A Comparative Study of Attitudes, Perception, Satisfaction of Faculty at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) and George Mason University (GMU)

Russell M. Carter

Advisor: Joseph A Scimecca, PhD, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Committee Members: Rutledge Dennis, Jan Arminio

April 18, 2013, 01:00 PM to 10:00 AM

Abstract:

Historically, workplace morale improvement has been an elusive target for company executives and higher management.  Faculty, support staff and other associated personnel at public colleges/universities, as in other workplaces, need to know that their work is recognized as significant.  For the most part faculty want to believe they have excellent relationships with their students and that there is mutual respect between themselves (faculty) and students.

Also, faculty needs to feel comfortable in knowing they can voice their concerns and opinions without fear of being punished.  A comparison survey was conducted among 149 Community College and Research College/university employees at two public institutions in Northern Virginia: George Mason University (GMU), in Fairfax, Virginia, and Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), in Fairfax, Virginia, in order to ascertain if there is any difference in attitudes, perception, and satisfaction, between faculty members at NVCC or GMU.

The results of those surveys were sorted based on place of employment, and data was generated and processed to accurately quantify any potentially significant differences between responses from the universities’ personnel.  The data revealed that NVCC faculty were less likely than GMU faculty to report satisfaction with their institution’s procedures for recognizing and rewarding achievements, and that NVCC faculty reported feeling they were given fewer opportunities for career advancement than GMU faculty.  Discussions of these findings included whether college size could factor into the difference in responses, as well as whether public perception of the institution’s prestige could play a role, such as two-year Community Colleges versus four-year Colleges or Universities.

The possibility exists that faculty at two-year community colleges which are smaller (both in the number of academic disciplines offered and the number and size of buildings and departments), might have more time to interact with students in regards to providing guidance, and to become more involved with the overall environment of the college, compared to faculty members at four-year colleges or universities that are larger.

The dissertation proposal’s main objective for the research project required data to be collected from one group – faculty, with no distinction between part-time of full-time faculty.  However, although the GMU/ NVCC survey was not geared to differentiate between part-time and full-time faculty, this research model might be applied to ascertain responses from them. This would provide additional analytical data, and allow for a broader spectrum that will be discovered and correlated to this study.  To accomplish this task, questions and responses to surveys that included part-time and full-time faculty, and conducted by the NVCC Office of Institutional research (OIR), the NVCC Manassas Campus Council (NVCC/MCC), the GMU Effective Teaching Committee Survey (ETCS), and the GMU Quality of Life Survey (QWL), will be included in this dissertation.