Chronicle Great Colleges

Attn: College Leaders

To register for The Chronicle's 2009 Great Colleges to Work For program, simply click on the link below and complete the online registration form. Once you register, you will receive a confirmation e-mail message that details the next steps in the process.

To learn more about this program, go to the FAQs section or contact the ModernThink Project team at 888-684-4658 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Chronicle Great Colleges to Work For program?
The program is designed to recognize institutions that are great places to work and to compile detailed benchmarking data about industry trends. Recognized institutions will benefit from positive publicity which will boost their recruitment and retention efforts. The program consists of a survey assessment and data analysis of applicants to determine the Great Colleges to Work For in 2009. The assessment consists of two parts: The ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^© and the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^©. All institutions must complete both parts of the assessment to be considered for the list of Great Colleges. To learn more, go to the 2009 Survey Process. This is the second year of the program.

Which institutions are eligible to participate? (New for 2009)
For 2009, The Chronicle has opened up participation to any non-profit institution that would like to participate, including community colleges. The registration deadline is February 9, 2009. It is expected that all interested institutions will be accommodated. However, The Chronicle reserves the right to limit participation, if necessary, to ensure adequate representation across the various categories and classifications.

Is there a cost to participate in the program?
No. There is no application fee to participate in The Chronicle's 2009 Great Colleges to Work For program. There is no fee associated with either survey component unless you chose to customize the audience or survey for The ModernThink Higher Education Survey^© (see applicant information ). All institutions that apply for the 2009 Chronicle Great Colleges to Work For recognition will automatically receive two participation reports . Other survey feedback reports and services will be available at an additional cost.

Who is ModernThink LLC?
ModernThink is a research and consulting company with expert knowledge in organizational culture and employee surveys. ModernThink has extensive experience in conducting workplace assessments and building outstanding workplaces and is the Research Partner in 20 state/regional Great Place to Work programs. ModernThink manages both the Institution Questionnaire and the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey components of The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program and provides the data along with an analysis to The Chronicle for publication. Learn more about ModernThink at www.modernthink.com

Can I see the surveys before I sign up to participate?
Yes. Click here to see a sample of the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^© and here to view a sample of the ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^©

Who completes the ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^©?
The Institution Questionnaire is completed one time by one ore more management representatives at your institution or the main contact for the program. As many of the questions related to Human Resource practices, we recommend their involvement. Please allow approximately 8-20 hours to complete the Institution Questionnaire.

Does the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^© go to everyone on campus?
The audience for the Employee Survey is full-time - faculty members, administrators and professional staff who are employed at campuses located in the United States and its territories. Participating institutions are asked to provide a random sample of 400-600 full-time - faculty, administrators, and professional staff based on your institution's total faculty/administration/PSS population. If your population of these three job categories is less than 400 employees, then all your full-time - faculty, administrators and professional support staff members are asked complete the survey.

For some institutions, it may be helpful to categorize your administrative staff count similarly to the "executive/administrative/managerial" category on your IPEDs and the same for Professional Support Staff. Click here to see specific job roles under administration as they will appear on the in the actual survey demographics.We are not including "Other Staff" as part of the survey (IPEDS defines these job categories as: Technical & paraprofessionals, Clerical & Secretarial, Skilled Crafts and Service Maintenance.)

See Applicant Process to learn more about surveying beyond the survey sample required and/or surveying beyond this survey audience including part-time staff members and/or "Other Staff".

Who decides which full-time - faculty, administrators and professional support staff will receive the surveys and how they are distributed?
Participating institutions will be asked to provide a sample of 400-600 full-time - faculty, administrators and professional support staff email addresses depending on the institution’s size. ModernThink will provide guidance and specific instructions for selecting the random sample but it will be up to each institution to perform this selection (Download the Random Sample Generation Instructions on the Participation Checklist). We also ask each institution to document their random selection process on a Verification form we supply (Download the Employee Survey Verification Form on the Participation Checklist).

The random selection should be made across each institution’s entire full-time faculty, administrators and professional support staff population working in the United States and its territories. Please be sure that the number of employees representing each of the thee job categories in your sample is proportional to the total number of employees in each of these categories at your institution. If you are supplying e-mail addresses, it is your responsibility to make sure that the employee e-mail addresses are current and accurate.

What if we want to survey more than the random sample of our full-time faculty, administrators and/or professional support staff?
Based on requests from applicants last year, ModernThink has provided the opportunity to survey beyond the random sample required for the program. For a fee, applicants can customize the survey process to include:

Surveying additional full-time - faculty, administrators and/or professional support staff
Surveying part-time - faculty, administrators and/or professional support staff
Adding location/campus as an additional demographic.

