COACHE Faculty Satisfaction Survey

Posted by Jessica Stowell on Jan. 19, 2016

Faculty members at UNC Asheville completed the COACHE (Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education) Survey in the 2015 spring term. COACHE is a nationally benchmarked survey tool for assessing: (a) the level of engagement by tenure-stream faculty in teaching, research, and service at their institution; and (b) how supported and satisfied tenure-stream faculty are with the terms and conditions of their employment.

A comprehensive Provost’s Report of the COACHE survey responses, and a separate Leadership & Governance report focusing on COACHE survey results dealing with those topics, are now available on the IREP Surveys website.

In these reports the responses of UNC Asheville faculty on the COACHE survey are compared to: (a) the responses of faculty at a small cohort of five public institutions (St. Mary’s College of Maryland, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Purchase, UNC Wilmington, and University of Wisconsin at Parkside) similar to UNC Asheville in size and/or mission; and (b) the responses of faculty at 127 universities who participated in the 2015 COACHE survey.1 Significant within-institution variations in response to COACHE survey questions – e.g., significant differences in how Assistant and Associate Professors evaluate departmental collegiality at UNC Asheville – are also noted in these reports.

UNC Asheville faculty reported a higher degree of overall satisfaction than their COACHE peers, with 76% of faculty members indicating that, if they had it to do over again, they would choose UNC Asheville again as a place of employment. 82% of the faculty at UNC Asheville were satisfied with their department as a place to work; 74% responded that there is visible leadership support for diversity at UNC Asheville; and 95% would recommend their department to a job candidate.

Evaluations of job satisfaction by UNC Asheville faculty fell in the top 30% of faculty responses nationally, and were the highest among our five selected peers, in the following broad areas:

  • Nature of Work: Teaching
  • Interdisciplinary Work
  • Mentoring
  • Departmental Leadership
  • Departmental Collegiality
  • Appreciation and Recognition

Evaluations of job satisfaction by UNC Asheville faculty compared less favorably to their peers, or displayed significant within-institution differences, in these broad areas:

  • Tenure Policies
  • Promotion
  • Divisional Leadership
  • Nature of Work: Research
  • Health and Retirement Benefits

Michael Gass and Jessica Stowell will discuss these and other findings from the COACHE survey at a Provost’s Forum scheduled for Monday, January 25 from 3:30-5:00 pm in the Highsmith Union Grotto.

Visit Institutional Research News for other information about developments in institutional research, effectiveness and planning at UNC Asheville.

1The Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning (IREP) requested, and recently received from COACHE, a supplemental comparison of UNC Asheville faculty responses to faculty responses at 27 liberal arts colleges and small master’s universities who participated in the 2015 COACHE survey.  IREP will discuss these additional results at the January 25 Provost’s forum.