Teaching faculty were asked to indicate the importance to them of each of the following education goals for undergraduate students. The most important goal for all teaching faculty at Earlham and elsewhere was to develop students' ability to think critically. And while 35.7% of Earlham teaching faculty felt that enhancing the students' spiritual development was very important or essential, only 22.7% nationwide and 16.6% of our peer institutions placed much importance on spiritual development. A higher percentage of Earlham faculty considered helping students develop personal values, preparing them for responsible citizenship and instilling in them a commitment to community as very important or essential goals compared to teaching faculty at other institutions.

Goals for Undergraduate Students Noted as Very Important or Essential

	Earlham professors				All Institutions	Peer Group
	2004	2001	1998	1995	2004	2004
Develop ability to think critically	100.0	100.0	100.0	97.8	98.9	99.5
Prepare for employment	59.5	52.0	56.2	40.4	73.2	46.6
Prepare for graduate education	78.5	73.1	71.9	46.8	61.1	69.0
Develop moral character	69.0	82.7	75.0	76.6	59.4	48.5
Provide for emotional development	61.9	61.6	68.8	59.6	38.1	30.6
Help master knowledge in a discipline	90.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	94.1	92.6
Prepare students for family living	N/A	13.4	31.2	17.0	N/A	N/A
Teach students the classic works of Western civilization	N/A	32.7	37.5	26.1	N/A	N/A
Help students develop personal values	64.3	78.9	84.4	N/A	53.1	46.0
Enhance the out-of-class experience of students	N/A	53.9	59.4	58.7	N/A	N/A
Enhance students self-understanding	78.6	76.9	87.5	72.3	60.3	58.4
Instill in students a commitment to community service	50.0	40.4	50.0	39.1	38.1	28.6
Prepare students for responsible citizenship	83.3	76.9	77.4	68.1	60.9	62.6
Develop creative capacities	71.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	68.3	69.9
Instill a basic appreciation of the liberal arts	73.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	56.0	78.3
Enhance spiritual development	35.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	22.7	16.6
Enhance students’ knowledge of and appreciation for other racial/ethnic groups	78.6	75.0	84.3	N/A	59.1	57.6
Promote ability to write effectively	92.9	N/A	N/A	N/A	86.8	90.8
Facilitate search for meaning/purpose in life	59.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	37.6	36.7

Teaching faculty at Earlham and at our peer institutions are more likely to feel that it is easy for students to see faculty outside of office hours compared to the national sample of teaching faculty. The notion of respect for all persons comes out strongly in the Earlham data. In the latest survey, many agreed that the statements "faculty respect each other" and "there is respect for the expression of diverse values and beliefs" were very descriptive of Earlham. This was less true in the national sample and in the sample from our peer group institutions. Also, a higher percentage of Earlham faculty indicated that "faculty rewarded for good teaching" was very descriptive of Earlham. Faculty being rewarded for efforts at using instructional technology was not as descriptive of Earlham as it was at other institutions.

Attributes Noted as Being Very Descriptive of Institution

	Earlham				All Institutions	Peer Group
	2004	2001	1998	1995	2004	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Easy to see faculty outside of office hours	82.9	83.0	84.8	83.0	55.4	88.2
Faculty at odds with administration	0	7.5	0	23.4	14.4	8.2
Faculty respect each other	80.5	62.3	84.8	70.2	53.4	58.6
Most students treated like numbers	0	0	0	0	3.1	.2
Social activities overemphasized	2.4	3.8	0	0	6.4	11.9
Faculty rewarded for good teaching	56.1	45.3	34.4	52.2	16.1	35.5
Faculty rewarded for their efforts to use instructional technology	10.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	18.6	16.0
Faculty are rewarded for their efforts to work with underprepared students	17.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	5.8	6.2
There is respect for the expression of diverse values and beliefs	64.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	32.5	45.2

 

 

It is encouraging to see that a much smaller percentage of Earlham teachers agreed that the students they taught lacked basic college level skills compared to the national sample. While 29.3% of Earlham faculty and 24.9% of the national sample agreed that their institution should not offer remedial education, 43.5% of the faculty from our peer institutions did not agree with that philosophy. And it was unfortunate that 13.6% of the peer respondents agreed that there was a lot of racial conflict on their campus. Only 2.4% of Earlham faculty felt the same.

Agree Strongly or Agree Somewhat with these Statements about Institution

	Earlham				All Institutions	Peer Group
	2004	2001	1998	1995	2004	2004
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Faculty interest in students problems	95.2	98.1	100.0	95.7	79.8	91.6
Should reflect diversity stronger in curr.	64.3	75.0	N/A	N/A	52.5	59.0
Students well prepared academically	85.4	47.2	72.7	63.8	35.5	81.2
Fac. strongly interested in student’s acad. problems	97.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	79.2	94.6
There is a lot of campus racial conflict	2.4	9.4	12.5	10.6	8.3	13.6
Students strongly committed to community serv	88.1	N/A	N/A	N/A	32.7	67.6
My research valued by faculty in my dept	74.4	76.9	80.6	N/A	66.4	79.6
My teaching valued by faculty in my dept	95.1	N/A	N/A	N/A	85.1	91.3
Dept does good job mentoring new faculty	80.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	60.7	72.2
Faculty sufficiently involved in decision-making	90.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	51.4	72.4
My values congruent with dominant inst values	92.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	67.4	75.5
Adequate support for integrating technology in my teaching	82.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	76.4	84.4
Inst. takes responsibility for educating underprepared students	66.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	61.7	58.9
Criteria for advancement/promotion is clear	73.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	67.6	71.1
Most students I teach lack basic skills for college level work	2.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	40.9	8.2
My dept has difficulty recruiting faculty	9.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	40.2	20.7
My dept has difficulty retaining faculty	24.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	25.3	19.6
Adequate support for faculty development	68.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	55.2	75.5
Inst should not offer remedial education	29.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	24.9	43.5

Earlham faculty sense a high priority given to promoting the intellectual level of their students, fostering their leadership skills, and creating a diverse multi-cultural campus environment. Maintaining institutional prestige and national image have seemed a lower priority at Earlham.

