Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--In the second yearly survey of faculty, staff and students, Mississippi State officials say they see a continued belief among campus constituencies that the university is moving ahead.
In the "2008 How We See Ourselves" survey commissioned by President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, all faculty, staff and students were invited to respond to a series of questions, ranging from their satisfaction with their level of pay to their perceptions of administrative leadership.
The online, anonymous survey was conducted in January and early February by MSU's nationally recognized Social Science Research Center. Specific results for each category of the nearly 4,500 respondents continue to be analyzed.
"When looking at all groups together, we see a clear picture that most in our Bulldog family believe the university is, in fact, moving ahead as 'One State, One Team,'" Foglesong said. "This year's survey reaffirmed much of last year's results."
Among the specific responses, he said "our people generally look forward to coming to work, believe they are respected and feel good about what they do." When all respondents are taken together, they "believe diversity is welcome and of value," he added.
Foglesong cited one particular category in which he is in particular agreement with the results. "Faculty and staff are not paid enough for what they do," observed the chief executive, now nearing his second year at the land-grant institution.
While a more detailed analysis of the survey will follow, Foglesong said an initial analysis of all categories indicates that "most believe the university is having a significant impact on students and on the state it serves." Among specific responses:
--84.5 percent agree or strongly agree the university is moving forward, with an additional 10 percent expressing no opinion.
--80.2 percent believe they are treated with respect and fairness (an additional 11.5 percent is undecided), while 72.9 percent indicate they look forward to going to work (18.5 percent undecided).
--82.9 percent say faculty members are committed to student learning (12.4 percent undecided) and 84 percent agree or strongly agree that they have confidence in the faculty (11.9 percent undecided).
"We can be very proud that our faculty not only are earning national recognition for scholarship and research, but clearly are recognized for the impact they are making in the classroom," Foglesong said. "It was especially nice to see how much students appreciate our faculty, and it's hard to miss that message if you review the numbers."
Among respondents, campus appearance gets high marks, with more than 92 percent agreeing or strongly agreeing that the campus appearance is satisfactory (4.5 percent undecided).
In other categories:
--Nearly 69 percent expressed confidence in the university's administration (18.8 percent undecided); and
--Nearly 70 percent agreed or strongly agreed they had confidence in the president (17.4 percent undecided).
"The initial numbers represent the 'One State, One Team' aggregate approach," Foglesong said. "Within the next few weeks, we'll post the subsets of faculty, staff and students on our Web site."
The survey summary may be viewed at http://www.msstate.edu/web/survey.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.