The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, conducted by Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been used at IU Bloomington since 2005. It is the only national survey exclusively focused on faculty job satisfaction. This survey evaluates multiple aspects of faculty satisfaction, including experience with teaching, research and service, institutional resources, governance, and clarity regarding tenure and promotion.
IUB has participated in the COACHE survey every three years (most recently in 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2023). Historically, the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs has led the effort in using the results to understand faculty satisfaction over time, improve faculty development programs, and evaluate the impact of institutional policies.
IUB receives both de-identified individual-level raw data and detailed reports and analyses from the COACHE team. Additionally, COACHE enables comparisons between IUB and selected peer institutions.
The COACHE Job Satisfaction Survey is a three-year partnership between IUB and the Harvard team.A steering committee that consists of representatives from the Bloomington Faculty Council and individual schools will oversee the process.
The campus steering committee for the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey is now welcoming self-nominations from IUB faculty members who are interested in serving on the committee, helping our campus understand the survey results and identify priorities for action.
The survey will be launched in February 2026 and available through April 2026. Committee members will serve as points of contact and provide information about the COACHE survey for faculty colleagues so that the survey includes broad participation.
Data Review & Prioritization - Year 2 (AY 2026-2027)
With the data and analytics support of the Office of Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, members will examine the COACHE results, including peer comparisons and overall mean scores for the campus and each school. Based on these analyses and discussion, the committee will identify two to three priority areas for IU Bloomington to prioritize strengthening faculty experience and workplace climate.
Implementation & Liaison - Year 3 (AY 2027-2028)
The steering committee will focus on the two to three priority areas identified in Year 2 and will create working groups to support them. These working groups will collaborate with academic units and relevant campus offices to ensure that the key needs identified in the process are effectively addressed.
Survey Population and Time Window
In spring 2026, the COACHE survey invitation will be sent to IUB faculty members. The survey population includes full-time faculty: tenure-line faculty of all ranks, non-tenure-line faculty in the ranks of Clinical faculty, Lecturer, Professor of Practice, and Research Scientist. Per COACHE requirement, the following groups are excluded in the population:
Faculty who have been employed for at least one year in a faculty role at IU Bloomington at the time of the survey launch and who were in their terminal year after being denied tenure.
Academic administrators at the school and campus-level (e.g., associate dean, associate vice provost) will be excluded. Department and unit heads (e.g., department chair, center director) are included.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, IUB has participated in the COACHE survey every three years (most recent participations are 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2023).
Summary reports, presentations, and a dashboard from the most recent survey cycles are available here. An IU login is required to access the dashboard.
Access to the COACHE dashboard is limited to full-time faculty members at IUB, as they are the target population of the survey.
IUB uses COACHE results to inform decision-making in programs and initiatives related to faculty success and development. Here are some examples:
The Initiative for the Advancement of Women was established based on the committee review of the COACHE 2016 survey results, with the goal to promote professional development and social networking among women-identifying faculty. In partnership with the Institute for Advanced Study, the Recently Tenured Working Group program was created in response to associate professors’ need for support in advancing their careers after tenure.
Clarity of tenure policies and tenure expectations emerged as areas of concern in COACHE 2019 peer comparison results. In response, OVPFAA created the Promotion and Tenure workshops to address questions about the overall process and specific ranks. In COACHE 2023, these areas were identified as strengths.
To address the need for effective mentoring on campus, as reflected in COACHE 2023 results, the Methods and Practices to Succeed (MAPS) program was developed. This small-group program provides structure and accountability for faculty in developing and achieving their research, teaching, and service goals.
In COACHE 2019, participants in the Scholarly Writing Program (SWP) reported a strong sense of belonging to IUB, reinforcing continued support for SWP to serve faculty across disciplines and at all career stages.
In previous survey cycles, committees or working groups were typically formed after IUB received the data from COACHE to review the results. This time, in line with best practices in place at other institutions, IUB is establishinga campus committee before the survey is launched that will oversee a three-year cycle of promoting faculty engagement in survey participation, interpreting results, identifying priority areas for improvement, and implementing recommended actions.
The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) instrument is designed to survey the job satisfaction of full-time faculty members and does not include a module for part-time faculty.
The survey focuses on the three core pillars of faculty life—teaching, research, and service—and many of its questions are not applicable to the professional experiences of postdocs or academic specialists.
Yes, the survey is confidential. Each participant receives a unique, confidential link to take the survey.
All results are presented in aggregate form to protect the identities of individuals and small groups. Neither COACHE nor IUB will report on groups with fewer than five respondents.
IUB receives detailed reports and analyses from the COACHE team, as well as de-identified individual-level raw data. The de-identified individual-level raw data is only accessible by the Director for Faculty Analytics at the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs (OVPFAA), per the participation agreement with Harvard. Qualitative responses are redacted by COACHE and are detached from all demographic variables before returning to IUB.
Do you have a question about COACHE that is not listed above? Please email us at vpfaa@iu.edu.
