The Faculty Success subcommittee had a very productive meeting on 12/11/13. As we head into the semester break, this subcommittee has: (a) conducted (primarily through telephone interviews) and nearly completed its reviews of practices of peer institutions that are related to fostering faculty success, (b) nearly completed its inventory of UVM’s own resources, programs, and policies that are most relevant to promoting faculty success, and (c) reviewed some UVM survey data relevant to the subcommittee’s charge. Subcommittee members are now in the process of developing a brief survey to gather UVM faculty input regarding their experiences; we hope to disseminate the survey at the beginning of the spring semester.

The subcommittee on climate and diversity met on November 20. At that time we shared information that we had gathered through speaking to various persons on campus since our previous meeting. The persons that subcommittee members met with represent a wide variety of individuals (faculty, staff and students) who work, teach or learn at UVM. Our goal in speaking to these persons was to gain insight on the types of situations being experienced and what we as a college might do to improve climate and diversity. The subcommittee is in the process of comparing these findings to our current resources, other institution’s resources, innovative practices, and creative thought that will inform our future recommendations. Lynne Bond has provided the committee with a starting point worksheet based on our charge from the Dean. The worksheet document is a productive starting point for us to align our goals, priorities and future recommendations. The committee began working through this document at our last meeting and will continue to share ideas through emails leading up to our next meeting. We will continue to connect with individuals on campus who will provide more information on experiences in climate and diversity areas and we will continue to discuss and align our findings at goals at our upcoming meetings in December.

November 13, 2013
The Faculty Success Subcommittee had a very productive meeting today. Once again, we returned to the elements that go into faculty success for tenure track and lecturer faculty. We developed a set of questions that we will ask of colleagues at peer and aspirant institutions that are a mixture of public, land grant, and private institutions. We will report on our communications with colleagues in the December 11 meeting.
There are many variables that must be considered in order to understand faculty success at the pre- and post-tenure career stages, from the individual and institution perspectives. In our college, the impacts of resources, teaching load, critical mass, graduate programs, spousal hires, research facilities and libraries, mentoring, and much more are not uniform across our many disciplines and departments.
We will keep you posted as we continue to meet. Our next meeting is November 20.

The Subcommittee for Climate and Diversity met on Wednesday 11/6. At that time we discussed our responses to reviewing the following materials.
• The 2011 UVM Campus Climate Survey
• Dr. Wanda Heading Grant’s Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Update to the Board of Trustees (10/25/13)
• The CAS Commitment to Diversity Statement (Faculty Recruiting) 2012 Document.
We also shared reports on the numerous peer and aspirant universities that committee members had researched since our first meeting. Our goal was to compare our programs and resources here at UVM to other institutions. Our findings will be reflected in our final report to the Dean and may include recommendations that we view as positive and productive at other institutions.
Our next steps include meeting in person with various groups and individuals on campus. Some committee members will meet with students and others will pair off to speak to other constituents on campus before our next meeting later in November. Lynne Bond has provided us with a worksheet that lists priorities and goals. At our next meeting we’ll be using that worksheet as a starting point to align our findings, current assessment and recommendations for the CAS strategic plan.

The Faculty Success subcommittee met for the first time on October 16. We received a charge to the committee from Lynne Bond and proceeded to discuss all the variables that can be considered around faculty success at the individual and college levels. We decided that our first homework assignment is for each member to define faculty success for discussion at our next meeting on Oct. 30. There is a literature on the topic of faculty career development, much of which has to do with teaching effectiveness. While we are benefiting from these readings, we also must consider development of scholarship throughout a faculty member’s career, the role of RPT guidelines in retention, resources for faculty at the college and university level, and more.
Also in anticipation of our next meeting, we will look at the list of aspirant and peer institutions for possible contacts that we can make with their faculty or administrators.
In the near future, we hope to talk with department chairs, who are the front line of faculty recruitment and retention. We are interested in any comments that CAS members wish to send to us on this blog.

October 18, 2013

Dear members of the CAS Strategic Action Planning Committee,

By now you are about to start, or have already started, to meet with a group of highly accomplished colleagues to assist the college in the development of our strategic action plan. I want to thank you for having agreed to participate, and to impress upon you my sense of urgency for and the importance of this process. I believe that your recommendations will become instrumental in setting the stage for the future success of the College of Arts and Sciences at UVM.

I have high hopes for CAS and I need you to help me set high, clear expectations for ourselves. The first step in the process is to identify the context and to assess where we stand now in relation to that context. Then you’ll need to set high but attainable goals and objectives, and also determine the indicators that will help us describe and benchmark where we stand and assess progress toward achieving our vision and goals.

Your task won’t be easy. We are a complex unit that houses small and large departments, with different strengths and approaches to undergraduate and graduate education, not to mention diversity in disciplines and methods of inquiry. I believe we are clear, and there is reasonable consensus, about what our values are; but I question whether we can easily demonstrate whether we live by our values. We say we believe in the teacher-scholar model, in academic excellence and rigor, in transparency and equity. We believe we are multidisciplinary; care about culture, society and the natural world; welcome diversity and respect; and value both individualism and collaboration. First and foremost, we believe in the benefits of a liberal arts education.  How well are we doing on all of those fronts? How well can we explain to outsiders what we do and accomplish, to convince them we deliver a value added education?

We are all too well aware of the limits and constraints of using numbers and metrics to assess academic quality. We also realize the world is changing rapidly, and with change comes the inconvenience and the challenge of replacing mastered skills with new, unfamiliar behaviors and practices. What’s worse, how do we know that changing will pay off? If those thoughts cross your mind, STOP them! They’ll immobilize you.

We live in a world used to measuring success with numbers and figures; where change is unavoidable but at the same time provides us with the opportunity to grow and improve, to make a difference in ways we couldn’t before. Please, use this opportunity to embrace change and to envision and work toward a bright future for CAS and UVM.

Thank you,

Antonio