The COACHE Survey: What It Is and Why It Matters at Brooklyn College
About COACHE
The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is a research-practice partnership focused on the study of postsecondary faculty experience at different institutions. It was administered CUNY-wide for the first time in spring 2015 and again in 2019. Among 250 other colleges, universities, community colleges and systems, CUNY has partnered with COACHE, using their surveys and approaches to examine the faculty experience throughout our system.
Specifically, the survey includes questions related to research-based strategies to effect change in the following areas:
- Nature of Work: Research, Teaching, and Service
- Tenure and Promotion
- Department Engagement, Quality, and Collegiality
- Appreciation and Recognition
- Interdisciplinary Work, Collaboration, and Mentoring
- Resources and Support
- Institutional Leadership
- Shared Governance
- Retention and Negotiation
- Brooklyn College Custom Items Addressing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Survey results for individual campuses are benchmarked against faculty working at other CUNY campuses, at "peer" colleges chosen by the individual institution, and at the national cohort of all institutions participating in the COACHE survey. Results are disaggregated by professorial rank, gender, and race/ethnicity. The results of the 2019 survey were used to make changes at the system level and on individual campuses.
Brooklyn College Response to 2019 COACHE Survey
At Brooklyn College, the provost created a COACHE team composed of faculty and administrators to dig deeply into the data and recommend action items in the following areas:
- Personnel, Family Policies, Practices
- Facilities, Infrastructure, Research
- Department Life
- Relationship with Administration
- Promotion/Tenure, Teaching, Research, Service
In response to the recommendations from the COACHE team and feedback from the surveys, some of the actions taken by the college include:
- Staffing increases for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
- Full-time faculty associate to the provost for research
- College-sponsored grant-writing professional development opportunities
- Anti-racist professional development at the college, school, and department levels
- Tow Research and Creativity Fund to support faculty research and creative activity
- Faculty Recognition and Awards events
- Systematic Anti-Bullying Initiative
- College-wide faculty mentoring program with school-wide mentors
