2022 Engagement Survey Results v2

Communication and Collaboration

• The Pirate Perspectives tour hosted by Chancellor Rogers provided opportunities for faculty, staff, community partners, and other stakeholders to share their insights about ECU’s accomplishments, challenges and mission-focused initiatives from specific lenses.
• The Provost’s First Monday newsletter shares happenings in the academic communities here at ECU and celebrates the achievements and activities of our faculty and students.
• Vice Chancellor Frye’s On Deck with Student Affairs publication takes a similar approach in sharing the amazing work performed by our Student Affairs Team, as well as updates on critical changes in how we promote student success here at ECU.
• The Chancellor’s Monthly Message provides insight into the progress related to our strategic plan, as well as sharing ECU’s achievements and innovations in the ever-changing landscape of higher education.
• In collaboration with Carnegie, and through a campus-wide engagement, personas were developed for usage in enrollment branding and marketing.
• The Telling Our Story newsletter highlights the remarkable achievements of our faculty, staff and students in pursuit of fulfilling the university’s mission.

Confidence in Senior Leadership

• ECU’s new Strategic Plan, Future Focused – Innovation Driven, which was created in collaboration with faculty and staff, guides our work over the next five years. In addition to continuing our three core mission principles focused on student success, public service, and regional transformation, the strategic plan includes three vision priorities centered and social and economic mobility, workforce success, and rural health and well-being.
• In order to further understanding of and commitment to the strategic plan, the Chancellor hosted the University Day event in September 2023, along with an ongoing series of lunches planned with faculty and staff throughout the year.
• Regular meetings with the Provost and Department Chairs from across the university have been initiated to ensure input from and inclusion of our critical front line academic leaders in the innovative days ahead for ECU.
• The UNC System and ECU received historic funding from the state during the 2023 budget, including funding for strategic investments and salary increases for faculty & staff.

Performance Management

• The annual raise process completed in fall 2022 helped to address compensation concerns across the university, but further actions were needed in many areas.  To that end, a series of legislatively funded market rate adjustments for many critical positions was executed to increase the University’s ability to compete for new talent, as well as to support retention efforts.
• Following the 2022 Treasured Pirate Awards Ceremony, revisions to the program were implemented to streamline the nomination and selection process, as well as to increase the value of the awards for the winners.  The State Service Award program is also under review for update and revision, with expected changes coming to the program in January 2024.  The awards ceremonies for both programs have been combined into a single ceremony to be held in January 2024, where we look forward to recognizing both our faculty and staff with longtime service to the state as well as our 2023 Treasured Pirate award winners.
• ECU Human Resources streamlined performance management training over the past two years with updates to the training provided by Employee Relations and Learning & Organizational Development, as well as transitioning the training for supervisors of SHRA and CSS to a mandatory on-demand session assigned at promotion.  In addition, HR continues to provide workshops on providing feedback to employees such as the “Difficult Conversations” and “Coaching and Discipline for Performance” offerings in 2023.
• Further, the new focus on the workforce success vision priority in the strategic plan will present new opportunities for professional development, including programs such as the recently launched Pirate Readiness Enhancement Program (PREP).