the diversity of faculty in their department has had little or no impact on the intellectual diversity and/or quality of teaching/research/extension in their program.

There is widespread interest among faculty in participating in research, artistic endeavors or extension projects outside the U.S., and slightly more than half of faculty expressed an interest in teaching in a study abroad program. Less than one-third, however, are interested in teaching in the NC State International Studies Major.

Assessment: More than 80 percent of faculty report being at least somewhat familiar with academic program assessment in their department, and that they are encouraged to provided input on academic assessment. However, more than 30 percent were dissatisfied with the support for assessment activities in their department.

Faculty Senate: More than one-third of faculty report having too little knowledge of the Faculty Senate to express an opinion on it. Among those expressing an opinion, about 60 percent agree that it provides an effective mode of communication between the faculty and the university administration and is an effective advocate for faculty in general. However, only about half of respondents agree that the Faculty Senate is an effective advocate for faculty like themselves. There is overwhelming support expressed for the university having an 'ombuds' capacity to provide informal assistance in resolving conflicts as an alternative to a formal complaint process.

Pay and Compensation: A slim majority of faculty indicate they are dissatisfied with their compensation (salary and benefits) at NC State. Dissatisfaction with salary increases as faculty look beyond their immediate peers. For example, faculty are much more likely to believe their salary is "reasonably competitive" when compared to other faculty in their department at NC State than when compared to faculty in their discipline at comparable institutions in the U.S. Faculty are particularly dissatisfied with healthcare benefits, somewhat more satisfied with retirement benefits, and more satisfied still with the voluntary benefits program - - though even here over 30 percent of faculty disagree that the program is "reasonably competitive." More information from open-ended comments on compensation will be helpful in teasing out particular concerns in this area.

Work-Life Issues: Less than half of faculty report giving or receiving help with balancing work and personal life issues to/from their department colleagues. However, one-third of faculty report experiencing "a great deal" of stress in the past couple of years over balancing their work and personal life. There is near universal agreement among faculty that it is important for the university or state to provide various benefits to better manage work-life concerns (e.g., flexible work hours, family leave time, ability to alter the tenure clock, access to child care, tuition remission for dependent children).


For more information on the NC State University 2006 Faculty Well-Being Survey contact:
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research
Office of Institutional Planning and Research
Box 7002
NCSU
Phone: (919) 515-4184
Email: ncsu_surveys@ncsu.edu

Posted: January, 2007

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