I am pleased to announce that Drake University will once again participate in the Great Colleges to Work For survey for 2016. The Great Colleges program is sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink LLC, a research and consulting firm focusing on workplace excellence.

The data and benchmark information we receive from this survey will be essential to improve our workplace and our culture. As you may have noted, several of the targets on Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan are directly related to the Great Colleges to Work For survey—for example, Drake earning a place on the survey’s Honor Roll by 2020.

The central feature of the assessment process is a faculty/staff survey distributed to all of our full-time faculty, active adjunct faculty, and full-time staff. Designed specifically for colleges and universities, this confidential and anonymous survey allows us to gather important information from our faculty and staff about what is working well and to learn about areas that need attention.

On March 21, ModernThink will send the survey to all of our full-time faculty, active adjunct faculty, and full-time staff. You will receive an email invitation encouraging you to participate, along with instructions for completing the survey. The survey should take about 20 minutes to finish.

The success of the survey depends on your participation. I encourage you to be honest and forthright in your answers. To ensure the confidentiality of your responses, your survey will be processed entirely by ModernThink. We will not receive any information that would enable us to identify the survey response of any one individual.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Gary Johnson, director, human resources (gary.johnson@drake.edu; 271-4804), or visit www.ChronicleGreatColleges.com.

Thank you for your participation in this survey.

Sincerely,

Marty