Canadian University Press Releases/Newswire

Source: Wilfrid Laurier University
http://www.wlu.ca/news_update.php?grp_id=28&nws_id=2572&filter_type=update

Laurier faculty invited to participate in university’s first faculty feedback survey

October 13, 2006

Wilfrid
Laurier University will be conducting its first faculty feedback survey
starting next week. The survey will provide senior administration and the
Board of Governors with valuable information about faculty satisfaction on a
wide range of issues.

"We believe Laurier provides a positive research and teaching environment,"
Sue Horton, Vice-President: Academic says, "but we also know there are
always areas that can be improved. This survey will help us identify those
areas and address any issues, and we encourage all faculty to participate."

The survey is being conducted from October 16-27. The Workplace Health Unit
at Brock University has been contracted by the university to administer the
survey, and questionnaires will be distributed primarily online.
Participation is voluntary and anonymous, and aggregate results will be
shared with the university community when they’re available in winter 2007.

A lengthy consultation process preceded the introduction of the survey to
ensure the questions being asked are the most relevant and appropriate. An
Action Advisory Committee (names below) has worked on finalizing the
questionnaire and helping with implementation. WLUFA was informed and
invited to participate in the process.

"When a satisfaction survey was initially proposed," Horton explains, "it
was thought that both faculty and staff would be surveyed at the same time.
However, it quickly became obvious that different questionnaires would be
required for both groups. It was decided to proceed with the staff survey
while finalizing the vehicle to be used with faculty."

Other universities that have already undertaken similar surveys of faculty
include the University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto (Faculty
of Arts and Science) and University of Ottawa (Faculty of Medicine), and
others such as the University of Windsor are in the planning stages.

Horton says that the consultation process revealed how important it is to
ensure people feel confident in the anonymity of the survey. "We’ve taken
extra effort to ensure this is the case," she says. "In addition to the
system Brock has in place to guarantee anonymity and confidentiality, the
Committee has modified the questionnaire so we’ll only be asking respondents
to indicate the campus at which they work as opposed to faculty or
department."

For additional information on the survey, how it is being implemented, how
respondents’ anonymity is being guaranteed, etc., please visit the Faculty
Feedback Survey section of the VP Academic’s Office website, or contact
Shereen Rowe at srowe@wlu.ca ext. 2980.

Faculty Feedback Survey Action Advisory Committee
Paul Pulford, (chair), Faculty of Music
Jill Tracey, Faculty of Science
Chatura Ranaweera, School of Business & Economics
Lamine Diallo, Laurier Brantford
Ginette LaFreniere, Faculty of Social Work
Nikolaos Liodakis, Faculty of Arts

Resources to Committee
Shereen Rowe, Office of VP Academic
Kathryn Zettel, Human Resources