'Powerful, but not surprising' Radford University survey results affirm changes

More than half of the university’s faculty responded to a nationwide survey in March and April, said Kurt Gingrich, president of Radford’s Faculty Senate.

Called the COACHE survey, it is run by a research partnership from Harvard University called the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, Gingrich told the Radford University Board of Visitors during its quarterly meeting Friday.

“COACHE gave us a powerful, but not surprising, snapshot of where we were in the spring of 2022,” Gingrich said. “And it affirms the things that we are already doing.”

Results of the spring 2022 survey, last conducted at Radford in 2019, show that faculty responded with decreased satisfaction related to university governance, the office of president and department-level mentoring, Gingrich said.

“Contextualizing is crucial here,” Gingrich said. “What was beginning then and has picked up pace since has been direct engagement between faculty and the board.”

While an area of strength identified by the survey was health and retirement benefits, faculty members identified eight areas of concern, stemming from collaboration and mentoring, leadership and governance, he said.

“In spring of 2022, our junior faculty were unusually likely to say that they had an intent to leave the university,” Gingrich said. “The efforts that we have ongoing and will continue are targeted to address the reasons why that number is unusually high.”

The survey showed almost 60% of Radford faculty members said changes in institutional priorities had negatively impacted their work, and Gingrich said that was unsurprising.

He said since 2019, the university has undergone the coronavirus pandemic, a merger with Roanoke’s Jefferson College of Health Sciences, introduction of a new general education curriculum, an early retirement program that many faculty members took, and the onboarding of a new president.

“That’s a lot of disruption,” Gingrich said. “But behind us now are these disruptions. Ahead of us are the benefits of putting this all together.”

He said the survey results suggest important areas where major efforts can yield the highest positive impact to employee satisfaction.

“These results are powerful,” Gingrich said. “This is great knowledge for us to have.”

The springtime survey came prior to the hiring of Bret Danilowicz as the university’s president.

Former President Brian Hemphill departed Radford to assume the same job at Old Dominion University in 2021, perhaps explaining the drop in faculty approval in the recent spring survey, Gingrich said.

“To be blunt, this reflects faculty’s attitude to the way President Hemphill left the university,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be able to say that was then, and this is now.”

As a welcoming gift at the start of the meeting, members of the Radford men’s rugby club presented Danilowicz with a personalized Highlanders jersey sporting the number 22.

“As long as they don’t call me off the bench,” Danilowicz joked.

During his president’s report, Danilowicz said four of seven cabinet-level positions are still open, but several spots will soon be filled.

It’s one example of the institutional changes ongoing under a new president.

“Really, only vice presidents [Susan] Trageser and [Craig] Cornell are continuing in their roles from fall 2021,” Danilowicz said. “This has just been a huge amount of change in the cabinet.”