1. Faculty Climate Survey Highlights
Institutional Research &
Faculty Development and Diversity
March 2008

2. Faculty Climate Survey – Results
1,863 tenured, tenure-track, and non-ladder faculty from all of Harvard’s Schools were invited to participate and 1,400 faculty responded (75%)
On average, the faculty are slightly more than “somewhat satisfied” with being faculty members at Harvard (4.16 on a 5-point scale, 5=“very satisfied”)
Women are significantly less satisfied than men (3.90 vs. 4.27)
Tenure-track faculty are significantly less satisfied than tenured faculty (3.93 vs. 4.31)

3. Response Rates and Distribution of Respondents and Faculty
All Schools 
Number of
Respondents
Response
Rate
% of Respondents†
% of Population†
Rank††
Tenured Faculty
697
77%
50%
49%
Tenure-Track Faculty
357
26%
25%
Non-Ladder Faculty
345
70%
Gender
Women
414
78%
30%
29%
Men
986
74%
71%
Ethnicity
American Indian/ Alaskan Native Faculty 3
100%
<1%
Asian Faculty
123
69% 9%
10%
Black Faculty 41
73% 3%
Hispanic Faculty 32 2%
Unknown Ethnicity 4
67%
White Faculty
1,197
76%
86%
85%
Total
1,400
75%
† Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
†† There is one respondent with an unknown rank.

4. The Survey Addresses Seven Topics
Satisfaction (e.g., satisfaction with the University, School, staff and facilities)
Atmosphere (e.g., fit with department, respect from colleagues and students, camaraderie and collegiality)
Workload (e.g., expectations and sources of stress)
Mentoring (e.g., effectiveness of mentoring)
Tenure (e.g., clarity of the tenure criteria and prospects )
Hiring and Retention (e.g., likelihood of leaving and reasons for leaving)
Life Outside Harvard (e.g., work-life balance)

5. Satisfaction: Overall with Harvard
Satisfaction with Being a Faculty Member at Harvard University (University Average = 4.16)
1=very dissatisfied 2=somewhat dissatisfied 3=neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 4=somewhat satisfied 5=very satisfied

6. Satisfaction: Overall for Women and Men
Satisfaction with Being a Faculty Member at Harvard University W M
4.6
3.8
4.2
3.9
4.0
3.6
3.5
4.5
4.3 1 2 3 4 5
HLS
HBS
KSG
GSD
FAS
HMS/
HSDM
GSE
SPH
HDS
Average Satisfaction
1=very dissatisfied 2=somewhat dissatisfied 3=neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 4=somewhat satisfied 5=very satisfied

7. Satisfaction: Overall by Rank
Satisfaction with Being a Faculty Member at Harvard University 2 3 4 5
HLS
HBS
KSG
GSD
FAS
HMS/ HSDM
GSE
SPH
HDS
Average Satisfaction
Tenured
Tenure-Track
Non-Ladder
4.8
4.4
3.9
4.0
4.2
4.1
4.7
4.4
4.5
4.3
4.2
3.5
4.1
3.8
3.9
4.0
3.5
4.2 1 *
1=very dissatisfied 2=somewhat dissatisfied 3=neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 4=somewhat satisfied 5=very satisfied
* Tenure-track and non-ladder faculty are not reported for HLS because there are fewer than five respondents in each group.

8. Atmosphere: Fit with Department
Agreement with: “My department* is a good fit for me.”
3.74
3.43
4.03
3.93
3.95 1 2 3 4 5
Tenured Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
Non-Ladder Faculty
Average Agreement W M
1=strongly disagree 2=somewhat disagree 3=neither agree nor disagree 4=somewhat agree 5=strongly agree
* The unit of analysis is Department/Committee at FAS, Academic Unit at HBS, Department at GSD, HMS/HSDM, and SPH, Area at HDS and KSG, and School at HLS and GSE.

