Dear Colleagues,

As you know, Washington State University is participating in a bi-annual Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty survey. The survey ends on April 5^th, and I am writing to please ask you to participate if you have not already done so. COACHE has been operating from the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2003. Participation entails completing a 25-minute, web-based survey. Faculty with ≥ 0.5 FTE appointments for the past calendar year or longer should have received an invitation directly from COACHE and have until April 5, 2024, to participate. Faculty having administrative appointments in a dean’s office or higher will not participate in the survey.

This survey provides vital information for the Provost’s Office and other academic leaders. We use the COACHE survey data to improve policies, procedures, and enhance our support for faculty system-wide.  The 2022 action plan can be referenced here.

As Senior Vice Provost Doug Call put it, “We believe that WSU has the potential to be one of the best places for faculty to work, and with your help, we can learn how best to support that goal. However, data from the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey will be meaningful only if we have broad participation.”

The COACHE survey includes ten domains for faculty to consider and evaluate:

• Nature of Work (Scholarship, Service, Teaching)
• Tenure and Promotion
• Interdisciplinary Work
• Collaboration and Mentoring
• Resources and Support
• Shared Governance
• Department Engagement, Quality, and Collegiality
• Institutional Leadership
• Appreciation and Recognition
• Retention and Negotiations

Collected survey data is transferred using Harvard’s secure file-sharing portal that meets the standards of protection for “Level 3 High-Risk Confidential Information,” as directed by Harvard University’s Committee on the Use of Human Subjects. Data available to WSU administrators is deidentified.

For more information about WSU’s participation in the COACHE survey, visit https://provost.wsu.edu/coache/. Doug Call is coordinating WSU’s participation and can be contacted at drcall@wsu.edu.

Thank you all for your participation!

Best regards,

Elizabeth S. Chilton
Provost and Executive Vice President
Chancellor, WSU Pullman
Professor, Department of Anthropology