Faculty Satisfaction. Research Center Update / Suzanne Clery.

Data from the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF), a nationally representative survey of college faculty members conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, were used to analyze faculty satisfaction. Findings show that the vast majority of faculty members are satisfied with their jobs. Eighty-five percent of all full-time and part-time faculty members indicated their overall satisfaction with their job in the NSOPF survey completed in fall 1999. Faculty members were most satisfied with the autonomy they had to decide the content of their own courses, and they expressed the least satisfaction with their salaries. They were less content with benefits, advancement opportunities, effectiveness of faculty leadership, and time to keep current in their field. Part-time faculty members were more satisfied with their jobs overall than their full-time counterparts. The flexibility of part-time work appears to have been desirable to a large share of those who worked part time. Tenure status did not make much of a difference in terms of overall job satisfaction, but it did make a difference in job security and advancement opportunities. Unions status did make a difference in satisfaction, especially with regard to pay, benefits, advancement opportunities, workload, and job security. (SLD)

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