ASA Document 434.Executive Summary of CC Study of UW Madison Academic Staff
Executive Summary
Survey of the UW-Madison Academic Staff
Administered by the Communications Committee of the Academic Staff
Assembly
May-July 2010
From May to July of 2010, the
UW-Madison Academic Staff community was surveyed with the primary purpose of
obtaining a snapshot of some current themes, trends and issues of the academic
staff. A goal of the survey will be to help aid academic staff governance
bodies, which include the Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC), the
Academic Staff Assembly and its standing committees, with their priorities and
initiatives. From a communications standpoint, an outcome of the survey will be
to guide an effective and transparent communications process (on the relevant
themes and issues) between the academic staff governance bodies and the greater
academic staff community.
The Communications Committee wishes to thank and acknowledge the
following individuals and groups for their time and efforts in making the
creation and distribution of the survey possible:
•Bob Ash and Bob Rettammel,
communications committee members, for the initial design and creation of the
survey.
•Communications Committee members for editing.
•Donna Silver, Secretary of the Academic Staff, for administering the survey
(through Qualtrics Survey Hosting Service), fielding queries from the academic
staff in consultation with Renee Meiller and Greg Iaccarino (co-chairs of the
Communications Committee in 2009-2010).
•The Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC) and the Academic Staff Assembly
for its endorsement.
•Academic Staff members that took the time to complete the survey and provide
relevant and constructive feedback to aid with the process.
•Sonya Sedivy, communications committee member, for analyzing and summarizing
the results in this report.
A final note is that the results of this particular survey can
serve as an initial step to help guide academic staff governance with its
priorities in the upcoming 2010-2011 academic year and beyond. The
Communications Committee is open to suggestions, feedback, and modifications,
which can include future surveys to selected portions of the academic staff
(e.g., instructional academic staff, research academic staff, etc.). In addition,
there can be recommendations to survey Academic Staff Assembly Representatives
and Alternates. Feedback on the methodology and process of the survey is
welcomed, as well.
Highlights from this survey and future directions are outlined
below.
Highlights:
•Of the approximately 7,200
Academic Staff whom the survey was sent to via e-mail, 869 (12%) surveys were
returned through completion on Qualtrics Survey Hosting Service at
UW-Madison.
•Half of the respondents reported that they knew who their Academic Staff
Representative is.
•Approximately 62% of the Academic Staff receive communication from their
representative. Of those who have received communication from their
representative, 48% receive it on at least a monthly basis.
•However, 71% have never contacted their Assembly representative.
•Most Academic Staff prefer to receive our communications from their Assembly
Representative or in the form of a newsletter.
•Only 40% are aware of the Academic Staff website.
•The top five concerns of the Academic Staff are: salary, job security, merit
salary increases, furlough days, and leave.
•Performance reviews and awards/recognition were viewed as two of the least
important concerns of the Academic Staff. It is unclear if the Academic Staff
actually view these issues as unimportant or if there needs to be a more
effective and transparent communications flow about opportunities for
recognition (e.g. awards, etc.). In addition, there may be an opportunity to
better communicate the importance of performance reviews and how they can be
beneficial when it comes to merit reviews and salary considerations.
•More detailed results are described later in this report.