Survey Overview
University leadership has recognized the ModernThink Employee Engagement Survey as a key component of
USC-Columbia’s employee listening strategy. The survey is among the most respected
employee engagement assessments in higher education, providing valuable insights into
workplace culture, leadership, and job satisfaction.
By participating in this survey, you contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and help us understand what we are doing well and where we can enhance our efforts. Your feedback will guide us in making informed decisions that benefit everyone in our community.
Spring participation ensures eligibility in the Great Colleges to Work For® program designed to recognize colleges that have been successful in creating great workplaces and to further research and understand the factors, dynamics and influences that have the most impact on organizational culture in higher education.
Review information about the survey, action planning timelines, how ModernThink protects confidentiality and other FAQs below.
- Spring 2025: Survey is deployed to eligible USC faculty and staff
- Summer 2025: ModernThink shares results and recommendations with university president and leaders
- Fall 2025: ModernThink presents survey results to employees across campus.
- Fall 2025/Spring 2026: University and college/division leaders to prioritize recommendations, identify actions, and create and implement plans.
- Kim Pruitt, Director of Organizational and Professional Development, Division of Human Resources
- Cathy Donnelly, Assistant Director of Organizational Development, Division of Human Resources
- April Barnes, Executive Director, University Housing
- Brian Favela, Director, Parking and Transportation
- Collyn Taylor, Internal Communications Manager
- Jasmine Hunter, Director of Communications, Division of Human Resources
- Liam Hein, Director of Faculty Fellow and Academy Programs and Associate Professor and Chair of Faculty Senate
- Marco Valtorta, Professor, Graduate Director, Computer Science and Engineering
- Megan Colascione, Assistant Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives and President of the Staff Senate
- Michelle Bryan, Associate Vice President for Access and Opportunity and Associate Professor, Higher Education Leadership
- Molly Peirano, Associate Vice President for Civil Rights and Title IX
Insight Survey Process and Content
USC aims to become one of the best workplaces in the country by fostering an environment that attracts and retains top-tier faculty and staff. By collecting insights from faculty and staff about their work experiences, the administration can identify strengths and areas for improvement. Progress is achieved through the open solicitation of candid and confidential feedback from all key stakeholders and acting on this feedback. Consistent follow-up on survey results will help propel our institution towards future success.
It's crucial that we understand what matters most to our faculty and staff. Our institution is dedicated to our PEOPLE and our COMMUNITY, and we need their input on our direction and work environment. This survey will serve as a baseline for future feedback on institutional priorities and needs. The feedback process will be ongoing, not a one-time event, and will help shape our strategic planning.
ModernThink LLC is a nationally recognized organization specializing in surveys of this kind for higher education. The higher education benchmark data ModernThink will provide will give our institution valuable insight into how we compare to other schools across the nation.
The survey statements solicit feedback on a broad range of topics focused around the following themes:
- Collaboration
- Job Satisfaction & Support
- Communication
- Mission & Pride
- Confidence in Senior Leadership
- Performance Management
- Inclusion, Belonging and Access
- Professional Development
- Faculty & Staff Well-being
- Supervisors/Department Chair Effectiveness
- Faculty Experience (Faculty & Adjuncts only)
In addition to the 60 core survey statements, the survey committee will include additional statements that focus on institution-specific initiatives.
The demographic information (i.e. Gender, Age, Job Role, School, etc.) will help ModernThink better understand the patterns and themes in the survey data. As the confidentiality of your responses is critical, ModernThink will not report your individual demographic data. Group demographic data will only be reported when there are 5 or more respondents in a particular group. Although the self-selected demographics are an optional component of the survey, you are strongly encouraged to provide this information.
First, as a faculty or staff member of USC, your voice matters. Second, higher response rates give a more accurate picture of the institution and its individual departments. This is a significant opportunity for you to share your ideas, opinions, and solutions by participating in both the survey and the action planning that will follow.
Yes, participation is completely voluntary.
While the formal timeline for the next survey is not yet established, USC strives to repeat this survey every two years. This year’s results will provide us with important baseline data to chart our progress moving forward.
While the formal timeline for the next survey is not yet established, USC will be repeating this process every two years. This year’s results will provide us with important baseline data so that we chart our progress moving forward.
Yes. USC engaged ModernThink for an insights survey in 2019. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and leadership changes, action planning was stalled. Because of the length of time between the two surveys, it should not be used as a benchmark. This 2025 survey will create the new benchmark.
If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions regarding the survey and/or the survey process, please do not hesitate to contact Kim Pruitt at kpruitt2@mailbox.sc.edu or ModernThink Senior Project Manager Liz Flood at (888) 684-4658 or lflood@modernthink.com.
Taking the Survey
All FTE, RGP, and TML faculty and staff members will be invited via email to take
the survey hosted on ModernThink’s secure website. The survey is available for two
weeks and is extended depending on the response rate.
You will be asked to enter a username and password, which will be provided in an e-mail
invitation sent to you directly by ModernThink.
You may take the survey at any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from work or from
home. Internet access is required. Employees taking the survey can use the same workstation,
as long as each person properly logs into, and out of, the survey.
The survey is only accessible for full-time employees, RGP and TML (faculty and staff)
at Columbia and both Schools of Medicine. If you are in this category, you should
have received a invitation from surveys@modernthink.net.
Ensure that you have checked both your spam and junk folders for the invitation. If
problems still occur, please contact ModernThink at (888) 684-4658 or surveys@modernthink.com,
M-F 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST. After hours, leave a message and your call will be returned
as promptly as possible.
The online survey should take approximately 18 - 22 minutes to complete. If you are
unable to complete the survey after you begin, you will have the option to save your
responses and access them later.
The survey consists of statements that employees/faculty respond to using a five-point
agreement scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Sometimes Agree/Sometimes Disagree, Disagree,
Strongly Disagree). Additionally, there is a Not Applicable response option. The survey
instrument also includes item benefits satisfaction component and open-ended questions.
The USC Employee Insights Survey is available to all full-time employees, RGP and TML (faculty and staff) at Columbia and both Schools of Medicine.
Your answers will be stored each time you select the SAVE & CONTINUE button at the bottom of a survey page. If you get interrupted you can come back to the survey. You will need to log on to the ModernThink survey site to re-access the survey. To protect your confidentiality, you will not be able to access the survey after you click the SUBMIT button on the last page of the survey.
Confidentiality
The purpose of the survey is to get honest feedback. USC is using an external partner
(ModernThink) to administer the survey. It is web-based and automated with a secure
internet connection.
Each employee will receive an email invitation from ModernThink to participate in
the survey. Once you click on the survey link, you will go directly to ModernThink’s
website. USC has no access to this website. Your responses will be submitted directly
to ModernThink’s database, and all processing will be done by ModernThink. You will
not be asked your name on the survey. The email will include unique password information
for each user. This information is stored on the ModernThink server. This information
is for access only and will not be linked to your individual survey responses.
At no point will your manager or any other USC employee see your individual survey
results; they are combined and only reported back to your institution in the aggregate/grouped
format. No one at USC will know if or how you personally responded.
No. The survey will be completed on ModernThink’s private server. The email address is only used to access the survey and to ensure that only one survey is completed per employee. Emails are purged from ModernThink’ s system once the survey project has been completed.