[Faculty] Update on CALS-wide support for teaching

Tue Mar 1 10:40:33 MST 2022

Everyone,

As we near the halfway point of this semester - and the two-year anniversary of our pandemic journey -  I want to express my deep gratitude for the remarkable resiliency that CALS faculty and staff have shown through the most extraordinary period most of us will ever experience in our teaching careers. "Tough" doesn't begin to describe the exhausting mix of work and family disruptions.  But, look no further than to the student and family reactions at our December graduation ceremony two months ago to know how much your efforts have meant to thousands of students over the past two years.

Conditions are improving.  In his message yesterday, President Robbins struck an optimistic note that we'll see a campus environment in the weeks after spring break that is much closer to "normal" than anything we've seen since February 2020.  As spring transforms southern Arizona, it would be wonderful to see students smiling and activity percolating back in Forbes and on the Mall and in every other corner of campus.  That's the hopeful thought that I'm keeping as we close out the first half the semester.

Now, to the question of support for faculty teaching in CALS.  Over the past year we have noticed an ongoing under-current of discontent across several academic units regarding lack of assistance for faculty who teach larger sections.  I believe this is a direct result of our rapid growth in online instruction since 2019 that has challenged our ability to keep up with unexpectedly large student demand.  In short, these are growing pains, but they need our immediate attention.

In the past, except for General Education and "service" courses, CALS policy has been to let academic units set their own rules for when to provide TA support or other instructional assistance to faculty.   The costs of doing so came out of each unit's operating budget and decisions were made by unit heads.  Now, with the expansion of CALS support for Gen Ed and service courses, and the transfer of many categories of unit expenditures to CALS Core, the fiscal responsibility for providing TA and general teaching assistance has become less clear.  The need for some standardization in practices across the college has increased, especially if those costs are to be part of CALS Core.

We need a knowledgeable working group to sort this out and make recommendations back to the dean's office.  Our goal is to ensure that every faculty member who is teaching our students, regardless of rank or title, is afforded a consistent level of support appropriate to their course.  That support, and the quality of instruction that students can expect to receive, should not vary with the financial strength of the unit.

I have asked a small working group of respected CALS faculty and administrative leaders to examine the issue, collect data on current practices from each of our 10 academic units, and formulate a set of recommendations.  I am asking the group to work quickly so that we have their recommendations before the end of April and available for discussion at one of our semi-annual budget meetings before the end of the semester.  Working group members include:

Amanda Stevens, Chair (School of Plant Sciences)
Dieter Steklis (ACBS)
Jon Chorover (ENVS)
Kelly Jackson (School of Nutritional Science and Wellness)
Darin Knapp  (Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences)
Dennis Ray  (School of Plant Sciences)
Kayle Skorupski (School of Nutritional Science and Wellness)

Closely related to the issue of faculty instructional support is the issue of faculty teaching assignments and workload.  Once again, our struggle to keep up with soaring demand for some courses (especially online) has raised questions around fairness and equity in course assignments during a contractual year.  With this note I'm letting you know that we've heard your concerns and we'll be working on a detailed audit of FY 2021-22 instructional workload assignment in the coming weeks.  You should expect to hear more from me about our findings before the end of the semester.

As always, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have questions.  I hope you have an opportunity to decompress a bit over spring break.

Best regards,

Mike

Michael Staten | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Bart Cardon Associate Dean for Career and Academic Services
Professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics
The University of Arizona
Forbes Hall, Room 211
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210036
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
PHONE: 520.621.1932
statenm at email.arizona.edu<mailto:statenm at email.arizona.edu>
www.mikestaten.com<http://www.mikestaten.com>

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