UVA faculty think their work is valued at the department level—but not as much at the administrative level. Profs want more money and support for their grad students, and want tuition benefits for their children—as well as subsidized parking.
Such is what’s suggested by a faculty survey conducted by the UVA Faculty Senate in the spring and due to be formally released in mid-November. Of the 3,500 faculty solicited, about 2,000 responded. Roughly half of the respondents were tenure track professors. The survey looked at three broad areas: the academic community, faculty priorities and benefits.
 Provost Tim Garson says he’s not surprised that profs feel more support from departments than from the administration. "I would wonder whether that’s not the same thing in corporate America, where you value your close family more than your extended family." |
When it comes to the academic community, most faculty—78 percent—agreed that UVA is "collegial," and are generally satisfied with undergrad students and other faculty. More than 70 percent agreed that their department valued their teaching, their research and their service. The highest levels of faculty dissatisfaction are with the larger university: 36 percent were dissatisfied with support for their discipline within the University, and high percentages also weren’t pleased with efforts to retain valued faculty and support for their department within their school.
In ranking priorities for administrative support, faculty are much more interested in seeing transparent administrative polices (49 percent) than departmental office space (28 percent). Nontenure track profs want a clearer understanding of top-level decisions. One of the other top priorities for faculty is seeing streamlined administrative policies.
As for research support, faculty’s top priority is their grad students. Next on the list is support for travel to conferences. When it comes to benefits, profs generally like their retirement programs, but don’t like paying for parking or for gym memberships. Down the line, they’d like tuition benefits for their children and subsidized parking.
Faculty response created a muddled picture on the subject of diversity. More than 70 percent agreed that diversity is valued by their department, though faculty who actually are women or minorities were less likely to agree. Yet when it came to research and teaching support priorities, "enhanced diversity, including minorities and women," wasn’t ranked by nearly as many white men as it was by women and minorities.
Provost Tim Garson hasn’t seen the full report, but has had a cursory peek at the results and isn’t all that surprised that profs feel more support from departments than from the administration. "I would wonder whether that’s not the same thing in corporate America, where you value your close family more than your extended family," says Garson. "On the other hand, I think there are ways that are extremely important that the extended family does demonstrate value." He thinks the report on the Commission on the Future will show faculty that UVA is taking their concerns seriously.
Garson would like to get comparable data from other universities in order to isolate which concerns are UVA specific. But one result from the survey he thinks looks particularly good in context is the percentage who find the school collegial. "That’s what Jefferson had in mind," says Garson. "I have gone to friends at other universities and asked that question, and the answer that I get is 15 to 20 percent, not 77 percent. Nevermind spiritually collaborative, we are statistically collaborative."
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