#  Research-Practice Partnership Supports Institutional Effectiveness 

 





April 27, 2023

 

 

- [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog)
 
 

 

## **PARTNER SPOTLIGHT**

**Dr. Damani White-Lewis and Dr. Nicholas Havey**

   ![Data Results Image](/sites/g/files/omnuum6791/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/gse-coache/files/blog_image_5.png?itok=alKtcgSu) 

 

“We’re in the business of trying to improve institutional effectiveness,” says Dr. Damani White-Lewis, Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. “Without research, practice, and partnership, you don’t have the transformative edge.”

An expanding component of COACHE’s work is strengthening the research-practice partnership through the dissemination of data to scholars, such as Dr. White-Lewis, who are part of a growing field of research focusing on the faculty experience and the academic workforce. Most recently, he was the lead author of the paper “Leaving the Institution or Leaving the Academy? Analyzing the Factors that Faculty Weigh in Actual Departure Decisions,” published in *Research in Higher Education*, co-authored by Dr. KerryAnn O’Meara, Dr. Kiernan Mathews, and Dr. Nicholas Havey.

It is the first peer-reviewed paper on the faculty experience using data from COACHE’s Faculty Retention and Exit Survey, launched in 2017 to help universities better succeed at retention efforts. The paper notes that the significant drivers for faculty departure weren’t unique to those leaving academia, providing administrations with valuable information to more effectively shape faculty retention programs.

Dr. Havey, Senior Manager of Research and Insights at First Book, notes the importance of being easily able to access data from more than 40 institutions participating in the COACHE Faculty Retention and Exit Survey. By using a large, real-time data set specific to higher education, the researchers were able to look at actual faculty departures, rather than simply intent.

“To have this sort of consortium of institutions that are collecting good data — and the right data — to be answering questions about faculty exit and retention is incredibly helpful because not everyone has the capacity, access, and resources to do it,” says Dr. Havey. “It is a huge boon and a huge benefit to junior researchers.”

Dr. White-Lewis and Dr. Havey add that they already have plans for a second paper about faculty experience and satisfaction utilizing COACHE data.

“When you invest in faculty, you invest in students. So how can we improve faculty careers? How can we improve departmental climates and institutions?” says Dr. White-Lewis. “When you focus on increasing faculty motivation and increasing their success, you create a more vibrant ecosystem for student learners.”

**When you invest in faculty, you invest in students… When you focus on increasing faculty motivation and increasing their success, you create a more vibrant ecosystem for student learners.**

*This story appeared in COACHE’s recently released Impact Report, “Partners in Progress”. Read the full report here.*



 

 

 



 

 

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