CONWAY, Ark. (November 17, 2010) – Hendrix College is an exemplary environment for early-career faculty job satisfaction, according to a study released this week by Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE).
Hendrix earned the highest marks among 38 baccalaureate institutions in two of the survey’s eight categories, “Tenure Practices” and “Clarity of Institutional Expectations for Tenure.” Other baccalaureate institutions cited as exemplars include Bowdoin College, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Saint Olaf College, Trinity College, Wellesley College, and Wesleyan University.
Hendrix joined COACHE after increasing faculty to keep pace with steep enrollment gains. Nearly 40 percent of the faculty was hired in the past six years.
"We felt that we needed to get some kind of read," said Dr. Robert L. Entzminger, Provost and Dean of the College, in a recent interview in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "We thought we could learn something from what COACHE does."
Entzminger added that while being named an exemplary institution means Hendrix has been receptive to new faculty members' needs, its ranking also tells administrators that the College has been just as effective at communicating expectations about the its academic culture.
"At institutions like Hendrix where the relationships between faculty and students are so close, the ownership and investment in the institution is just very important," he said. "Our motives are to make sure that the kind of cultural values that our institution represents are communicated to new faculty."
The full COACHE exemplar list is available at http://www.coache.org.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is featured in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review as one of the country’s best 371 colleges, was identified as the nation’s top “Up and Coming” liberal arts college for 2011 by U.S. News and World Report, and is ranked among 45 “Best Buy” colleges by the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.