Report: ISU faculty more productive in teaching and research

Tenured and tenure-track faculty did 46 percent of the teaching for Iowa State undergraduate students and 90 percent for graduate students last year, according to the annual faculty activity report presented to the state Board of Regents at its Oct. 18-19 meeting in Cedar Falls. The full report is online.

Iowa State faculty reported working, on average, 54.92 hours per week in a survey completed last spring. The survey of all full-time faculty is conducted during odd-numbered years at Iowa's three regent universities.

Iowa State's faculty data is based on 1,208 responses, or 75 percent of those who received it. Clinicians (21 responders) self-reported the longest average work week (56.11 hours), followed by tenured and tenure-track faculty (917 responders, 55.95 hours/week), department chairs and executive officers (48 responders, 55.90 hours/week) and non-tenure eligible faculty (222 responders, 50.33 hours/week).

Efficient teachers

Senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert told board members that over the last decade of enrollment growth, the volume of teaching done, measured in student credit hours, increased 71 percent, while faculty appointments of all types increased 43 percent. The result is a 19 percent greater teaching responsibility per faculty member.

Wickert noted that Iowa State is seeing not only greater efficiency, but also better teaching effectiveness, as measured by three student outcomes over the same decade: one-year retention (increased from 84.9 to 87.5 percent), four-year graduation rate (from 35.3 to 46.4 percent), and six-year graduation rate (from 65.6 to 74.3 percent).

Who teaches Iowa State students?* (percentages)

*Percentages of student credit hours taught, fall semester 2016

Wickert told board members that Iowa State faculty also are more productive in their research programs. One way to assess this is in the "marketplace of ideas at work" -- external funding invested in ISU researchers' work. Faculty secured $244 million in external funding in the fiscal year that ended June 30 -- about 40 percent more than the general university appropriation from the state for the same time. Wickert noted that, on average, tenured and tenure-track faculty each brought in roughly $180,000 in external funding last year, up from five years ago when that average was about $130,000.

"Just as faculty effectiveness in teaching has increased, their effectiveness in research has not been diminished and, in fact, has grown during that same time period," Wickert said.

How ISU faculty spend their work week (percentages)

The survey process

Iowa State administered the survey over eight weeks last spring. Surveys were emailed from Faculty Senate president Jonathan Sturm to all full-time faculty, with one-eighth of the faculty receiving it in each of eight weeks. No surveys were sent spring break week or the week before. These groups didn't receive a survey: administrators at the rank of dean and above; faculty on long-term disability, professional development assignments or in phased retirement.

Of 1,612 surveys distributed, 1,330 were returned (an 82.5 percent response rate). But seven were incomplete and another 115 were removed from the analysis because the faculty member was ill or on vacation for at least part of the week. The purpose was to determine faculty activity during a full workweek. This left 1,208 usable surveys.

Executive director Mark Braun

The board unanimously approved a three-year appointment for Mark Braun as executive director of the board, effective Nov. 1. Braun has served as the board's chief operating officer since December 2015, but has worked in the regents system since 1998. His current salary is approximately $240,000, according to Richards.

Braun's salary will be $154,300, the amount allowed by Iowa Code. Board members approved a "recruitment incentive" of $185,000, to be paid in 25 percent increments 30 days and six, 12 and 18 months into Braun's term.

Richards said the COO job will not be filled. That decision and other administrative changes will contribute to a savings of approximately $300,000.

Richards said a committee of board members conducted the search after the board opted to not hire a search firm. He said the committee assessed 42 applications and interviewed five semifinalists. He said Braun emerged as the "far superior" candidate and is "uniquely qualified," in part because of his institutional knowledge and 20-plus years working in the system. The full board interviewed Braun Oct. 18.

Other business

In other Iowa State-related decisions, the board approved naming the Business college the Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business, in recognition of a $50 million gift from the Ivys announced last month.

The board also gave the university a green light to begin planning three projects:

• An estimated $750,000 of renovations at the Knoll, the president's residence. Improvements could include door repairs, replacements and modifications; hardwood floor and carpet replacement; kitchen updates; rear deck replacement; hall and bathroom fixture and finishes updates; and painting. Funding sources would be private gifts and university funds. 
• Improvements (flexible, multisport layouts; lighting; irrigation and support facilities) to 37 acres of recreation fields east of Jack Trice Stadium. The estimated cost, $8 million to $12 million, would be funded by recreation services funds. 
• An estimated 50,000 square feet (one or more new buildings) for poultry teaching and research at the poultry science farm on South State Avenue. The estimated cost, $5 million, would be paid with private gifts.