Faculty at the University of North Texas rated Chancellor Lee Jackson between “poor” and “fair” in a recent performance survey.

The 2010 faculty survey indicates that the majority of respondents have a lingering distrust in his direction for the university.

Of the three top-tier administrators reviewed, Jackson ranked the lowest on overall performance at 1.37 on a scale of 1 to 5, in which 1 is “poor” and 5 is “excellent.”

The Faculty Senate conducted the anonymous survey, and some faculty members, in an optional comments section, called for Jackson’s resignation.

Jackson declined to comment on the survey.

Also evaluated were former Provost Wendy Wilkins, who received an overall performance score of 3.78, and Deputy Provost Celia Williamson, who earned an overall performance score of 3.61.

The informal survey isn’t regulated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and, if regents perceive a faculty bias against Jackson, the results may have little impact on the future of the university.

Most of the negative responses on the chancellor’s survey cite the forced resignation of former President Gretchen Bataille as the primary source of discontent, along with an overall impression of a lack of transparency in university decisions, such as the move of the UNT system office to Dallas.

In the survey, 357 faculty members rated Jackson on 12 aspects of leadership. It also included three open-ended questions.

On the numerical portion, Jackson scored a low of 1.26 in trustworthiness and a high of 1.57 for his representation of the UNT system to regents and state legislators.

In a similar survey conducted in 2008, Jackson scored a 2.9 for overall performance.

The survey gives faculty members the ability to communicate with Jackson, the Board of Regents and other administrators on his effectiveness at the university, as perceived by the faculty, said Karen Weiller, who was chairwoman of the Faculty Senate in the 2009-10 academic year.

Weiller would not comment on the meaning of the survey results but said the number of faculty responses grew this year compared with previous years, and that was most likely attributed to Bataille’s abrupt resignation.

The Faculty Senate sent the survey results to Jackson and the regents, but they haven’t responded, she said.

Jackson has told Faculty Senate members he plans to be more involved with the group, she said.

“I would suspect we would have a working relationship with the chancellor this coming year,” Weiller said. “He has expressed interest in the spring semester with officers, committee members and the Faculty Senate to rebuild that bridge.”

A perceived bias

The controversies over Bataille’s resignation, the move of the UNT system offices from Denton to Dallas and the centralization of information technology and human resources likely contributed to a high survey response rate, officials said.

The number of survey participants increased by nearly 150 faculty members, compared with a survey conducted two years ago.

Warren Burggren, who took over as UNT provost this month, said the higher number of respondents in the survey could be interpreted as an increased negative bias by those participants.

However, regents should carefully review the results of the survey and there should be a consequence to the survey, he said.

“A bias toward negativity doesn’t necessarily reflect performance, but it doesn’t mean a free pass,” Burggren said. “It means anyone in a supervisory role needs to look very carefully in a whole series, in relation to the survey.”

Donna Emmanuel, chairwoman of the Faculty Senate for 2010-11, said that if administrators or state leaders are not looking at the survey, the Faculty Senate should address it.

Regent Don Buchholz said he believes some faculty members are biased against Jackson, so he likely won’t take the survey as seriously as he would a third-party review.

Tension between academia and the business world, and Bataille’s resignation, most likely influenced the survey results, he said.

“I’d be upset if he got a high rating,” Buchholz said. “He’s in a place of authority, and they [faculty members] aren’t going to like it. If they like what he’s doing, he’s doing something wrong.”

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com.