COACHE survey seeks input to improve campus experience

This February brings a chance for faculty on Binghamton's campus to have their voices heard.

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The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey is a research-practice partnership with to supplement decision-making with data that makes the recruitment and development of faculty, and their leadership, more effective.

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"This survey is very important to our campus - in terms of faculty academic life and personal life balance," said Nasrin Fatima, the associate provost for assessment and analytics. "This data can help us to improve many areas for faculty from the ground up. That's one of our goals. But we need to get the survey in front of as many people as possible for it to help in faculty life going forward. We've made real progress in the past in this fashion."

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COACHE, which is based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, includes more than 300 colleges, universities, community colleges and educational systems who have strengthened their capacity to identify the drivers of faculty success and to implement informed changes.

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Binghamton University previously used the COACHE survey during 2012 and 2017. In 2017, Binghamton's overall response rate was 51%; this year, the hope is for even greater participation by faculty across all departments, divisions and schools.

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The COACHE survey is run in a five-year cycle. In the first year, the survey is conducted, and a leadership team is created to examine the results. In the second year, the results of the survey are disseminated. During this time, key initiatives are identified and prioritized. In the third and fourth year, the priorities are acted on and progress is evaluated, giving the leadership groups a full year to see the results of various initiatives. Finally, in the fifth year, the survey is available to be completed once again.

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This means that taking the survey is essential to seeing faculty needs addressed by a dedicated and innovative team to the largest extent possible, all while having a direct line of communication with every level of Binghamton governance, including faculty deans, the provost and the president.

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The survey themes reflect findings about faculty experience, including the nature of their research, teaching and service; their opportunities for tenure, promotion, appreciation and recognition; the availability of interdisciplinary work and mentoring; the departmental resources/support provided; and finally, questions about institutional leadership and retention rates.

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"Great faculty and students are what make universities great. Recruiting and retaining top faculty, therefore, are critical to maintaining and increasing the university's quality and reputation," says Donald Neiman, professor of history and serving provost during the initial COACHE surveys. "The COACHE survey allows us to check in with faculty and understand what's working for them and where we need to improve. We take the feedback seriously and use it to identify areas where we can do things to make Binghamton a better place for faculty to do their work and to do our best to ensure that top faculty are committed to the university and stay for a long time."

Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence (TAEs)

In 2013, Binghamton University developed a new approach to hiring faculty and supporting research by creating five Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence (TAEs). A sixth TAE was added in 2018.

Each TAE is guided by a faculty steering committee of 12-15 members. The steering committees identify new faculty positions necessary to support the work of the TAEs; offer seed grants to faculty through a competitive process; organize symposia, conferences and workshops; and foster research collaboration.

Since their creation, Binghamton has recruited 78 new faculty to the TAEs. These individuals joined more than 100 members of the Binghamton faculty who have elected to participate in one of the TAEs.

Faculty reported that the top five best aspects of Binghamton were the quality of undergraduate students, quality and support of colleagues, academic freedom and cost of living. In general, Binghamton faculty reported overall satisfaction with their nature of work, benefits, department and the different aspects of the institution. When compared with peer institutions, Binghamton faculty reported higher satisfaction than their peer counterparts.

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Although Binghamton scored extremely positively in all the above areas compared to other schools who have implemented the survey, there are always areas to improve.

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"The 2012 survey revealed faculty concerns about support for interdisciplinary work and mentoring opportunities. We addressed concerns about interdisciplinarity with the Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence, which have opened new opportunities and support for interdisciplinary collaboration," Neiman said. "We developed a formal, yet flexible, system of mentoring faculty to give them the tools to be successful in earning tenure and then moving toward promotion to professor. The 2017 results suggested that these made a difference as our scores on these issues increased significantly."

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By taking the COACHE survey, all faculty have a chance to make their voices a part of Binghamton's future.

"These responses reflect the fact that Binghamton is a special place. We have limited control over salary - but we have terrific students who are a pleasure to teach, great faculty and a good support for faculty members' intellectual work," Neiman said. "We also have a relatively flat organization, and faculty members find it possible to interact with - and share their views with - their deans, the provost and even the president. Those are things that matter a lot."

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