Provost IE Action Plan Background
Background
- College/Unit: Provost
- IE Action Plan Category: Background
- Title of Plan: Division of Faculty Affairs (DOFA) IE Action Plan
- Inclusive Excellence Action Plan Development Process 1) Spring 2022 - Preliminary Division meeting with then-Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Jim Vigoreaux. DICE Inventory and the Campus Climate Survey questions and preliminary responses discussed. 2) Fall 2022 - 9/30/22 - The inaugural Division of Faculty Affairs Annual Retreat, led by Vice Provost Jane Okech (attended by all staff and guest Speaker Paul Yoon) a) Completion of IEAP Division Committee b) Division discussion of the objectives and timeline of development of the Inclusive Excellence Action Plan c) Discussion of DICE completion and implications for DOFA d) Discussion of Climate Survey and implications for DOFA e) Preliminary discussion of core objectives f) Preliminary discussion of assessment procedures 3) October 2022 - February 2023: Scheduled bi-weekly Division of Faculty Affairs Inclusive Excellence Planning Committee (Chaired by Jane Okech, and attended by Wendy Berenback, Holly Buckland Parker, Susanmarie Harrington, Susan Munkres, & Crispina Pincus) 4) All Division staff got an opportunity to review the Inclusive Excellence Plan at key junctures of its development. The first was in December 2022 after the implementation committee developed a conceptual framework for the plan and a second time in February 2023 after the committee developed a final draft of the Inclusive Excellence Action Plan. The Division wide review processes at both junctures yielded valuable feedback that helped enhance the depth and quality of the document that has been submitted to the Vice Provost for Diversity Equity and Inclusion. 5) Division of Faculty Affairs (DOFA) Inclusive Excellence Action Plan Completed and submitted for review on February 21, 2023. 6) Division of Faculty Affairs (DOFA) Inclusive Excellence Action Plan Revisions Completed; Appendix A (see page 12) included to illustrate the implementation process of the plan including a well-defined timeline and specifies the individuals accountable for executing various components of it. The ultimate edition of the plan was duly submitted on June 21, 2023. Division of Faulty Affairs (DOFA): History The Division of Faculty Affairs (DOFA) was created on July 1, 2021. The new division united all units at UVM whose primary focus involves faculty recruitment and retention activities, as well as facilitating and responding to faculty professional advancement priorities under the leadership of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (VPFA). DOFA consists of four units. • Unit 1 - Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) The seven staff members in this unit consist of a Faculty Director (part-time), an Associate Director, two Educational Developers, one Faculty Development Specialist, an LMS Transition Specialist, and an Administrative Assistant (as of spring 2023, .75 FTE, shared with CELO; in 2021 and 2022 this was a 7 hr/week position). This unit also appoints 2-5 Faculty Associates each year, who work for 10-30 hours per year on special projects and/or unit consultations that support the CTL’s reach. It also hires 5-10 undergraduate students per year as part of its student focus group initiative. From 2021-present the Associate Director has served as co-lead of the Brightspace Core Implementation Team. • Unit 2 - Office of Community-Engaged Learning (CELO) The two full-time staff members in this unit consist of the Director and the Program Coordinator. In AY23, this unit also hosted a Kroepsch-Maurice Faculty Fellow for Community-Engaged Pedagogy, who works on an independent project for the year. • Unit 3 - Office of Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs The three full-time staff members in this unit consist of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, the Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and the Academic Talent Acquisition and Retention Coordinator. • Unit 4 - Writing in the Disciplines (WID) The two full-time staff members in this unit consist of the Director and an Administrative Assistant (shared with the Undergraduate Writing Center). Division of Faculty Affairs (DOFA): Mission Statement DOFA units oversee all activities related to faculty recruitment, retention, elevation, evaluation, professional development, and success. DOFA supports faculty* of all ranks throughout their careers at UVM from recruitment and hire to retirement and emeritus status. We promote a dynamic and collaborative culture that supports faculty growth and development in pedagogy as well as leadership, research, scholarship, and creative activity. DOFA centers inclusion and accessibility at every level of its work, in faculty and staff recruitment and retention programs, professional and pedagogical development, evaluation and elevation, to academic community engagement and its own internal