UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Following the collection of faculty feedback in December 2025, the Penn State Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) steering committee has announced the four focus areas that will be used to develop a University-wide action plan, the next step in the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey timeline.
The areas of focus were identified by the steering committee after reviewing the University-wide survey results, which were released in fall 2025. According to the steering committee, the four interconnected priority areas of focus highlight both strengths to build upon and challenges to address. They are:
- Cultivating Trust through University Action, which reflects faculty members’ strong confidence in departmental leadership contrasted with concerns about transparency, communication and alignment between senior leadership’s stated priorities and faculty experiences.
- Strengthening Faculty–Administration Collaboration, which underscores the need for more meaningful faculty input, as low scores in governance point to a desire for clearer shared purpose and more transparent decision-making.
- Recognizing and Appreciating Faculty, which emerged as another priority, with many — particularly those from underrepresented groups or carrying heavy advising and service loads — feeling undervalued by senior leadership.
- Removing Barriers to Faculty Productivity and Success, which captures concerns about administrative burden, complex systems, and uneven workloads that hinder faculty effectiveness.
The steering committee tri-chairs said that these themes, taken together, present an opportunity for Penn State to strengthen trust, deepen collaboration, reduce barriers and more fully recognize the faculty whose work drives the University’s mission.
“On behalf of the COACHE tri-chairs and the steering committee I would like to thank the faculty who submitted feedback or participated in a listening session,” said Michele Stine, COACHE steering committee tri-chair and teaching professor of biobehavioral health in the College of Health and Human Development. “Faculty engagement is a crucial part of the COACHE process, and the feedback we received from faculty reaffirmed that we are on target with the focus areas that were identified. Our next step is to begin developing an action plan with strategies to address these areas and we look forward to additional engagement with faculty later this spring.”
Faculty feedback on priorities
The four areas of focus were initially announced as draft priorities in December 2025. Faculty were invited to submit feedback on the draft priorities by participating in a listening session held by the COACHE steering committee or by completing an anonymous online form. Online respondents rated the importance of each of the draft priorities on a 1-7 scale, with 1 being "not at all important" and 7 being "essential." In addition, the form allowed respondents to share their thoughts on each priority area.
The form submissions show the following aggregate ratings by priority:
- Cultivating Trust through University Action
- 85% of respondents rated this as "very important (5)" "extremely important (6)" or "essential (7)"
- The mean rating was 5.7
- Strengthening Faculty-Administration Collaboration
- 77% of respondents rated this as "very important (5)" "extremely important (6)" or "essential (7)"
- The mean rating was 5.4
- Recognizing and Appreciating Faculty
- 79% of respondents rated this as "very important (5)" "extremely important (6)" or "essential (7)"
- The mean rating was 5.8
- Removing Barriers to Faculty Productivity and Success
- 91% of respondents rated this as "very important (5)" "extremely important (6)" or "essential (7)"
- The mean rating was 6.0
The overall faculty feedback reinforced that the priorities were in alignment with faculty viewpoints and experiences, and the final priorities were presented to Fotis Sotiropoulos, executive vice president and provost, in December.
Next steps in year two of the COACHE process
In spring 2026, the COACHE steering committee will develop the University-wide action plan, which will identify strategies for addressing each of the priorities; at the same time, the college and campus committees will begin working on their individual unit action plans. Faculty will have ongoing opportunities to engage with the COACHE steering committee and provide feedback on the University-wide action plan. More information about the University-wide action plan and individual unit action plans will be shared later in the spring.
About the COACHE survey
A joint effort of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost and the University Faculty Senate, the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey was open to all eligible full-time faculty during the spring 2025 semester. The survey is designed to provide insights into the experiences of faculty members across Penn State, identify areas of potential improvement, strengthen community and drive positive change at the campus, college and department levels. Topics covered by the survey included shared governance; engagement; collegiality; recruitment and retention; appreciation and recognition; interdisciplinary work; institutional leadership; resources and support; and promotion and tenure.
The release of the survey results in fall 2025 kicked off the second year of the three-year process, during which the University-wide steering committee and unit committees reviewed the results, gathered feedback from faculty, and recommended priorities for action. In year three, the action plans will start to be implemented, and members of the steering committee will engage with COACHE peer institutions to learn from their efforts.
More information is available on the COACHE website and questions can be emailed to coache@psu.edu.