Faculty Recruitment
and Retention
Task Force Report - May 31, 2001
Findings
2.3 Current Recruitment and Retention Strategies
Interviews were held by
task-force members with the Deans of Business (Appendix G), the Dean
of Education (Appendix H), the Dean of Law (Appendix I), the Deans,
Chairs, and Program Directors of Engineering (Appendix J), Science Chairs
and the CIRES Director (Appendix K), and the Deans of Arts and Sciences
(Appendix L). While these interviews identified the same key issues
(salaries, resources for research, professional isolation, spouse/partner
employment) as cited by the faculty interviewed, the administrators
also raised additional issues related to strategies for faculty recruitment
and retention, as summarized below.
Finding #10 -
A supportive environment is critical in faculty recruitment and retention.
Faculty, like all
people, desire a sense of appreciation and respect in a community. By
engaging with faculty, the chairs, deans, and other administrators can
help build this sense of belonging and better know the individual faculty
member and his or her needs.
Finding #11 -
A range of resources (salary adjustment, reduction in teaching or service
load, research support, laboratory facilities, etc.) can be used in
faculty recruitment and retention cases, tailored to the individual
situation.
Finding #12 -
Faculty retention is handled on a case-by-case basis, with pre-emptive
adjustments more effective than responses to outside offers.
When a faculty member
is dissatisfied and has taken the steps to secure an outside offer,
it is difficult (but not impossible) to retain him or her. Pre-emptive
action when a faculty member is vulnerable to looking around and being
courted elsewhere is often more effective and less costly. It is important
that the chairs and deans are engaged with their faculty and recognize
situations where pre-emptive action is needed. Flexibility to address
retention cases throughout the year (with salary commitments implemented
at the normal raise time) and the ability to respond to external market
forces are also important. Also, retention raises given directly from
the unit salary pool may create difficulties in intradepartmental relationships.
Finding #13 -
In faculty recruiting, primary reasons for losing recruits include higher
salaries, larger startup packages, housing subsidies, better benefits
including dependent tuition, better office and laboratory facilities,
more opportunities for spouse/partner employment, and higher reputation
or ranking of competing institutions.
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