III. Faculty Recruitment and Retention  

Summary of Responses

According to two thirds of respondents, faculty recruitment is a problem for their unit. This perspective is especially common in Science, Education, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, the Libraries, and Management, and the least prevalent in Agriculture and Consumer and Family Sciences. Faculty retention is perceived to be a problem by 59% of faculty. Three of the schools where faculty most often agreed recruitment is a problem for their unit were also the most likely to report that retention is a problem – Science, Education, and Management, in addition to Liberal Arts faculty.

Summarizing responses to the four open-ended questions regarding recruitment and retention, unit and/or university prestige was by far the most often cited positive influence on recruitment, whereas location and low salary offers were the most frequently cited negative factors. As for impacts on retention, the most commonly mentioned positive factors were collegial environment and salary and benefits, while the most commonly mentioned negative factor was again salary. 

Among respondents who joined the faculty within the past five years, a clear majority was satisfied with their interactions with their future unit head and the search committee, as well as the orientation they received to the local community. However, less than half were satisfied with the new faculty orientation program and with the spousal relocation assistance they received (if applicable). Women and assistant professors were the least satisfied with several facets of their recruitment process.

The last set of survey questions in this section dealt specifically with the issue of Purdue’s spousal relocation assistance. From both the open and closed-ended questions, it is clear that faculty view this issue as a negative factor with regard to both recruitment and retention. Most of those who have personally sought assistance from Purdue are dissatisfied with the assistance they received and more than a third expressed great dissatisfaction. Females were less satisfied than males and they were also far more likely than males to have considered leaving Purdue to improve career opportunities for their spouse/partner.