Analysis of the 2008-09 MU-ADVANCE Follow-Up Survey

In an effort to assess their first year experience, MU-ADVANCE administered the Follow-Up Survey to the twelve new male and female STEM faculty hired during the 2008-09 academic year.  With a 50% response rate, all respondents reported that they were satisfied with Marshall and “like it here.”  Participants were asked to rank factors, such as support staff and access to resources, by importance (low, medium, high) and the quality (low, medium, high) of each at Marshall. 

The following four categories received unanimous ratings as most important: “Department atmosphere and willingness to help establish you at Marshall,” “College atmosphere and willingness to help establish you at Marshall,” “Access to necessary resources (i.e., T&P guidelines),” and “Opportunity for becoming tenured.”  How well did Marshall do?  The “Department Atmosphere” received the highest quality rating among the areas evaluated, with 5 “high” and 1 “medium” rating.  The “College Atmosphere” received 3 “high” and 3 “medium” ratings, while “Access to necessary resources” received 3 “high,” 2 “medium,” and 1 “low.”   “Opportunity for becoming tenured” only was evaluated by 5 of the 6 participants, with 4 “high” and 1 “medium” response.  For the second year, “Child Care Availability” received the lowest importance rating; however, it was “Salary Schedule” that received the lowest quality rating, with 3 “low.” 

Suggestions on how to improve the first year experience for incoming new faculty included: improve student recruitment efforts to obtain a larger pool of students doing research, develop a mentor relationship outside the university, alert faculty of travel monies to conferences, offer webpage development workshops, and better define Tenure and Promotion guidelines. 

MU-ADVANCE received positive feedback from both male and female participants, saying that the Program was “inspirational,” “has been very helpful in identifying funding opportunities,” and “made it possible for me to help a grad student attend her first professional meeting and make her first professional presentation. After that conference, she decided to apply to schools to seek her doctorate.”  MU-ADVANCE will host a webpage development workshop and will work with the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning to create effective mentoring opportunities for new faculty hires.