One of the "big rocks" -- important goals -- at Southern Polytechnic State University is to strengthen our sense of place. We've talked about this in a variety of different ways - collective responsibility for student success or pride in Southern Polytechnic as a place to work or teach or study -- but we keep defaulting to the short-hand description of "a sense of place." We haven't had a very good way to measure our progress toward this goal until spring 2009, when SPSU participated in the Chronicle of Higher Education's "2009 Great Colleges To Work For" survey. Everyone on campus who is classified as faculty, administrator, or professional staff received an e-mail invitation to be part of this survey; over 50% of the 297 people who were invited chose to participate. More information about the program is available at http://chroniclegreatcolleges.com/.

Although SPSU was not formally recognized in this survey, the results are very positive. In the 15 categories of the survey, the responses for seven were considered "very good to excellent" and another seven were "good." In 14 of those 15 categories - all but one - the people who responded rated SPSU as better (and sometimes significantly better) than the average for comprehensive universities. The category with the most positive response - with 82% giving a positive answer - was "Connection to institution and pride." The next categories with the most positive answers, in order, were "Job satisfaction and feeling supported" (79%), "Supervisor or department chair relationship" (78%), "Facilities and security" (78%), "Career development, research, and scholarship" (78%), and "Respect and appreciation" (77%). A summary of the survey results for SPSU is available here, and a synopsis of the positive and negative response rates is available here. More information is also available for review in the President's Office.

Overall, the responses describe Southern Polytechnic as an excellent place to work, and these results provide a baseline against which we can assess our progress in continuing to develop community, pride, and an even stronger sense of place. SPSU will certainly be participating in the 2010 survey of Great Colleges to Work For!