If you are interested in expanding the survey audience, please contact Suzi Schmittlein at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 1-888-684-4658 ext. 103.

If you are interested in including other members of your campus like Other Staff, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 1-888-684-4658 ext. 117 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 1-888-684-4658 ext. 113

Can we customize the survey and still participate in the program?
Applicants can customize certain components of the employee survey (i.e. adding/customizing demographics and adding statements/questions or surveying Other Staff) and still use their results as their application for the program.

If you are interested in learning more about these options and the associated fees, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 1-888-684-4658 ext. 117 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 1-888-684-4658 ext. 113

How do you ensure that participating institutions do not distribute surveys to the most-satisfied staff members?
All participating institutions will be required to complete the Employee Survey Verification Form (Download on the Participation Checklist ), which requires you to document the details of the survey process including sampling methodology and distribution techniques. ModernThink may also follow up with individual institutions to verify their processes and ensure compliance with the program rules.

Do we have to complete the surveys online?
Yes.

Not all of our staff have e-mail addresses. Can we still use the online survey?
Yes. The online survey can still be used as long as employees without e-mail addresses are able to get access the Internet. In this scenario, ModernThink will provide login sets (user names and passwords) for employees without e-mail addresses so that they can complete the online survey.

Login sets will be e-mailed to the Survey Coordinator in a spreadsheet containing rows of unique user name and password combinations. Your institution’s Survey Coordinator will be responsible for distributing Login Sets to those individuals without an e-mail address, along with the ModernThink Instruction Letter.

Does the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^©meet IRB requirements?
Yes, the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey© when reviewed by an IRB was found to meet appropriate criteria for exempt status. The survey is collected in an anonymous and confidential manner. It is our understanding that this project is determined to be Exempt from IRB review by application of available exempt categories as found in the Code of Federal Regulations – Exemption #2, survey procedures that do not link information obtained to individuals. The data will be tabulated as an unidentified aggregate – and will not be identified with individual respondents. The demographic information requested will be used for aggregate tabular reporting. We have also created a document for you to use internally to communicate with your Institutional Research / Institution Survey process (download ).

Is there a minimum response rate?
While a 100% response rate is not necessary, we would like to see as high a response rate as possible. Average response rates on programs such as this range from 40% to 65% depending on your sample size.

How do we ensure an adequate response rate?
The key to a strong response rate is proactive communication. We will work with you to make sure that employees receive the necessary communication, both prior to and during the survey, to ensure adequate response rates. (Download Communication templates on the Participation Checklist). Please send copies of all communications sent to employees regarding the survey process to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by March 6, 2009.

How long will it take for our staff to complete the survey?
The survey consists of 70 statements, 15 benefit satisfaction statements, 2 open-response questions and 14 demographics questions. It typically takes about 15-20 minutes to complete. Click here to see a sample of the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey.

Will we have an opportunity before the survey to let our staff know the reason for the survey?
It is important to share with employees the context for the survey and to encourage their participation. We have a sample pre-survey communication you can use to set the stage. The survey invitation also provides background information about The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program. Download Samples of these on the Participation Checklist.

Will the survey include an introduction?
Yes, each survey will have a brief introduction that explains The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For program and the purpose of the survey.

How does ModernThink protect the confidentiality of the survey data?
At ModernThink, we go to great lengths to ensure the anonymity of your employees' survey responses. For example, we only report data back to institutions when there are five or more participants in a particular demographic category.

ModernThink destroys all e-mail lists after the survey process. At no point do we solicit employees from these e-mail lists nor do we sell or share in any manner these email lists. Your designated Survey Coordinator will be kept in our Program Administration database so that we have contact information for program participants. The Statement of Confidentiality below further details how we protect the confidentialityof your survey data:

STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY
The program partners, The Chronicle of Higher Education and ModernThink LLC, respect your privacy and actively protect the confidentiality of the data collected at both the institutional and individual level.

Institutional Data
Through the survey and research process, ModernThink will be collecting, analyzing and, together with The Chronicle, evaluating institution data and other sensitive information. ModernThink LLC, the party most directly responsible for gathering and storing the data, has satisfied the US-European Union data protection “Safe Harbor” requirements. It has also received the Better Business Bureau’s Online Reliability Seal.

