A recent survey conducted by Advance at the University of New Mexico (UNM) reveals a complex mix of organizational experiences and attitudes among full-time, main campus faculty. The Fall 2023 survey highlighted high levels of work and teaching well-being among faculty, but low levels of physical and psychological well-being. Despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty remained engaged with their work tasks and generally felt supported during the promotion and tenure process.
The study builds on surveys from 2020 and 2022, continuing to probe into faculty well-being and caregiving responsibilities. Since 2016, Advance at UNM has been conducting surveys as part of its continuous effort to understand and improve campus climate. Like previous studies, this latest survey has prompted a series of recommendations, some of which UNM leadership are already implementing.
The 2023 survey received responses from a total of 283 faculty members. It covered multiple facets of organizational climate including climate for work-family policy use; promotion and tenure; workload equity; bias; perceptions of leadership; work-life balance; work attitudes; and aspects of well-being such as physical, psychological, occupational.
Julia Fulghum, director of Advance at UNM said: “We’re pleased to see that faculty generally report a good work-life balance and support for promotion and tenure. We’re concerned about the high stress levels reported by parents and adult caregivers and that associate professors are generally doing less well than faculty in other ranks.”
Lisa Marchiondo, an associate professor of management who led the survey added: “Faculty were well-represented across numerous groups, including race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and colleges/schools. Survey participation percentages largely reflected faculty representation on UNM’s main campus.”
Some key findings include:
- Tenure standards were generally perceived as clear, reasonable, and equitable.
- Climate for the use of work-family policies was positive overall.
- Bias in academia was reported as common.
- Nearly half of faculty reported inequitable workloads.
- Faculty trusted their chairs the most, followed by colleagues, UA-UNM, college/school-level leaders (deans), upper administration, and then, regents.
- Adult caregivers reported similar stress but lower organizational support than caregivers of children.
- Hybrid and remote work benefited 44 percent of faculty, particularly when it came to tasks like scholarship requiring concentration. Flexible work locations most benefited faculty from underrepresented groups, including URM and women faculty.
The Advance at UNM leadership team is developing recommendations based on survey responses in collaboration with the Office of Academic Affairs, Human Resources, and the Office for the Vice President of Research. These recommendations will consider differences between groups of respondents.
“We are looking forward to working with leaders on campus to identify short and long-term priorities and actions that will support both faculty and staff. The survey results provide some important guidance on where to focus,” Fulghum said.
The complete survey report and recommendations will be released in the fall of 2024.
