During the Spring Quarter the Davis Faculty Association conducted a survey of faculty with regard to the performance of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies. The results are online at:
http://www.ucdfa.org/news_articles/admin-eval-survey.htm
We have posted statistics as well as detailed comments and personal experiences. The comments make for very interesting reading and we urge the members, and the upper administration who will receive this message, to consider them carefully.
In summary, one quarter of respondents to the question believe the Office of Research is effective and efficient in supporting research activities while three quarters believe it is not.
Almost one third of respondents to the question believe Graduate Studies is effective and efficient in supporting graduate education and research at UC Davis while over two thirds believe it is not.
Essentially, people believe that the administration in general, and both of the two administrative units that were the focus of the survey in particular, are overly bureaucratic. There seemed to be a sense that these offices were designed to manage faculty rather than facilitate faculty. As one faculty member put it (in respect to the Office of Research), they seem “more concerned with scrupulously enforcing … rules than with facilitating submission of proposals.” Some people in fact welcomed OR’s strictness since the funding agencies at the next step are equally picayune.