Faculty, at all ranks, are just like other employees when it comes to wanting to be appreciated by colleagues and recognized for doing good work. Focus group research conducted by COACHE showed that while many tenured faculty members feel valued by undergraduate and graduate students, with whom research relationships were especially gratifying, they do not receive much recognition from other faculty and upper-level administrators. The degree to which appreciation and recognition themes appeared in our 2010 study of tenured faculty far surpassed their appearance in our pre-tenure faculty research.

In our pilot study, tenured faculty (especially at smaller institutions) felt that extramural service that increases the reputation of their colleges, while expected of them, is not recognized and goes unrewarded. Being engaged in the local community or on the board of a nationally-recognized association yields little recognition from senior colleagues or others at their home institutions. This gap between expectations and appreciation discouraged many faculty from external service that increased the reputation of the institution.