Faculty dissatisfaction and fewer qualified recruits choosing a career in academia threaten the integrity of the higher education system. Retention of highly qualified nurse faculty affects the reputation of the school of nursing, the faculty commitment to the organization, and the learning environment for students. Through use of a system's framework derived from Neuman and Kast and Rosenzweig, the purpose of this survey was to ascertain the relationship between job satisfaction among nurse faculty and selected demographic variables, organizational characteristics, and role orientation. Approximately 80 per cent of the schools of nursing in the target population of universities offering a doctorate in nursing participated in the study. The overall subject response rate was 60 per cent. Instruments used for data collection included three researcher-developed tools and two standardized instruments to measure job satisfaction (the Job Descriptive Index and the Job in General Scale). Significant correlations (P < .05) emerged between each of the demographic variables and at least one of the criterion measures of job satisfaction. In addition to descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, a stepwise linear regression-correlation analysis showed that salary, degree level of nursing students taught, and length of annual contract were significant indicators of nurse faculty job satisfaction.