The University of Delaware will participate in the 2020 Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Faculty Satisfaction Survey, administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This survey will replace the UD ADVANCE Faculty Climate Survey, which has been administered by the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness since 2014. With this change, UD will join a cohort of institutions across the U.S. participating in the 2020 survey.

The spring survey will begin a three-year partnership with COACHE that will allow for benchmarking the experiences of UD faculty to those of colleagues at peer institutions. The experts at COACHE will provide UD with a research-based diagnostic report of survey results and will provide regular consultation to senior academic leaders regarding the survey data. The survey measures a range of factors that are important to faculty, including support for research, teaching and service, the clarity of tenure and promotion processes, departmental engagement and collegiality, and shared governance.

Full-time faculty will receive an email in February inviting them to participate in the web-based survey, which runs from Feb. 3 until April 10.

As in previous years, results from the faculty climate survey will assist campus leaders in making data-driven policy changes to improve conditions for faculty. The Office of the Provost, UD ADVANCE, the Faculty Senate, the AAUP and others have used previous survey results to inform broad efforts to diversify the faculty and improve the climate for faculty. Examples include policies and procedures that support formal mentoring, leadership development, best practices for faculty evaluation, and work-life balance.

Provost Robin Morgan welcomes the partnership with COACHE: “This is an important step forward for UD at just the right time. As we welcome more new faculty, it’s very important that we focus on the key issues that lead to faculty success. With COACHE we will be able to learn both about the experience of faculty at UD and how that compares nationally. I’m grateful for the partnership that UD ADVANCE has provided over the past five years to promote faculty success and transform our institutional practices, and I’m confident that we will all benefit a great deal from this new partnership with COACHE.”

Summary data will be shared with the UD community in partnership with the Faculty Senate and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) UD chapter. Deni Galileo, president of UD’s chapter of AAUP encourages faculty participation: "The Executive Council of the UD chapter of the AAUP urges all faculty to complete this important survey, which potentially could be used as a basis to improve faculty working conditions at UD."

Questions about the survey can be directed to Heather Kelly, director of Institutional Research, at hkelly@udel.edu.