What Contributes to Job Satisfaction Among Faculty and Staff

Book excerpt: In recent years, the attention of college trustees and administrators as well as the general public has turned largely to increasing positive student outcomes and cost effectiveness, while the satisfaction of faculty and staff has been viewed as a significantly lesser concern. This volume argues that positive outcomes for the entire campus can only be achieved within an environment that considers the satisfaction of all of those employed in the academy. The contributors examine various jobs within the campus community-including classified staff and student affairs administrators as well as faculty-and suggest factors that will promote job satisfaction and thereby foster other positive outcomes. They review, for example, the positive relationship between sabbatical leave and the development and satisfaction of faculty. They also explore the role of the faculty union in the satisfaction of community college faculty, the unique challenges to achieving satisfaction that face women faculty members and faculty of color, and other key issues.