Doctoral student presents research on nursing faculty retention

The Student Academic Conference provides a space for students to share meaningful work. For Melissa Wolff it's a chance to bring attention to the role student feedback plays in nursing faculty retention.

Wolff prepares to take the stage for the first time, sharing a research topic close to her heart: "Faculty Perceptions of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) Feedback and Estimated Nursing Faculty Retention."

EdD in Educational Leadership

Wolff is a doctorate student in the educational leadership program with a healthcare emphasis, and has been a nursing instructor for the past eight years.

During her journey as a professor, she noticed a shift in the way students provide feedback at the end of each course. While some comments are helpful and constructive, others have become personal, in an unconstructive way.

"I've noticed more negative comments, and I'm not the only one," she explains. "In nursing faculty social media groups, there are posts about people asking for advice on how to recover from bad comments."

This growing concern becomes the foundation of her dissertation. According to her research, nursing faculty reports an estimated retention rate of 74.7%, compared to 92.9% in other academic programs.

"That made me stop and ask - what's behind that difference? Could student feedback be playing a role?" she says.

In her upcoming SAC presentation, Wolff plans to explore the origin and growing weight of SETs in higher education. Wolff is motivated to find how much influence these evaluations can impact tenure decisions and promotion.

This presentation means more to her than just a line on her curriculum vitae. It's necessary.

"If feedback is affecting how long faculty stay in education, we should know," she says. "We need to keep the good instructors we already have and attract new ones. That starts by making sure we're supporting our faculty, not discouraging them."

As the day of her presentation approaches, she encourages students to present at SAC.

"It pushes you outside your comfort zone in the best way. Sharing knowledge is part of education," she says.