For the second consecutive year, SUNY Fredonia has been named to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges to Work For” rankings. The annual program recognizes colleges across the U.S., based on enrollment size, for specific best practices and policies. Now in its fourth year, it is among the largest and most respected workplace-recognition programs in the nation.
This year’s survey included 310 participating institutions, a nearly 12 percent increase from last year. Among those only 111 were honored—roughly one third.
This year’s results are based on a two-part assessment process: an institutional audit that captured demographics and workplace policies, and a survey administered to nearly 44,000 faculty, administrators, and professional support staff. The primary factor in deciding whether an institution received recognition was employee feedback.
SUNY Fredonia earned honors in three major categories: Collaborative Governance, which measures the extent to which faculty members are appropriately involved in decisions related to academic programs; Professional/Career Development Programs, which signals that employees are given the opportunity to develop skills and understand requirements to advance in their careers; and Job Satisfaction, which provides insight into employees’ contentment with job fit, autonomy and resources.
Great Colleges to Work For is one of the largest and most
respected workplace-recognition programs
in the U.S. This report will also
be a part of the Chronicle's July 29 issue.
“I’m delighted to see that our campus has once again been recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education,” said SUNY Fredonia President Dennis Hefner. “Last year’s recognition was rewarding, of course, but seeing us receive this honor for a second-straight year makes me even prouder, knowing that last year was not an anomaly. We work very hard, campus-wide, to create a positive, constructive workplace culture and an employee base which consistently performs at a high level. It is heart-warming to see those efforts paying off like this.”
“It is a great honor to be once again included in this selective group,” added Director of Human Resources Michael Daley. “We have a talented team of colleagues who not only take the lead in a number of employee-focused initiatives, but also have helped to instill a campus-wide culture of collegiality and support. Job satisfaction is critical to the success of any organization, often becoming the difference in whether or not an organization attracts and retains the best and brightest employees. This recognition affirms the positive culture our senior management team has created for our outstanding staff.
SUNY Fredonia has over 900 total employees, including approximately 250 full-time faculty members — 91.6 percent of whom hold a terminal degree in their respective fields.
“Just like colleges market to recruit students, they are now realizing they need to do more to attract quality employees,” said Chronicle Editor Jeffrey J. Selingo. “The ‘Great Colleges to Work For’ survey is meant to help both employers and potential employees by giving them vital information about workplaces.”
With a student body of 5,700, SUNY Fredonia is the third-largest four-year university in Western New York, although the university prides itself on the fact that few people come away from its campus with a large-school feeling. It is home to a world-renowned School of Music, one of the most respected colleges of Education in the country, a School of Business, and the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator. In all, the university offers over 100 degree programs. SUNY Fredonia earned the 10th spot among Top Public Universities in the North in the 2011 edition of “America’s Best Colleges,” published by U.S. News & World Report, and has continually been among the survey’s selective rankings since 1989.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, published since 1966 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., provides the academic community with an independent, global hub for news, sophisticated analysis, opinion, and engagement. It is read by more college and university faculty members and administrators than any other source in higher education.
