UTRGV has been recognized by the 2024 Great Colleges to Work For program!
Earning this designation is an honor and a first for our young institution. But at UTRGV, we're accustomed to “firsts”. From establishing the state's first School of Podiatric Medicine to being ranked the #1 University in Texas for the second year in a row (Washington Monthly, 2023 and 2024), we’re a great college to work for because of what we’ve always valued: family, hard work, opportunity, and gratitude.
"These survey results remind us of how far we've come, but they also challenge us to do more. We will use this feedback to make thoughtful decisions that enhance our university's mission and deepen our commitment to serving the Valley and beyond."
Dr. Guy Bailey, UTRGV President
Celebrate Our Greatness!
Show (or remind) colleagues and external networks that you work at a great college with these digital assets:
What is the Great Colleges to Work For® program?
The Great Colleges to Work For® program is a national survey designed by ModernThink to recognize institutions that have cultivated great workplaces. The 2024 program marked the 17th anniversary of the Great Colleges to Work For® program, which is also used to conduct research and gain understanding of the factors, dynamics and influences that have the most impact on organizational culture at higher education institutions. This year’s program included 216 colleges from across the country: 139 four-year institutions and 77 two-year institutions. This is the first time UTRGV has participated in the program, overall.
Visit the recognition website at GreatCollegesList.com to learn more about this year’s honored institutions, program data, and best practices in higher education. View the program timeline for more details about the process.
How was UTRGV evaluated?
At the core of the program is a two-part assessment process. The first component is a faculty/staff survey (The ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey©) which was sent to a random sample of 600 full-time UTRGV employees in March 2024.
The second part of the assessment process is an institutional audit (The ModernThink Institution Questionnaire© or “IQ”), which captures information detailing various institution demographics, policies and practices.
Recognition is primarily determined through the feedback provided by faculty/staff and collected from the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey©. For analysis and recognition purposes, ModernThink first segments the participating institutions into four-year and two-year categories. Colleges within each of these categories are further classified into three (Small, Medium, and Large) groups based on student enrollment, defined as full-time, part-time, undergraduate and graduate students in degree-granting programs. UTRGV is in the program’s “Large” institution category.
| Institution Categorization | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size (Student Enrollment) | 2-Year Participants | 4-Year Participants |
| Small (500 to 2,999) | 35 | 74 |
| Medium (3,000 to 9,999) | 29 | 39 |
| Large (10,000+) | 13 | 26 |
Who from UTRGV participated in the survey?
The survey was sent in March 2024 to a random sample of 600 full-time UTRGV employees across four job categories: administrators, faculty, exempt staff and non-exempt staff.
| UTRGV Participation | |
Faculty includes:
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Administration includes:
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Exempt Professional Staff includes:
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Non-exempt Staff includes:
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*Defined by the National Center for Education Statistics as “Executive/Administrative/Managerial staff”; Employees whose assignments require management of the institution or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof. These employees perform work that is directly related to management policies or general business operations and that requires them to exercise discretion and independent judgment.
How did UTRGV earn recognition and in which categories?
Recognition in each category (below) is given to the 10 highest-scoring institutions in each size for four-year colleges and the 4 highest-scoring institutions in each size for two-year colleges.
Participating institutions are evaluated across 10 categories:
- Compensation & Benefits
- Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
- Job Satisfaction & Support
- Confidence in Senior Leadership
- Faculty Experience
- Faculty & Staff Well-being
- Mission & Pride
- Professional Development
- Shared Governance (Faculty)
- Supervisor/Department Chair Effectiveness
UTRGV has been recognized in 3 of the program’s 10 categories:
- Compensation & Benefits
The perception that one is compensated fairly and that benefits are adequate plays an important role in employees feeling valued and respected. This recognition category is based on survey items capturing satisfaction with the benefits offered and compensation.
- Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
This recognition category is reserved for program participants who are demonstrating an institutionalized commitment to diversity, as reported through the experiences of faculty and staff. It is based on measures of individual experiences of inclusion and belonging, as well as measures of the impact of institutional diversity policies and procedures at the individual level. This recognition category is based on the responses of all employees at an institution and does not necessarily reflect the specific employment experience of any one demographic group of any protected class of employees.
- Job Satisfaction & Support
This recognition category is based on satisfaction with job fit, autonomy and resources. High degrees of job satisfaction are essential to an engaged workforce.
In addition to the responses collected through the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey, recognition considers overall response rate, data broken down by demographic subsets, benefits data and information collected through the IQ.
The Honor Roll distinction went to the top 10 four-year colleges and the top 4 two-year colleges recognized the greatest number of times in each size category.
How do these results compare to the 2021 survey?
While the 2021 survey went to ALL employees, this survey was only distributed to 600 full-time employees (201 responded; 33.5% response rate).
This survey did not contain any custom statements/questions for UTRGV, and some general statements and themes differed slightly from the 2021 survey. Because of these factors, a full 1:1 comparison is not possible. However, our overall survey average remained consistent (1% positive increase; 72% positive responses and 12% negative responses).
| Biggest Positive Changes | Biggest Negative Changes |
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For more details about UTRGV’s performance, view our full Topline Survey Results:
Comment Summary
| Appreciate | Opportunities |
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What's Next?
All survey data was shared with Senior Leadership and discussions on how to address our identified opportunities are currently taking place. While the survey was positive overall, we know that we still want to improve in many areas and will be forming action plans to achieve even better results.
Part of that plan is to do more surveys and to take part in the Great Colleges to Work For® program, an annual random sample survey, each year going forward. Additionally, we are committing to surveying all employees every three years, starting in spring of 2026. These surveys will offer all active full-time UTRGV employees a chance to share opinions, feedback, and other critical information, which will help continue our efforts to improve student and employee experiences.
If you didn’t participate in the 2024 Great Colleges to Work For® program survey, you can still share your praises in UTRGV_Announcements — 2024 Great Colleges to Work For (on Microsoft Teams). Please direct any additional feedback to your supervisor. All other questions about the survey may be sent to OrgDevelopment@utrgv.edu.