BYU faculty report high satisfaction levels, according to national survey
More BYU faculty members report overall job satisfaction than do their counterparts at other American institutions, according to the latest edition of the Higher Education Research Institute’s faculty survey.
The study has been administered every three years since its 1989 inception by the UCLA-based research group, and the 2005 edition was the fourth time BYU has participated. More than 1,100 BYU faculty were among the over 40,000 faculty members at 421 colleges and universities who responded to the survey.
When asked to rate their overall job satisfaction, 89 percent of BYU faculty chose “very satisfactory” or “satisfactory,” compared to 80 percent at private institutions and 75 percent at public schools. Using the same scale to respond to more specific areas of satisfaction, 92 percent of BYU faculty were satisfied with the quality of their students, compared to 78 percent of private school faculty and 52 percent at public schools. And with regard to salary and benefits, the numbers were 67 percent at BYU, 56 percent at private schools and 47 percent at public schools.
Eighty-five percent of BYU faculty are satisfied with their opportunity to develop new ideas, slightly higher than the national averages.
“Data such as those provided by the HERI study are useful for the university, colleges and departments,” said Richard Williams, associate academic vice president for faculty. “Faculty views and perceptions are important. They inform our understanding of where we are and give us a view of our strengths and weaknesses.”
More BYU faculty have worked with undergraduates on research projects and participated in a faculty development project.
With regard to sources of faculty stress:
A greater percentage of BYU faculty than the national averages experienced stress over family issues like children’s problems and health of a spouse.
Smaller fractions of BYU faculty than national averages felt stressed about working with underprepared students, committee work and experiencing discrimination.
Percentages were similar among BYU and private and public schools for stress from self-imposed expectations, research and publishing demands and teaching loads.
As would be expected, BYU faculty differed greatly from national averages on issues related to religion and spirituality. A much larger percentage of BYU faculty consider themselves religious and spiritual, seek opportunities to grow spiritually and experience close alignment between their work and their personal values.
Ninety-four percent of BYU faculty believe that developing moral character in their students as a very important or essential goal, compared to 56 percent at private universities and 49 percent at public schools.
Helping students develop personal values is a very important goal for 84 percent of BYU faculty, compared to 50 percent for private schools and 43 percent for public schools.
“Periodic participation in national studies like this provides the university opportunities to not only see how we compare to national benchmark groups, but also how we compare to ourselves over time,” said Danny Olsen, BYU director of institutional assessment and analysis, who administered the university’s participation in the HERI study and analyzed the BYU-specific results.
“Campus dialogue on faculty issues is greatly supported by the rich repository of information resulting from the study,” he said.