ModernThink and The Chronicle protect your institutional data in a variety of ways:

1) Data is collected and maintained on a secure server

2) Data will not be released, sold or traded to any unauthorized third party

3) Data is shared internally with employees and/or contractors only on a need to know basis

4) Vendors, contractors and/or other agents who work with and/or process any parts of the data are advised of the importance of maintaining confidentiality and are required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements

5) College-specific employee survey scores will not be released without your permission; data from your institution may be combined with data from other colleges and then reported back in aggregate form

6) Information regarding a college's participation will not be released, unless it is already public information (e.g., publication of the recognized institutions). The Chronicle or ModernThink LLC may, however, release the registration list in any given year to other authorized media partners and/or list sponsors. If doing so, they will ensure that any recipient of the registration list signs a Non-Disclosure Agreement expressly limiting use of that list to authorized activities in connection with the "The Chronicle's Great Colleges to Work For" program.

Notwithstanding the above, your college’s data will be added to ModernThink’s national database of statistics and best practices to further ModernThink’s research of employee/employer relationships and workplace dynamics. Some institution-specific information (such as best practices) may be published or otherwise used by The Chronicle and/or ModernThink to cite workplace excellence. Any such information used in a public forum will be favorable in nature and will only reflect positively on your college.

Individual Data
Several measures are in place to protect individual survey responses and any personal data that is collected.

1) Self-identifying demographic questions at the end of the survey are strictly voluntary. If a survey-taker chooses to provide that information for any reason, ModernThink and The Chronicle accept that act as explicit consent to use the information in the ways described in this Statement of Confidentiality or as described at the point where they so choose to disclose.

2) Employers are never given access to individual survey records.

3) Survey results within any demographic group are not reported back unless there are at least five completed surveys received in that particular demographic group.

4) At the end of the survey, employees are given an opportunity to respond to open-ended questions in their own words. They are advised at that time that their employer may request and receive a verbatim transcript of all comments. They are further advised that if they wish to remain anonymous, they should refrain from writing their name and/or any other identifying characteristics in their comments.

If you have any questions about this Statement of Confidentiality, please call Suzi Schmittlein at ModernThink. Suzi can be reached at 1-888-684-4658 ext. 103.

What information is included as part of the program and when will we receive it?
All institutions that apply for The Chronicle's 2009 Great Colleges to Work For recognition program will automatically receive two participation reports: a Topline Feedback Report and a Demographic Profile Report. These reports will be mailed in July 2009.

Other feedback reports will be available at an additional cost, including the opportunity to schedule a consultation with a ModernThink workplace expert to review your institution’s results. See the Reports section of this website for more information. If ordered, these reports will be mailed to each institution in August of 2009.

How will participating institutions be recognized?

The program results including recognized institutions are published in The Chronicle's Academic Supplement in July 2009. Click here to a sample of the Chronicle's July 2008 Academic Supplement.The program recognizes small groups of colleges for specific best practices and policies, such as tenure clarity, collaborative governance, work/life balance and compensation and benefits. Recognition categories are based on either the fifteen survey dimensions or responses to the benefits component of the survey. There were over thirty recognition categories for The Chronicle's 2008 Great Colleges to Work For program.

The assessment process for the program consists of two online surveys: the ModernThink Higher Education Institution Questionnaire^© (IQ) completed by one or more management representatives at an institution, and the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^© completed by a random sample of full-time - faculty, administrators and professional support staff at each institution. Results from both these surveys are used in the assessment process which includes analysis of demographic data and workplace policies at each participating institution.

Because the program is also designed to help colleges improve as workplaces through the individual reports they receive, The Chronicle names only those institutions that scored well enough to be recognized in any category. Category winners are determined based on analysis of the results of the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^©. Given the wide range of employee/faculty populations at the participating institutions, there is not any single minimum threshold response rate that institutions have to achieve to be eligible for consideration. However, in analyzing the data we review confidence levels and confidence intervals to ensure relevant statistical significance.

To view a sample of the 2008 Academic Workplace Supplement in The Chronicle, click here. Paper copies of this publication can also be ordered by contacting The Chronicle reprint department at 717-481-8500 email your request to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Who can I contact with additional questions about the ModernThink Higher Education Insight Survey^© or the ModernThink Institution Questionnaire^©?
Please contact ModernThink at 1-888-684-4658 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

FAQs - 2009 Program

2008 Survey Results Package

2008 Benchmark Data Package

2008 Consultative Support

2008 Report Order Form

Attn: College Leaders

Frequently Asked Questions