What New Scholars Want

1. What New Scholars Want California State University System Cathy A. Trower, Ph.D. May 8, 2006

2. First Exercise • Please place an * by the five that you feel are most important to recent graduates of doctoral degree programs. • Then place an x by the next five most important.

3. Top 10 Factors from Survey • Institutional support for my research (# 6) • Time for family/personal obligations (# 13) • Quality of department (# 16) • Number of courses/preps (# 2) • Flexibility of work schedule (# 12) • Opportunity for collaboration (# 10) • Content of courses I will teach (# 1) • Opportunity to work independently (# 9) • Geographic location of institution (# 18) • Quality of the institution (# 17)

4. Importance to Students of Color In making job choices, students of color placed significantly more importance than white students on: • Having institutional support for my research • Match between my research interests and those of others in my department • Opportunity to work with a leader in my field • Job security

5. Importance to Female Students In making job choices, female students placed significantly more importance than male students on: • Flexibility of my work schedule • Time for family/personal obligations • Employment opportunities for my spouse/partner • Teaching load • Geographic location

6. Importance to Male Students In making job choices, male students placed significantly more importance than female students on: • Opportunity for recognition • Quality of the department • Quality of the institution • Opportunity to work with a leader in my field • Level and quality of students

7. Choice Cycle The private sector competes to be a great place to work!

8. Choice Cycle

9. Key Factors in Job ChoiceInside the Academy • Whether the position is tenure-track or non-tenure-track • Contact length for non-tenure-track appointment • Mix of teaching and research expected • Salary • Prospects of tenure or contract renewal • Department quality/ranking • Institutional prestige • Geographic location of the institution

10. Factors influencing job choice Of the 7 factors measured: • Geographical location was alwaysmostimportant. • Mix of teaching and research alwayssecond. • Salary almostalways fifth. • Institution prestige almostalways last. __________________________________ Discipline differences

11. Default: Both offers match work preferences, 71-85% chance of tenure/contract renewal, location where comfortable living, dept ranked 11-20, institution ranked top 10, 3-year contract (NTT offer) • Scenario 1. NTT: 10 year contract • Scenario 2. TT: Satisfied living; NTT: Comfortable living • Scenario 3. TT: Differs; NTT: Matches • Scenario 4. TT: Don't like location; NTT: Comfortable living • Scenario 5: TT: Don’t like location; NTT: Most preferred location

12. Default: Both offers match work preferences, 71-85% chance of tenure/contract renewal, location where comfortable living, dept ranked 11-20, institution ranked top 10, 3-year contract (NTT offer) • Scenario 6. NTT: Top 10 department • Scenario 7. NTT: Top 10 department and 10-year contract • Scenario 8. TT: Differs; NTT: 110% salary; 3-year contract • Scenario 9. TT: Differs; NTT: 125% salary; 5 year contract • Scenario 10. TT: Differs; NTT: Top 10 department, 110% salary, 5 year

13. Women in Science

14. The Big Considerations • Work: Meaningful work that fits the balance of teaching and research the faculty member desires – not the same for everyone • Location: Geographic fit (affordable housing, decent commute, good schools, a sense of community, safe, job for spouse/partner) • Quality of Life on the Job and Outside of Work: Time for family and other interests outside of work; a sense of colleagueship at work

15. Who is Gen X? • Born between 1965 and 1980. • Skeptical. • Believe parents suffered VDD – vacation deficit disorder. • “Give me balance now, not when I’m 65.” • “If they can’t understand that I want a kick-ass career and a kick-ass life, then I don’t want to work here.” • “Why does it matter when I come and go, as long as I get the work done?” • Willing to work hard but wants to decide when, where, and how. Lancaster & Stillman (2002). When Generations Collide. NY: HarperCollins Publishing Inc.

17. Format agnostic Nomadic Multitasking Experiential Collaborative Integrated Principled Adaptive Direct “Next Gen” “Born with the Chip” Abram & Luther (2004)

18. Permanence Solidity Solemnity Sacred Solitude Quiet Status Quo Transience Flexibility Playfulness Profane Communal Noise Innovation Culture Shift on Campus “There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear.” [Buffalo Springfield]

19. Having said that… • Young, diverse -- these faculty are unique • Defy type-casting; despise labels • Most do not suffer silently; not afraid to speak up and ask for what they want • Diversity brings a variety of values and expectations about work and the workplace

20. Embedded Confidentiality = candor = quality Merit determined empirically and objective Darwinian tenure process is good/competition improves individual performance Research is an independent process; centered around disciplines Emergent Transparency ensures equity Merit socially constructed; subjective; contextual Cooperation and collaboration are better for community and collegiality Research may be collaborative; centered around a problem Culture Clash

21. Embedded Quality and quantity of research matter most; heaviest weight Serious scholars choose work over all else Faculty thrive on autonomy Emergent Teaching, advising, service to the campus and community matter also What people do outside of work matters also; dual careers/families happen Faculty have a collective responsibility; autonomy can be isolating Culture Clash

22. Second Exercise On one side of an index card: • What three issues do faculty recruits most often ask about? On the other side: • What do you most hope they will not ask about?

23. Collaborative On Academic Careers in Higher Education At the Harvard Graduate School of Education

24. COACHE Pilot:The Study of New Scholars What? • Gather satisfaction data by gender, race, and field, in a standardized fashion so that it is comparable over time and across institutions. • Create a constructive competition among academic institutions to be a “great place to work” for all junior faculty. • Provide a diagnostic tool to aid in the recruitment and retention of junior faculty.