9. Atmosphere: Gender and Rank Gaps (Ladder Faculty)
Issues
Gender Gap
Rank Gap
Opportunities to collaborate with faculty in one’s primary department 
Having a voice in the decision-making that affects the direction of one’s department
Collegiality and supportiveness of one’s department
Amount of personal interaction with colleagues
Opportunities to collaborate with Harvard faculty outside one’s primary department
Comfort in raising personal responsibilities when scheduling department obligations
Research/scholarship valued by colleagues
Feeling respected by the faculty in one’s department
Feeling respected by the students

10. Workload: Reasonableness of Service Expectations (Ladder Faculty)
Reasonableness of Service Expectations: Mean Difference From “About Right” (Ladder Faculty)
0.3
0.6
0.0
0.2
0.1
-0.1 -1 1
Tenured
Faculty
Tenure-
Track
Points from "About Right"
Service to Department W M
Service to School
Service to University
Too High
About Right
Too Low

11. Work Expectations: Committee Load
Average Number of Department, School and University Committees in Previous Academic Year (Ladder Faculty)

12. Mentoring: Overall Effectiveness
Department’s Effectiveness in Overall Mentoring of Junior Faculty*
3.30
2.54
3.52
2.99 1 2 3 4 5
Tenured Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
Average Effectiveness W M
1=very ineffective 2=somewhat ineffective 3=neither effective nor ineffective 4=somewhat effective 5=very effective
* The unit of analysis is Department/Committee at FAS, Academic Unit at HBS, Department at GSD, HMS/HSDM, and SPH, Area at HDS and KSG, and School at HLS and GSE.

13. Mentoring: Types of Mentors
Percentage of Tenure-Track Faculty with and without Mentors (Formal/Informal)
Both Formal
and Informal
(N=97), 30%
Informal
Mentor Only
(N=165), 50%
Formal
(N=25), 8%
Neither Formal
nor Informal
(N=40), 12%

14. Tenure: Clarity of Criteria (Ladder Faculty)
Agreement with: “The criteria for tenure are clearly communicated.”
1=strongly disagree 2=somewhat disagree 3=neither agree nor disagree 4=somewhat agree 5=strongly agree

15. Hiring and Retention: Likelihood of Leaving in the Next 3 Years
Percentage of Faculty “Somewhat” or “Very Likely” to Leave Harvard in the Next 3 Years
18%
56% 7%
20%
40%
10% 0%
60%
80%
100%
Tenured Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
Non-Ladder Faculty
% of Respondents W M
* Only non-ladder faculty who answered the question, “Given the opportunity, how likely would you be to renew your contract?” are included in the graph. This includes only 143 non-ladder faculty respondents who have renewable contracts.

16. Hiring and Retention: Top 2 Reasons Faculty Consider Leaving
% of Faculty Responding “to a Great Extent”
Tenured Faculty:
Increase time to do research
26%
Find a more supportive work environment
24%
Tenure-Track Faculty:
Improve prospects for tenure
44%
36%
Non-Ladder Faculty:
Move to a tenure-track position
41%
Enhance career in other ways
33%

17. Life Outside Harvard: Dual-career Issues
89% of faculty have a spouse or domestic partner
31% of the ladder faculty have spouses that currently work in academia
49% of these faculty report their spouses work at Harvard while the other half are at other institutions
51% of faculty with spouses at other institutions are in commuting relationships. Of these faculty,
78% had problems finding appropriate local employment for their spouses
Only 6% received help finding local employment for their spouses from their School

18. Life Outside Harvard: Dependent Care
Tenured
Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
Non-Ladder
Women
Men
Number of Children (Mean)
1.36
2.02
1.12
1.01
1.31
1.87
Have at Least 1 Child (%)
72%
88%
60%
56%
74%
77%
Have at Least 1 Child Ages 0-4 (%) 5%
10%
43%
37%
12%
Caring/Managing Care for Others (%)
23%
18% 8% 6%
28%
15%

19. Life Outside Harvard: Effect of Domestic Responsibilities on Career
Agreement with: “My care giving and/or other domestic responsibilities have had a negative impact on my career.”
2.77
3.57
2.99
2.14
2.83
2.21
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
Tenured Faculty
Tenure-Track Faculty
Non-Ladder Faculty
Average Agreement W M
1=strongly disagree 2=somewhat disagree 3=neither agree nor disagree 4=somewhat agree 5=strongly agree

20. Policy Recommendations and Next Steps
Junior faculty:
Connect mentoring to incentives for senior faculty as mentoring is ill-defined, not measured and unevenly supported
Discuss the criteria for tenure and the possibility of tenure at the associate level
Understand better the dual-career issues for junior faculty
Delve more deeply into workload issues and factors driving perceptions of these issues
Continue to invest in family-friendly policies including: portable childcare scholarships, research enabling grants and tuition benefit reform
Examine and analyze qualitatively the minority faculty experience (small population limits usefulness of quantitative analysis)