2009 UFF-FGCU Faculty Survey - Executive Summary
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A
questionnaire was developed and implemented
by UFF-FGCU in April 2009 to survey the opinions and attitudes of FGCU
unit
members concerning areas of the University’s climate of interest and
specifically related to their employment, career interests, work life,
salary
and benefits. One hundred sixty one respondents (approximately
half of
the unit employees) generally representing the University’s gender,
racial,
rank/employment category, UFF affiliation, and college of employment
distribution provided information about their opinions and experiences
at FGCU.
Thus this report represents many opinions of a representative group of
faculty
at FGCU.
Respondents
represented UFF members and non union members (55% of
respondents). They
provided reasons for belonging to the union and reasons that they have
not yet
joined. Of non-member respondents, most cite the cost in the
current
economic climate as a reason for not joining. Half of the
respondents
have 10 or more years in higher education. Two thirds have worked
in
higher education before coming to FGCU.
Areas
cited as needing improvement at FGCU were financial (salary and
benefits),
workload/assignment, shared governance/administration relationship,
support for
the work of faculty, and faculty career issues. Specific items
within
these categories were noted with inversion/compression and general
salary,
class size and time for scholarship, fairness and equity in
relationships with
administration as well as trust/comfort in talking to supervisors,
support for
research with time and money, and issues pertaining to promotion.
Faculty
feel less comfortable and rate their relationships as having less
quality the
less proximate the administrator is to their every day work life, e.g.,
relationships are generally better with immediate supervisors than with
Provost
Office staff. Differences among the colleges emerged in
evaluating
relationships with administration and with regard to comfort
approaching
administration about evaluation and assignment issues. Faculty
generally
see supervisors and college level administrators as most approachable
in the
Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business and least in the other
Colleges/Units.
Faculty
generally report that their evaluation and assignment concerns were
resolved
satisfactorily or at least felt supported (91%) after talking to their
immediate supervisor with fewer (71%) reporting the same satisfaction
when
issues go to upper administration. There were other areas
reported for
routine or periodic discussions with immediate supervisors. A key area
for
faculty discussion with supervisors and administration is about
physical,
verbal, written or emotional abuse by students. One quarter of
the
respondents reported difficulties in this area and of these, 70% (30)
sought
assistance from a supervisor or Dean; more than half reported that they
did not
get satisfactory assistance or support. Several also identified a
gap in
communicating or getting assistance and support from the Dean of
Students Office or
Student Services in general.
In
the area of faculty retention, faculty responded to items that
addressed why
they work or continue to work at FGCU with the top five reasons being
colleagues, living in Southwest Florida, having a good fit with FGCU,
family/other ties to the community, and the lack of ability to sell
one’s
house. While many faculty indicate currently (33%) or planning
(38%) to
seek other employment, the Colleges of Education and Health Professions
project
the most stable faculty. In an open-ended response about staying
at FGCU,
faculty appreciated the focus on teaching and its attractions and the
students
at FGCU while others indicated that time committed to FGCU’s
development and
focus on teaching have rendered getting other employment
difficult.
Of
the respondents who have applied for employment elsewhere, 80% have
received
offers. Most don’t leave because of the comfort with FGCU, its
programs
and faculty colleagues and the real estate market downturn that has
made
selling their homes impossible.
Respondents
mostly work beyond the 40 hour workweek. Half work between 41 and 49
hours per
week, 28% work 51-60 hours, and 12% work more than 60 hours per week on
the
average. Reasons cited for working extended hours include
increasing
class sizes, increasing assessment or accreditation requirements in
their
classes, and trying to fit service or scholarship into their schedules
to
accomplish the requirements for promotion. Variation among the
colleges
emerged with professional colleges reporting more assessment and
accreditation
burdens and all noting the burdens of class size increases.
The
vast majority of faculty note that they are able to obtain a summer
assignment
several feel that second courses during summer and additional courses
during
the regular school year should be first offered to full-time faculty
instead of
adjuncts to improve/maintain instructional and program quality and to
provide
opportunities for additional income.
Generally
faculty are concerned with salary in general and inversion/compression
noted
especially, the increasing scholarship requirements for promotion with
less
time and little support, a general and growing disconnect between
faculty and
administration, workload issues – especially class sizes, and the
intentions to
leave FGCU if improvements in these issues are not made or when the
real estate
market improves. These issues will all have an impact on the
short and
longer term quality of the faculty who are retained and the ability to
recruit new
faculty as well as continue to grow the University and its
programs.
