gradPSYCH January 2007 WEB Exclusive

Junior faculty ID top work environments

Survey finds early-career faculty at colleges more satisfied than university peers.

A commitment to work and family balance, a collegial environment and good compensation all contribute to satisfied early-career faculty, according to a recent survey by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education of 42 member institutions. The poll of nearly 5,000 junior faculty members found some of the most satisfied professors at Brown University, Auburn University, Ohio State University, Stanford University, Davidson College and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign--all of which received outstanding marks in four of the seven categories assessed by the survey. For all seven categories, psychology faculty reported higher job satisfaction than their colleagues in other departments.

Barry Burkhart, PhD, chair of Auburn's psychology department, was not surprised by the survey results: The school has established several policies aimed at increasing junior faculty satisfaction, he says. For instance, Auburn allows faculty members who become new parents to take a semester off from teaching. The psychology department keeps teaching loads light for all first- and second-year faculty members, and allows third-year faculty to take an entire semester off.

"They take advantage of that semester teaching leave and write up papers and that put them in good stead for the typical fifth-year nomination for tenure and promotion," says Burkhart.

Across all the institutions in the survey, junior faculty reported high job satisfaction--averaging 3.84 on a five-point scale. However, university professors were less satisfied than their college-based colleagues, averaging 3.90 as compared to 4.15.

—S. Dingfelder

Junior faculty surveyed by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education ranked the following institutions highest in seven themes.

Theme	Liberal arts colleges	Research/doctoral universities
Tenure clarity	Davidson College Kenyon College	Auburn University Brown University East Carolina University North Carolina State University Ohio State University University of Kansas
Nature of work	Davidson College Denison University Goucher College Hamilton College	Brown University Dartmouth College Harvard University Stanford University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Policy effectiveness	Denison University Goucher College Macalester College	Auburn University Ohio State University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Kansas
Compensation*	Hamilton College Macalester College	Dartmouth College Harvard University Ohio State University Stanford University
Work & family	Davidson College Goucher College Wabash College Wheaton College	Auburn University Dartmouth College Ohio State University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Virginia
Collegiality	Kenyon College Wabash College	Auburn University Brown University Stanford University Tufts University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Virginia
Global satisfaction	Davidson College Kenyon College	Brown University Stanford University University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Virginia

* Two universities qualifying as exemplars asked not to be named in this category.

Source: Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education

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