Faculty Well-BeingNorth Carolina State University

March 10, 2009

Committee on Faculty Well-Being

Faculty Well-Being Committee

• Faculty Well-Being Survey, 2007• Monthly meetings since January 08• Change in leadership• Additional data analysis• Identified similar findings in other

reports– COACHE survey, Task Force on Women

Faculty, Interdisciplinary Task Force

Sensitivity to Diversity

• Variance in satisfaction between tenured/tenure track and non-tenure track faculty

• Variance in satisfaction and retention between men and women

• Variance by age and career stage

• Variance by race

Primary Issues

• Building Productive Career Stages

• Creating a Community of Scholars & Teachers

• Balancing Work-Life Demands

• Inspiring Creative Leadership & Effective Communication

Career Stages• Recommendations

– Identify specific strategies to retain excellent faculty in all stages.

– Teach coaching skills to senior faculty

– Recognize that faculty work-life balance is experienced differently at each career stage

– Review how time in rank varies among departments, especially for associate professors.

– Review and evaluate the practices associated with promotion and time in rank (such as the impact of administrative responsibilities).

Sense of CommunityRecommendations at the University Level:

 • Promote activities for new university

faculty to meet others and develop a sense of community

• Build community through faculty initiated and administratively supported interdisciplinary seminars, informal journal clubs, reading groups and exhibitions that bring the campus community together

• Encourage and reward interdisciplinary activities through university sponsored websites and seed-grants

Sense of CommunityRecommendations at the University Level: 

• Encourage and reward international interdisciplinary activities that engage the university community

• Provide faculty with amenities that foster community and collaboration (e.g., coffee, gym memberships)

• Establish an Interdisciplinary Center, examine current physical spaces on campus that may be used to house the Center

• Address the fundamental challenge of bringing the physically separate campuses together (The FWBAC plans to explore in detail next year, and will prepare a report on its findings and recommendations)

Sense of CommunityRecommendations at the Departmental Level:

– Hold regular (at least monthly) departmental faculty meetings, social events and faculty retreats

– Regularly communicate budget decisions that are transparent for full understanding

– Strategically communicate with all faculty

– Hold annual faculty reviews. Use separate mentoring with new faculty in particular

– Appoint grant writing teams and other teams to work on common goals

– Unit heads should present a “State of the Department’ report to the faculty – with successes, a completely transparent budget and challenges to be faced

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Framework for Work-Life Life Fit

Work- Life Fit

Work- Life Fit• Recommendations:

– Sensitivity to faculty personal needs when planning work events (e.g., time of meeting conflicts with child care hours)

– Assure compatibility between new faculty and faculty mentors

– Encourage faculty flextime for school conferences, medical appointments, etc

– Encourage faculty wellness to include physical activity

– Assure distribution of departmental tasks while discouraging faculty overload

Leadership & Communication

• Issues identified in survey

• Departments lack:

– clear priorities– conflict resolution abilities– budget transparency– Faculty input on decisions

made within departments

• Little provision of and equitable distribution of resources

Leadership & CommunicationRecommendations:

• Department head development

• Leadership development for

faculty interested in personal growth opportunities

• Required mentoring system

Immediate ActionImplement training and development

program for department heads to:

– Develop mentoring at all career stages;– Build a sense of departmental community

with activities; – Be aware of work-life balance when planning

schedules and – Utilize best ways/tools for communication. 

Develop a greater sense of community across the colleges.