Campus Climate Studies | 2007 Staff Assessments |
2008 Student Campus Climate Survey

In fall 2006, in fulfillment of the University’s Diversity Plan, the Offices of the Dean of Faculties and the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity conducted a survey of all Texas A&M University faculty members and research professionals (including Texas A&M University at Galveston, but not Texas A&M University at Qatar) on the workplace climate for faculty. This snapshot below is an excerpt of the preliminary analysis of the data released in 2007. The responses of 1060 faculty and research scientists (out of approximately 2700 eligible participants) were received (290 women and 770 men).

The data show that the overwhelming majority of faculty members, regardless of their college, rank, gender, or race/ethnicity, find Texas A&M University a satisfying place to work. Some specific areas of overall high areas of satisfaction are:

• The faculty members’ satisfaction with being valued as both a teacher and a mentor or advisor
• The faculty members’ satisfaction with contributing to their discipline
• The faculty members’ sense that department heads maintain high academic standards, show interest in faculty members, and honor agreements
• The overall, not unanimous sense, that faculty members infrequently hear insensitive comments about groups of people while on campus. Women were more likely than men to report higher frequencies of exposure to insensitive comments, as were Black and Hispanic faculty compared to White faculty
• Faculty of all ranks and groups expressed a desire to feel more valued for their social/cultural identities

The response rate does not allow us to claim that these results speak for the majority of the faculty. However, those who chose to participate reported a relatively high degree of satisfaction. At the same time, a substantial number of faculty members either acknowledged some areas where their experiences should be improved or did not rate their experience in positive terms. A quote from Virginia Valian’s 1998 book titled Why so slow? The advancement of women best captures our sentiment:

These imbalances, though experienced by a minority, must be addressed.

To Improve Faculty Satisfaction the office of the Dean of Faculties will work collaboratively with various campus units to:

• Expand activities that raise awareness regarding specific ways colleagues are perceived to be insensitive to each other and work to develop behavioral habits that are more sensitive to all.
• Initiate dialogue about ways faculty desire to see belief in their “value” conveyed.
• Continue to discuss at the department, college, and university level how discrimination is perceived and experienced, and what actions are needed to eliminate such concerns.

The faculty climate will be reassessed again in the fall of 2009.