Dear colleagues:
Last summer, we received the results of the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey that the university initiated in collaboration with Harvard’s Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE). Since then, we have engaged on numerous occasions with the university community to explore the results and identify our path forward.
In September 2020, we presented the preliminary results for the downtown and Perimeter campuses in a virtual university-wide meeting. In October, we held another session on the findings related to underrepresented minority faculty at Georgia State. Since then, each of the colleges has received college-level reports from COACHE. With the assistance of the Implementation Steering Committee for the Next Generation of Faculty and the participation of faculty affinity groups, we also solicited faculty feedback in 21 small group sessions.
While the colleges are finalizing their action plans, I am excited to share the launch of the COACHE website at https://provost.gsu.edu/coache/ and the Georgia State COACHE action plan, Building a Path Forward Together.
In this plan, we have identified five overarching areas for improvement:
- Service
- Mentoring
- Appreciation & Recognition
- Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Belongingness
- Support for Research/Creative Work
Please take some time to explore the website, read the plan and offer suggestions. The faculty participation and engagement in this process have been impressive so far, and we invite you to continue to work with us. We will implement our plan next year and complete the three-year COACHE cycle before administering a new survey to faculty in 2023.
I look forward to working with you to ensure Georgia State is a positive, inclusive and welcoming university where faculty can thrive.
Best,
Wendy Hensel
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
April 12, 2021