Portland State University Research Update

Office of Institutional Research and Planning

Volume 6, Issue 2, Fall 2002

PSU Results From the 2001-2002 Heri Faculty Survey

During Fall 2001, the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA administered the 2001 Faculty Survey to the faculty and administrators from instructional departments at Portland State University. The survey collected information about faculty attitudes, experiences, concerns, job satisfaction, workload, teaching practices and professional activities. PSU developed ten campus-specific questions that were included in the survey. Analysis of these items is included in this report. The survey instrument and the complete results for Portland State University (PSU) are available in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, 503 725-3432. Below is a summary of the survey results for PSU.

PSU Respondent Profile

At PSU, 765 faculty members received the survey. Of these, 318 returned valid surveys for processing, resulting in a response rate of 41.6%. Of those who responded, 53% were male, 91% indicated that their ethnic background was White/Caucasian, 24% were between 50-54 years of age, more than a third of respondents (36%) held the rank of professor, and 48% were tenured. About two-thirds (66%) indicated that teaching was their principal academic activity. The percentage of those indicating research or administration as their principal activity was split evenly at 16% each. The majority of the faculty (73%) holds doctoral degrees and 13% are currently in a doctoral program. Almost a third (30%) of respondents earned their doctorates in the last eight years. The largest percentage of respondents (24%) works in social science departments. Half of the respondents (50%) were hired at PSU in the last 8 years. The gender split for those hired in the last eight years is considerable: 75% of female compared to 45% of male.

Teaching

Of the total respondents, 48% indicated that their interests were primarily in teaching. As illustrated in Figure 1, 46% of PSU’s full-time undergraduate instructional faculty estimated that they currently spend an average of 5-8 hours per week engaging in scheduled teaching compared to 24% of their nationwide counterparts. An additional 37% reported spending an average of 9-12 hours teaching each week vs. 49% of their nationwide counterparts. The amount of preparation time reported by FT undergraduate instructional faculty and the national comparative statistics were similar.

Nearly all respondents (99%) reported that an "essential" or "very important" goal for undergraduate education is to teach students to think clearly. Other goals that respondents marked as "very important" or "essential" were to prepare students for responsible citizenship (69%), enhance students' knowledge of and appreciation for other racial/ethnic groups (66%), and enhance students' self-understanding (64%). Three-fourths (73%) indicated that they "agree" or "strongly agree" that PSU should do more through the curriculum to encourage students to gain an understanding of global and international issues. When asked whether PSU should increase the use of information technology for student learning, 51% answered that they "agree" or "strongly agree" and 33% answered "neutral". Although this result suggests that over half of the faculty regard technology as a necessary part of effective teaching, 67% indicated that keeping up with information technology has been "somewhat" or an "extensive" source of stress over the last two years.

The Academic Career

Almost all respondents (91%) identified intellectual challenge as a "very important" factor in their decision to pursue an academic career, and 82% noted that intellectual freedom was also a "very important" factor. When it came to choosing a place to work, 72% indicated that geographic location was a "very important" factor in their decision to work at PSU. Most respondents (89%) noted that autonomy and independence were "satisfactory" or "very satisfactory" aspects of their current positions. Most (80%) were also "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the opportunities available to them to develop new ideas. In contrast, fewer (34% of all respondents and 26% of full-time undergraduate instructional faculty) felt that their salaries and fringe benefits were "satisfactory" or "very satisfactory". Figure 2 shows the comparison of PSU full-time undergraduate instructional faculty and their national peers in terms of their satisfaction with salaries and benefits. As can be seen, PSU’s faculty satisfaction falls well below that of their peers. Moreover, 31% of all respondents from PSU have received at least one firm job offer in the last 2 years and 42% have considered leaving academia for another job.

The Institution

Over three-fourths (77%) of all respondents "agree" or "strongly agree" that PSU should continue its urban mission; however, fewer respondents agreed that PSU has a clear sense of its institutional values (42% indicated that they "disagree" or "strongly disagree" and 27% indicated they were "neutral") or of vision and priorities for institutional planning (49% indicated that they "disagree" or "strongly disagree", and 25% indicated they were "neutral"). Institutional priorities that the respondents believed to be a "high" or "highest" priority include promoting the intellectual development of students (73%), creating a diverse multi-cultural campus environment (72%), and facilitating student involvement in community service (74%). True to its mission and campus initiatives, diversity and community service were two issues that distinguished PSU from national counterparts in this survey.

Across the nation, 56% of full-time undergraduate instructional faculty from 4-year colleges indicated that creating a diverse multi-cultural campus environment was a "high" or "highest" priority. In comparison, 70% of the comparable sub-group at PSU rated diversity as a "high" or "highest" priority. The difference in the ratings of the importance of community service between PSU and national faculty was even greater. Only 33% respondents across the nation believed that facilitating student involvement in community service was a high or highest priority, compared to 74% at PSU, a difference of 42 percentage points.

Almost two-thirds of all respondents (64%) believed that enhancing the institution’s national image is an issue that is a "high" or "highest" priority. Almost three-fourths (74%) "agree" or "strongly agree" that PSU's reputation has improved over the last 10 years.

Gender

At PSU, gender does seem to play a role in what education means, how education is taught, and why education is pursued as a profession.

Throughout the survey results there are significant differences in response by gender. Figure 3 shows the response rates for issues believed to be a "high" or "highest" priority for PSU. Almost half (48%) of female respondents believe that helping students learn how to bring about change in American society is an issue that is a "high" or "highest" priority at PSU compared to 28% of male respondents. An interesting note is that 49% of female responded that having the opportunity to influence social change was a "very important" reason in their decision to pursue an academic career, compared to 23% of male respondents. When asked about personal goals, 58% of female responded that influencing their students’ social values was a "very important" or "essential" personal goal, while 34% of male respondents felt the same.

Eighty-two percent of female and 53% of male respondents felt that enhancing students' knowledge of and appreciation for other racial/ethnic groups is a "very important" or "essential" goal for undergraduate education. Most PSU female respondents (67%) practice a cooperative learning pedagogy in undergraduate classes, compared to 51% of their national peers and 39% of male respondents at PSU. In comparison, 49% of male respondents used extensive lecturing in "most" or "all" undergraduate classes, while 27% of female respondents did so. More female (37%) than male (20%) respondents reported that subtle discrimination (e.g., prejudice, racism, sexism) was a "somewhat" or "extensive" source of stress within the last two years. Interestingly, more males (92%) than females (66%)"somewhat" or "strongly" agreed that female faculty members are treated fairly at PSU. In addition, 34% of female respondents had stopped out of their careers for more than one year to accommodate family commitments, compared to 9% of male respondents.

Summary

This report is a summary of the results from the 2001-2002 HERI Faculty Survey. The survey instrument and complete results are available for review and analysis in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. The results from the national study, The American College Teacher: National Norms for the 2001-2002 HERI Faculty Survey, will be published soon, and will be available in OIRP as well.