ASER develops and conducts surveys of faculty and staff to assess University programs and support administrative planning, reporting, and decision-making. Click on a survey name to learn more about it.
Collects feedback on how UMass Amherst orients and supports new faculty to inform new initiatives and improve existing practices.
UMass Amherst partners with the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) to conduct the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey.
Assessed the extent to which AFR forms allow faculty members to accurately and comprehensively document their work.
Gathered information from UMass staff about their experiences working remotely during the pandemic.
Collected feedback to inform university efforts to promote and support constructive relationships with retired faculty.
Survey of New Faculty
In late February 2019, ASER conducted a survey of first- and second-year faculty for the Office of Faculty Development (OFD). The survey asked faculty for feedback about how UMass Amherst welcomes, orients, and supports new faculty inform both new initiatives and improvements to existing practices. The survey was designed in-house and the response rate was 44.6% (n=99). The next survey of New Faculty will be conducted in the spring of 2026.
Beginning in the spring of 2026, ASER will adminster the Survey of New Faculty annually.
COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey
UMass Amherst partnered with the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) – a research initiative based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education – to conduct the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey in both 2020 and 2024. Faculty participated in the survey from February through early April of each administration year. The overall response rate was 41% (583 faculty) in 2020 and 47% (674 faculty) in 2024. The survey questions are designed to assess faculty satisfaction with key aspects of academic life. Additional details and summary reports for the COACHE survey can be found on the Office of Faculty Development (OFD) website. Each reports is accompanied by ASER dashboards on Flagship Analytics.
Modern Workplace Survey
In early fall, 2021, ASER conducted a Modern Workplace Survey to assess staff members’ experiences working remotely during the pandemic. The survey was designed in-house and conducted to inform the work of the University’s Modern Workplace Working Group. The survey included both closed- and open-response questions about potential challenges associated with working remotely, perceptions of how well-suited remote work is for various job aspects, and preferences for potential remote work opportunities in the future. The survey also included a set of questions for supervisors that asked how successful their employees were at working remotely, and the extent to which specific aspects of remote supervision were a challenge for them. All staff who had worked remotely during the pandemic (N=2,180) were invited to participate in the confidential survey, which achieved a robust response rate of 57.6% (n=1,256).
AFR Survey of Faculty
On April 7th, 2021, ASER launched an Annual Faculty Review Survey, which was conducted for the AFR/ALR Review Committee and designed in-house. The survey investigated the extent to which the AFR and ALR forms' main reporting sections (Teaching, Research Activity, Creative Activity, and Service) allow faculty members to accurately and comprehensively document their work. All faculty members (n=1,588) were invited to participate, and the final response rate was a robust 47% (n=746).
Survey of Retired Faculty
In early summer, 2019, ASER conducted an online survey of retired faculty and instructional staff, on behalf of the Provost. The confidential survey aimed to gather data to inform university efforts to promote and support constructive relationships with them, and to inform the activities of the Retired Faculty Association (RFA). The survey was designed in-house and included a wide range of both closed- and open-response questions about current connections to the university, recent professional and scholarly activities, recent community/service activities, and involvement with the RFA. The final response rate for the survey was 52.8% (n=292).