Appreciation and Recognition  ›  About this Theme

Guiding Principles

Faculty, at all ranks, are just like other employees when it comes to wanting to be appreciated by colleagues and recognized for doing good work. Focus group research conducted by COACHE showed that while many tenured faculty members feel valued by undergraduate and graduate students, with whom research relationships were especially gratifying, they do not receive much recognition from other faculty and upper-level administrators. The degree to which appreciation and recognition themes appeared in our 2010 study of tenured faculty far surpassed their appearance in our pre-tenure faculty research.

In our recent study, tenured faculty (especially at smaller institutions) felt that extramural service that increases the reputation of their colleges, while expected of them, is not recognized and goes unrewarded. Being engaged in the local community or on the board of a nationally-recognized association yields little recognition from senior colleagues or others at their home institutions. This gap between expectations and appreciation discouraged many faculty from external service that increased the reputation of the institution.

Hallmarks of Successful Models

Institutions with high marks for appreciating faculty typically understand the following:

The greatest obstacle is simply not knowing what faculty have done that warrants recognition. What mechanisms are in place to ensure that faculty contributions are being shared with deans, provosts, and with their colleagues? Cultivate a culture of recognition by creating ways for students, faculty, and campus leaders to aggregate and to highlight the accomplishments of your faculty. For example, a physical and a virtual drop box allow others to comment on their good work.

The chief academic officer should get to know the faculty in a variety of forums, including brownbag lunches, speakers' series, workshops, and seminars that engage faculty members in appealing topics and current issues.

Likewise, deans and chairs should make opportunities to showcase faculty work, share kind words, and offer a "pat on the back" from time to time.

Take note of what faculty are doing and celebrate that work in each school or college at some point every year; such occasions do not have to be costly to be meaningful. We know of two universities where the Provost surprises faculty with a "prize patrol" offering an award or other recognition in what would have been a run-of-the-mill department meeting or class.

Provide department chairs with guidelines to form a nominating committee of two faculty (rotating out annually) responsible for putting forward their colleagues' names for internal and external awards and honors. These might include recognition from a disciplinary association, institutional teaching awards, or prizes from higher ed associations. Such activities foster awareness of and appreciation for all department colleagues' work.