III.
Faculty Recruitment and Retention
Finally,
a series of questions asked respondents who are married or living with
a partner to provide more information about their spouse/partner’s employment
status and their satisfaction with Purdue’s assistance in helping them
to locate appropriate employment for them.
Of
the 84% of respondents who are married or living with a partner, 95%
live in the same location with them. Just over half (51%) of the spouse/partners
are currently employed full-time and only one percent more (52%), according
to faculty respondents, prefers to be employed full time. Although 27%
are not currently employed, only 21% choose not to work. Most who are
not currently employed but would prefer to work would like to find part
time employment (22% currently work part-time but 27% prefer to be employed
at this level.) Forty percent of working spouses/partners are employed
by Purdue, primarily as faculty members (47%), and administrative or
professional staff (36%).
Among
faculty who are married or living with a partner, 32% have sought help
from Purdue in attempting to find appropriate employment for their spouse
or partner. On a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) with 3.5 as the midpoint,
the average level of satisfaction with Purdue’s help was 2.6. In fact,
40% of respondents gave Purdue’s assistance the lowest possible score.
Because
the number of respondents who have sought help from Purdue is relatively
small (177), analysis of responses to this last question by school and
race is not appropriate.
Differences
by Rank and Gender
Generally
speaking, females are most likely to be assistant professors at Purdue
(41% are at this rank), while males are most likely to be professors
(53% are at this rank). Because both gender and rank could influence
respondents’ perceptions of Purdue’s spousal relocation assistance,
most responses are analyzed together to examine the influence of these
two variables together.
Female
assistant professors are more likely than male assistant professors
to have sought assistance from Purdue in finding appropriate employment
for their spouse or partner (57% vs. 51%), but virtually equal proportions
of males and females in the other ranks have sought help from Purdue
(28% of associate professors and 24% of professors).
Although
assistant professors report the most satisfaction with Purdue’s assistance
(2.8 mean vs. 2.4 mean for associate professors and 2.3 mean for professors),
females are less satisfied than males (2.4 vs. 2.7 mean rating on the
6 point scale). Therefore, in this case, differences in males’ and females’
distributions by rank do not explain their different satisfaction levels
– females are simply less satisfied than males with Purdue’s assistance.
Similarly, females are far more likely than males at each rank to have
considered leaving Purdue to improve career opportunities for their
spouse/partner. At the assistant professor rank, 67% of females and
51% of males have considered doing so; at the associate professor rank,
61% of females and 45% of males have considered doing so; and at the
full professor rank, 63% of females and 28% of males have considered
leaving Purdue to improve career opportunities for their spouse or partner.