workings. DOFA uses equity-centered assessment procedures to inform and enhance its programming and to support progress towards its strategic goals and objectives. DOFA is committed to providing its staff and administrators with opportunities for professional development and support to enhance their ability to advance DOFA’s strategic and inclusive excellence action plan goals. Key Terms and Assumptions* DOFA’s work, in general, supports faculty in all aspects of their work, at all phases of their careers, from recruitment through retirement. We recognize that faculty and other instructors at UVM are a varied group who work in multiple disciplines and contexts, and we strive to do our work with sensitivity to that range. We start from the assumption that our whole academic community thrives when every individual on campus has the chance to thrive. Some definitions of key terms in this document: Course spaces: The course spaces where learning is directed and coordinated by instructors include in-person classroom meetings, online, hybrid, lab, and out-of-classroom experiential learning opportunities. Diversity: Diversity is built out of various social identities through which groups have shared—and intersecting—attributes, such as race, ethnicity, citizenship, national origin, language, religion, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, class, and gender. Equitable learning environments: Equitable learning environments operate in awareness of the ways privilege and oppression affect relationships and interpersonal dynamics; consider and incorporate diverse domestic and global cultural perspectives; and respond to students’ needs at different points of their curricular journey. Equity: Equity promotes justice and fairness, ensuring that individuals have real chances to be successful. Building equitable learning environments requires understanding and actively undoing systematic structures that have promoted unequitable outcomes. Faculty: The term faculty has multiple meanings in this plan depending on the context in which it is used. Formally, UVM’s faculty hold full- and/or part-time positions, in both tenure-line and non-tenure line positions, whose ranks and promotion pathways are laid out in the United Academics’ contracts and departmental and school or college guidelines. Most faculty have multiple roles, which may include research, advising, administrative, and university service, as well as teaching. But teaching roles are also held by graduate student instructors, teaching assistants, and staff (who may teach courses regularly or occasionally). When we use the term faculty in this plan, it sometimes encompasses the larger group of people-who-teach; sometimes it is restricted to the full- and part-time employees represented by United Academics full- and part-time collective bargaining agreements. Context should make this clear. The missions of WID, CELO, and CTL explicitly address the needs and responsibilities of everyone with a teaching role on campus, regardless of their rank or status. Faculty rank progression: faculty rank progression is the pathway between recruitment and retirement that includes, as appropriate, reappointment, promotion, and/or tenure processes; and is characterized by faculty review processes and formal evaluations as laid out in the United Academics’ contracts and departmental and school or college guidelines. Inclusion: Inclusion means that all participants in an educational setting are valued, respected, and supported. Inclusion depends on the culture created through interpersonal interactions, course policies, and curriculum choices. Privilege: Privilege means the advantages or access granted to individuals because of their social identities. It is often unexamined or invisible to those who have it, and the process of identifying and understanding it leads to understandings of systemic bias and oppression. Reciprocity: Processes in which faculty recognize, respect, and value the knowledge, perspectives, and resources of community partners, and in which knowledge and resources are mutually shared for community benefit and public purposes. Reciprocity is a central tenet of community-engaged teaching, research, and creative activity. Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a curricular and pedagogical design framework that supports a diversity of learners through flexible course design focused on clearly articulated learning goals. The clear goals are met by the students completing a variety of options for assignments and engagement. The instructor uses a mix of ways to represent course ideas and content.
Inclusive Excellence Committee/Implementation Team Members
- Wendy Verrei-Berenback
- Holly Buckland Parker
- Susanmarie Harrington
- Susan Munkres
- Jane E. Atieno Okech
- Crispina Pincus
Unit(s) within College, Division, Department or Unit
- Department: CELO
- Department: Ctr for Teaching & Learning
- Department: VP Faculty Affairs
- Department: Writing in the Disciplines