Higher education climate surveys have been used for much of the last few decades in the US to collect information about the perception of campus environment, collegiality, workload, trust, and current initiatives. With a healthy campus climate, individuals generally feel welcomed, respected, and valued by their colleagues. Besides professional and personal benefits, research also supports the institutional benefits that come from supporting healthy climate initiatives. For example, a healthy campus climate supports recruitment strategies and promotes long-term relationships between administrators, faculty, staff, and students.
Context for the 2024 Climate Survey
With the 2023 launch of Clemson’s Office of Faculty ADVANCEment, we invited all faculty at Clemson University to take part in an updated survey designed to provide data on faculty characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors. The survey was distributed in May 2024 and included multiple-choice questions linked to:
- Who responded
- How respondents perceive Clemson University, their College, and their Department
- Job Satisfaction
- Campus Climate Measures
- Organizational Support, and Burnout
- Intentions and Reason to leave
While questions that involved free responses are still being analyzed and will be shared separately, our office has decided to start sharing some of the results of the survey.
We begin by sharing the results linked to the profile of those that responded to the survey. It is important to note that we received 546 responses which, as an overall number, is statistically representative (<5% error with a 95% confidence) of the full faculty body at Clemson (N=2104).
Demographics of the Respondents
As it can be observed, 50% of the respondents self-identify as females, a value that almost matches the distribution for the entire campus (52%, 2023 Factbook). Other categories are in line with the national distribution described in the 2022 Report from the National Center for Education Statistics, the 2024 Status Report from the American Council of Education, and the 2023 U.S. census. Unfortunately, the low relative participation of faculty may limit the interpretation of the overall trends.
The survey also highlighted that most respondents are married (55%), are not the sole provider for the family (63%), do not have caregiving responsibilities (59%), have earned a Ph.D. (80%) or a M.S. (18%), and have worked at Clemson for at least 7 years (58%). Out of the 13 Colleges, Schools and Departments at Clemson, only 9 of them participated in the survey. Out of the people that reported their title, rank or position (n=338), tenure-track faculty represent the largest group (63%).
Last but not least, only 14% of the respondents reported having an administrative position at Clemson (typically occupied by individuals holding a PhD, at the rank of full professor, and with at least 7 years of service). This value is larger than the 2.8% of faculty with management responsibilities (includes up to deans/associate/assistant deans) accounted for by our Office of Institutional Assessment.
Tableau Visualization
The following presents summaries of the responses received for questions related to the demographics of the faculty. In order to ensure anonymity, only categories with at least 5 responses are included.
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