A Note from the Interim Vice Provost
Over the past decade, Faculty Excellence has issued the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey in 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2024. The COACHE survey is a tool used by many academic institutions to gather faculty perceptions of their workplace experience. Our goal is to use the survey results to inform the programs and practices we develop to support UCF faculty.
Below is a working summary of historical progress as well as direct access to all COACHE-related data and reports. It is clear that more work is needed. The 2025-26 academic year will bring many challenges and opporutnities to improve faculty satisfaction at UCF.
Our Progress
Since initiating the COACHE surveys in 2015, UCF has taken steps to address areas of concern to enhance faculty life. This comprehensive report outlines what has been done from 2015 to 2018.
Three thematic priorities were identified as a result of the 2021 COACHE survey: Bureaucracy, Equity, and Faculty Support. Regarding bureaucracy, the 2021 data demonstrated governance issues around trust of senior leadership, sense of shared purpose, involvement in decision-making, and effective communication. For equity, concerns around fairness and impartiality were evident. There were meaningful differences in assignments of and support for research and teaching among disciplines and faculty ranks. While one-size-fits-all solutions are not always appropriate, exploring a more equitable distribution of workloads was a priority. Finally, with regard to faculty support, the faculty expressed concerns about adequate grant assistance, teaching too many courses and students, as well as struggles balancing research, teaching, and service activities. Challenges existed around having enough staff resources to perform the tasks necessary for administrative funcitons like travel, research, and reporting.
The 2024 COACHE survey at UCF emphasized a sense of urgency around faculty satisfaction. Compared to the 44% response rate from the 2021 survey, the 2024 survey response rate dropped to 33%. There were over 200 fewer faculty responses in 2024 compared to 2021. Perhaps most notably, the 2024 survey results did not identify any strengths. In comparison, all three previous surveys (2015, 2018, and 2021) each identified thematic strengths around UCF’s geographic location, clarity of tenure and promotion policies, and divisional leadership. The most positive results indicated good health and retirement benefits, tenure policy clarity, geographic location, quality of colleagues, and support of colleagues. Albeit, none of these metrics reached the threshold necessary to be considered a strength. In contrast, the most concerning results of the 2024 survey were salary and compensation, leadership and governance, and appreciation and recognition.
The 2024 COACHE Priority-Setting Committee developed a report that identified four key areas to improve faculty satisfaction:
- Support and recognition
- Culture
- Compensation
- Awareness of and Support for Existing Faculty Development Programs
Recommendations include a donor-funded recognition system, policies to address faculty harassment, and consistent service acknowledgments. To rebuild trust, the report urges authentic engagement from leadership and clearer alignment with UCF’s evolving vision. Compensation concerns highlight salary disparities, inflation gaps, and workload increases. The committee also recommends better access to faculty development programs, research matchmaking, and new promotion pathways.
The 2025-26 academic year will offer both challenges and opportunities to address faculty satisfaction. While all members of the campus community share the burden, the responsibility lies with the UCF leadership. Faculty Excellence will need to lead by example, take ownership, and show accountability for improving UCF’s faculty satisfaction. This process of improvement will take time and patience, and we are thankful for the opportunity to demonstrate progress.
COACHE Process Timeline