25. COACHE Pilot:The Study of New Scholars Purpose • Make the academy a more equitable and appealing place for new faculty to work in order to recruit and retain top talent. • Increase the recruitment, retention, status, success, and satisfaction of faculty of color and white women. • Create a better informed doctoral student and early career faculty population. • Give voice to early career faculty. • Ultimately, produce structural and cultural changes on campuses.

26. COACHE Pilot:The Study of New Scholars Why? • Lack of improvement in the statistics for 30 years. • Increasing frustration about: • The tenure process • Difficulty finding career and life balance • Lack of faculty diversity • Cultural, generational clash between traditional and emergent views/values (See Trower & Chait, Harvard Magazine, March-April 2002) • Lack of internal reform despite good intentions

27. We Found What You Found • Your survey of 213 probationary showed • Most happy but… • Lack time to conduct research, teach well and engage in service • Women and minorities more likely to indicate that campus climate was not positive • Two-thirds expressed concern about tenure process and clarity of tenure criteria Junn, Ellen N. and Margaret Atwell, 2004. “A campus-wide model for supporting untenured faculty including women and minorities,” International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities, and Nations, Volume 4.

28. Amherst Bard Barnard Columbia Harvard Holy Cross MIT Mount Holyoke NYU Sarah Lawrence Smith Williams Focus Groups Conducted with Faculty At… 56 total: 23 males; 34 females 32 white faculty; 24 faculty of color

29. Key components of faculty satisfaction (and ultimately success) are: • Clarity surrounding… • Tenure process, criteria, standards, body of evidence • Expectations for scholarship, teaching, advising, colleagueship, campus citizenship • Reasonable performance expectations • Consistency of expectations and messages • A climate and culture that support great work -- collegiality • Quality of life on the job and off • Workload equity • Professional development and support

30. Berkeley Brown Duke University of Arizona University of Illinois University of Washington Carleton Morehouse Mt. Holyoke Oberlin Sarah Lawrence Smith Pilot Study: Survey 1,932 invited to participate; 1,149 completed (60%) Sample: 1,180 males; 752 females; 1,606 white faculty; 326 faculty of color

31. COACHE A diagnostic management tool to aid in recruiting and retaining top junior faculty by examining the key components of their work life, including… • Importance and effectiveness of policies (32) • Tenure clarity and reasonableness of expectations (20) • Work load, work environment (20) • Climate, culture, collegiality, support (16) • Global satisfaction (7) • Best and worst aspects of the institution (2)

32. What the data tell us • How does my institution compare to its peers? • What departments had the highest and lowest ratings? • Are there significant differences by demographics? • Are there areas where, as a university, we do especially well? Especially poorly? • What changes in policy or practice, either university-wide or within a school, would yield the greatest increase in faculty satisfaction? • What works well, where, and why?

33. COACHE allows you to… • Spot and reward success • Detect and correct trouble spots • Learn whether policies are working as intended • Have data-driven dialogue rather than data-free debates • Place your faculty concerns in a comparative context • Gain an edge in recruiting by cultivating and demonstrating a commitment to being a great place to work

34. VS SS N SU VU All things considered, how satisfied are you with your institution as a place to work? OVERALL

35. VS SS N SU VU All things considered, how satisfied are you with your institution as a place to work? BY GENDER

36. I find the tenure criteria to be…Very clear (5); Fairly clear (4); Neither clear nor unclear (3); Fairly unclear (2); Very unclear (1) VC FC FU VU N TENURE QUESTION, OVERALL

37. VS SS N SU VU How satisfied are you with the amount of time you have to conduct research? WORKLOAD QUESTION, BY GENDER

38. How satisfied are you with the amount of time you have to conduct research? • Within your institution,your male junior faculty were more satisfied than were your female junior facultywith theamount of time they have to conduct research. • Compared to female junior faculty at your peers,females at your institution were more than one standard deviation below the meanon satisfaction with the amount of time they have to conduct research. • Among male junior faculty at all universities,males at your institution ranked in the 65th percentileon satisfaction with the amount of time they have to conduct research. • Among female junior faculty at all universities,females at your institution ranked in the 54th percentileon satisfaction with the amount of time they have to conduct research. • Across all universities,male junior faculty were more satisfied than were female junior facultywith the amount of time they have to conduct research.

39. How satisfied are you with how well you fit (e.g., your sense of belonging, your comfort level)? VS VU SU N SS CLIMATE QUESTION, BY RACE

40. I find the tenure process to be…Very clear (5); Fairly clear (4); Neither clear nor unclear (3); Fairly unclear (2); Very unclear (1) ACADEMIC AREA

41. I find the tenure process to be…Very clear (5); Fairly clear (4); Neither clear nor unclear (3); Fairly unclear (2); Very unclear (1)

42. The five best aspects about working at your institution are:

43. The five worst aspects about working at your institution are:

44. Policies & Provisions: The “Effectiveness Gap” Respondents identified these policies as “very or somewhat important” to their success, but as “very or somewhat ineffective” at their institution.

45. Would you recommend your department to a candidate?

46. Cost and Deliverables • Package A (If 5 or more CSU’s join) • $12,500 per campus, with an option to pay over three fiscal years. • Each enrolled campus receives their results; results from their 5 selected CSU peers; and comparisons to all CSU’s as a group. • Package B (If fewer than 5 CSU’s join) • $20,000 per campus, with an option to pay over three fiscal years. • Each enrolled campus receives their results; results from their 5 selected COACHE peers; and comparisons to all COACHE universities as a group.