University finances, tenure and promotion procedures, and fringe benefits top issues of concern to tenured and tenure-track faculty

At the end of spring semester this year, the Michigan Tech Chapter of the AAUP, functioning as an advocate for Michigan Tech faculty, sent a survey to all tenured and tenure-track faculty asking which issues it was important to have detailed and accurate information on, and asking whether faculty would be willing to participate in tracking those issues. With 66 surveys returned, the response rate was approximately 24 percent.

Overall, respondents found all the issues important to a high degree, and 26 percent (17 respondents) declared themselves willing to work on tracking the most important issues.  Plans to follow up on these issues will be discussed at the chapter meeting on September 24, 4-5 pm, 101 Chemistry Science building. 

On a scale from 1 being not important to 5 being very important, five issues averaged over 4:

 4.5         University finances

4.5         Administration adherence to tenure & promotion procedures

4.5         Fringe benefits

4.3         Salary allocation and distribution

4.1         Administration management and support for research

The remaining five issues averaged over 3:

3.9         Reorganization of academic units

3.8         Administrator, faculty, and staff searches and appointments

3.8         Initiatives like the sustainable futures hiring initiative

3.5         Michigan budget process for allocations to higher education

3.3         Recruitment of students