According to a recent satisfaction survey among Georgia Tech faculty members, participants listed quality of colleagues and quality of undergraduate students as the two best aspects of working at the university. 

The information was gathered as part of the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, which was conducted last spring. COACHE is a national effort coordinated through Harvard Graduate School of Education to gather data and feedback on areas of institutional strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

“I’d like to thank all of the faculty members who participated in the survey,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “We want Georgia Tech to be a great place to work, and receiving feedback on both what we’re doing well and areas for improvement are critical to attract and retain the best and brightest scholars and teachers.” 
 
Tech’s results are examined in relation to 112 national institutions ranging from Virginia Tech to University of California, Davis, and selected peer cohorts that included universities such as Purdue University and the University of Texas at Austin. The COACHE program at Harvard performed the statistical analysis and provided a confidential provost report and raw data.

The survey was voluntary, and there was a 43 percent response rate from full-time academic tenured, tenure-track, and some nontenured track faculty (i.e., professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and full-time academic professionals and lecturers).

Here are a few key things to know about the results: 

• Areas of strength included appreciation and recognition, collaboration and engagement at the departmental level, and quality leadership at the college level. 
• Areas for improvement included personal and family policies, health and retirement benefits, and mentoring. 
• When asked “What is the one thing your institution could do to improve the work place for faculty?” the most common themes among the responses included facilities and resources for work (47 percent), leadership (in general) (36 percent), and culture (32 percent).

Currently, Leslie N. Sharp, associate vice provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development, is presenting the results of the survey and next steps to groups ranging from the Faculty Executive Board and Academic Senate to college and school audiences such as Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Based on the results, an action plan is slated to be developed by the end of summer 2018.  

Questions? Contact Sharp at leslie.sharp@gatech.edu, or visit coache.gse.harvard.edu.