Indicate how important you believe each priority is at your college

Mean Scores	Earlham		Peer Group
1=Low Priority 2=Medium Priority 3=High priority 4=Highest Priority	2004	2001	2004
To promote the intellectual development of students	3.78	3.42	3.75
To develop a sense of community among students/faculty	3.51	3.49	2.95
To develop leadership ability among students	3.00	2.87	2.75
To help students learn how to change society	3.37	3.32	2.47
To increase or maintain institutional prestige	2.48	2.13	2.98
To hire faculty "stars"	1.38	1.30	1.74
To recruit more minority students	3.05	3.13	2.87
To enhance the institution's national image	3.05	2.55	3.15
To create a diverse multi-cultural campus environment	3.41	3.15	2.85
To mentor new faculty	2.64	2.42	2.61
To promote gender equity among faculty	3.05	N/A	2.65
To provide resources for faculty to engage in community-based teaching or research	2.13	N/A	2.09
To create and sustain partnerships with surrounding communities	2.44	N/A	2.01
To pursue extramural funding	2.33	N/A	2.47
To increase the representation of minorities in faculty/administration	3.05	N/A	2.73
To increase the representation of women in the faculty/administration	2.68	N/A	2.48

 

Faculty members were asked about their primary interest in being a college professor. The majority (92.5%) of Earlham teaching faculty respondents said that they were either very heavily interested in teaching (45%) or that their interest was in both teaching and research but leaned toward teaching (47.5%). Teaching faculty at our peer institutions had somewhat different interests; only 18% said their interests were very heavily in teaching and 56.4% were in both research and teaching but leaned toward teaching.  And while only 7.5% of Earlham teaching faculty lean more toward research, 23.5% of teaching faculty at our peer institutions and 22.7% of teaching faculty in all institutions have this interest.  No Earlham faculty member considered him/herself heavily interested in research, though 2.1% of the teaching faculty at our peer schools and 3.4% of all professors see this as their primary interest.

Unlike Earlham responses in prior years and unlike faculty from other institutions, Earlham teaching faculty in 2004 have a somewhat different opinion about Western Civilization being the foundation of a college curriculum. Only 27.5% agreed somewhat or strongly that this is true compared to 43.4% in 2001 and compared to 51.3% of the 2004 peer group respondents and 55.4% of the nationwide sample. The percentage of Earlham respondents who agreed strongly or somewhat that promoting diversity leads to the admission of too many underprepared students has decreased since the last survey in 2001 and was lower than the peer group and the national sample. A smaller percentage of Earlham faculty agree that community service in courses is a poor use of resources compared to the peer group and the national sample. While 57.5 % of Earlham teaching faculty felt that colleges should be concerned with facilitating undergraduate students' spiritual development, only 29.6% of the peer group respondents and 30% of the national sample felt the same.

Opinions on Issues

Percentages are those answering that they “agree strongly” or “agree somewhat” with the statement given.

Aspects of One’s Job Noted as Very Satisfactory or Satisfactory

 

	Earlham				All Institutions	Peer Group
	2004	2001	1998	1995	2004	2004
		%	%	%	%
Salary and fringe benefits	51.2	28.8	36.4	14.9	47.4	68.7
Opportunity for scholarly pursuits	56.1	59.6	66.7	46.8	53.1	57.9
Teaching load	59.0	54.7	54.5	69.6	54.8	52.2
Quality of students	82.5	66.1	84.8	87.2	49.6	84.7
Office/Lab space	72.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	63.9	78.9
Autonomy and independence	92.7	96.2	93.9	95.7	85.2	94.6
Professional relationships with faculty	85.4	83.0	87.9	87.2	78.3	80.1
Social relationships with other faculty	77.5	65.4	69.7	55.3	66.3	67.9
Competency of colleagues	90.2	81.1	96.9	89.4	78.7	86.8
Visibility for jobs at other institutions	53.8	32.2	63.2	31.0	48.8	51.5
Relationships with administration	75.6	69.2	75.0	31.9	56.7	61.9
Overall job satisfaction	90.0	81.1	78.8	74.5	77.9	84.9
Opportunity to develop new ideas	90.0	86.8	81.8	85.1	76.2	84.5
Availability of child care	18.2	N/A	N/A	N/A	34.7	29.4
Prospects for career advancement	67.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	52.5	64.6
Clerical/administrative support	72.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	53.2	62.4

If faculty were to begin their career again, would they still want to be a college professor? Almost 95% of the Earlham faculty said they probably would or definitely would compared to 85.7% of the faculty at our peer institutions and 83.7% of the faculty nationwide.