General faculty morale ranked among the lowest-rated areas on last spring’s faculty welfare survey.

President Gary Ransdell hopes to boost faculty morale through communication this academic year.

About 371 full-time faculty members completed the survey, which the University Senate’s faculty welfare committee sends out annually through e-mail, said Paul Markham, senate chairman and assistant professor in the University College.

About 340 of the 371 faculty surveyed rated their sense of general faculty morale and, of those 340, more than 66 percent said they were dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied.

Ransdell said he saw a direct correlation between the faculty morale results and his announcement last spring that faculty members wouldn’t receive raises.

He said he understood the monetary stress in faculty members’ personal and professional lives, and he wants to alleviate that stress as much as possible this year with communication.

He also addressed the raise issue at the faculty and staff opening convocation last week.

“All of us can only act with the knowledge and information at hand,” he told faculty and staff. “I was guilty of over-selling and under-delivering.”

Markham said it’s hard to narrow down a single factor that affects faculty morale.

“We were in a difficult time,” he said. “We were in the throes of a lot of uncertainty … the raise situation just didn’t work out, which was hard for our employees and hard for our president.”

This semester, Ransdell launched a campus-wide listening tour consisting of hour-long meetings with faculty from each department on campus.

He conducted a similar tour in 1997 during his first year as president.

Discussion topics include a new strategic plan for the campus, the search for a new provost/vice president for academic affairs and Western’s research agenda.

Provost Barbara Burch will retire from her position on June 30, 2010. She’ll remain at Western, working in other areas, including the doctoral program in education leadership.

The search for a new provost is one in which Ransdell said he wants to work closely with the faculty.

“I shouldn’t assume anything,” he told Herald reporters last week. “I need to hear from them specifically as to what they’re looking for.”

Officials say they hope to narrow down the final candidates in March and announce the new provost by May 1.

As for Western’s strategic plan, Ransdell said this is a year to “live within our means.”

“There’s a time to be aggressive and all guns blazing, full steam ahead,” he said. “We’re in a different financial situation right now.”