Associate Professor Project Questionnaire
Introduction to the Associate Professor Project
To gain a better understanding of what helps and hinders us in our professional trajectories, the MLA and its Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (CSWP) invite you to participate in this important survey, which will document the experiences of MLA members, both men and women, at the rank of associate and full professor. The CSWP thanks you in advance for contributing to the project by responding to the questionnaire.
The CSWP’s Profession 2000 report on women in the profession showed that women in particular tend to stay a long time in the rank of associate professor. Some of the questions we thus hope to address through this survey include: What strategies have been most effective for individuals, men as well as women, who have moved rapidly through the ranks? What are the best ways to mentor faculty members, especially women, at the associate professor level? Why do people get stalled in their careers after receiving tenure? Do family concerns, service overload, or other responsibilities constitute the main reason for this phenomenon? Are more elusive psychosocial factors involved?
Confidentiality and Use of Survey Data
The database created for this survey will remain the sole property of the Modern Language Association and will not be shared with any other organization, proprietor, or individual except in forms that do not permit identification of individual respondents or institutions. All analyses and reports based on the information collected in this survey will be in grouped or summary form; no individual responses will be reported or disclosed, except for anonymous quotation of responses to open-text questions ("verbatims"). Except by express written permission, verbatims will be reported only in forms that do not permit the identification of individuals or institutions. The contents of individual records and all responses that permit the identification of individuals or institutions, including verbatims, are confidential and will be accessible only to members of the MLA staff charged with administration of the database and its analysis. Contents of individual records will not be accessible to members of the CSWP or other MLA committees or membership bodies.
Information gathered for this survey will lead to a published report that will serve as an important resource for department chairs, university and college administrators, and individual academics in making necessary adjustments for wider and more balanced support and encouragement for faculty members at the associate professor rank. The CSWP may invite MLA members, including members who respond to this survey, to participate in discussions aimed at giving a greater depth of humanistic content to the survey’s statistical findings. While topics of these discussions may relate to aggregate survey findings, invitations for survey respondents to volunteer to participate will not be based in or connected to their individual responses.