August 9, 2021
RE: 2021-22 Faculty Fellow Opportunities
I know firsthand how faculty support, mentoring, and professional development opportunities can broaden experience, open career pathways, and enhance one’s ability to impact the institution and profession in new ways. I am committed to supporting such opportunities for faculty and staff at UNCG. As one avenue, I am inviting applications from faculty to serve in one of two open Provost Fellow positions. Fellows will work to shape strategies and guide activities in one of two key priority areas:
- Faculty development
- Integrated student success
Fellows’ work, among other things, will include providing additional professional development opportunities for faculty and staff across campus and will hold the expectation that equity, inclusion, and diversity considerations will be central and interwoven throughout each of these priorities. More specific descriptions of each of the two fellow positions are provided at the end of this letter.
Provost Fellow
A Provost Fellow is a faculty member of any rank or status interested in administrative leadership who will partner with the Provost and other administrative leaders to develop and implement actions tied to these priority areas. The experience will provide fellows with opportunities to help lead these priorities, and their work will integrate faculty perspectives with an overall institutional perspective purposed to strengthen faculty and student experience and UNCG as an institution.
Terms of appointment:
- Fellows will continue to engage in departmental activities, but will be provided up to 50% release time from research, teaching, and/or service responsibilities, as agreed upon by the fellow, dean, and Provost.
- Fellows will receive professional development funds to attend a professional development conference/activity approved by the Provost.
- Fellows whose work continues through the summer will also receive one month of summer salary.
- The fellowships are flexible in terms of timing and length of service and will be negotiated with the fellow, dean, and Provost. Given the timing of this announcement, adjustments to teaching in the fall 2021 semester are unlikely; if course releases are required, they would likely occur in the spring semester.
- Fellows will not be permitted to teach course overloads during the fellowship period.
- If the fellow is released from teaching, funds will be provided to the fellow’s home department for course replacement at the unit’s standard per-course rate.
Application Process: Prospective fellows should discuss their intent to submit their application with their department/program/school head, chair, or director as well as with their dean; submissions should include a letter of interest (no more than two pages) and a current CV. Please submit these materials to Jenny Johnson at jennyjojohnson@uncg.edu by Friday, August 27th.
Review Process: The Provost, in partnership with senior administrative leadership, will evaluate all applications and make decisions by Wednesday, September 15, 2021.
Descriptions of the two fellowship opportunities follow. Please contact me or Ms. Johnson if you have questions.
Provost Fellow for Faculty Development
The Provost Fellow who will work to infuse EDI in all aspects of faculty professional life will report to the Provost and work closely with the Chancellor’s Fellow, Andrea Hunter, and others on campus.
Working in consultation with the Provost, the Fellow will make meaningful contributions such as the following:
- In coordination with the Faculty Senate EDI Committee, engage faculty, heads/chairs, and deans in the discussion and development of policy improvements at the department, program, and unit levels designed to ensure that faculty members whose work fosters EDI are credited for their achievements in annual evaluations and promotion & tenure reviews.
- Develop additional faculty affinity groups among historically underrepresented populations within UNCG designed for networking, community building, and research/teaching collaboration.
- Conduct research on best practices from other universities that have examined diversity and inclusion with respect to faculty life. This will include cultivating relationships for the purposes of applying lessons learned to UNCG with the goal of making our community even more inclusive.
- Review existing UNCG data to identify action strategies to further cultivate an enriched and inclusive faculty experience; in the process of reviewing existing data, identify faculty data gaps that the institution should consider collecting for more effective faculty success.
- Identifying and facilitating related faculty training and development opportunities.
Provost Fellow for Integrated Student Success
UNCG is committed to an integrated, institution-wide approach to student success. The Fellow will provide academic leadership experience in support of the Integrated Student Success Plan, a campus-wide effort to help students achieve best-in-class outcomes in access, excellence, and impact. While giving special attention to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, the Fellow will work to integrate faculty engagement and activities into the Integrated Student Success initiative at UNCG. The Provost Fellow will report to the Provost and work closely with the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean of Undergraduate Studies and ACE Fellow Dr. Tammi Vacha-Haas.
Working in consultation with the Provost, the Provost Fellow will make meaningful contributions such as the following:
- Integrate faculty perspective into a phased plan to improve undergraduate student retention.
- Assist with drafting and facilitating communications with faculty regarding activities they can engage in to improve student retention, including, but not limited to, use of early alert and midterm reporting in Starfish.
- Identify specific actions to support faculty as they work to lower DFW rates in gateway/high enrollment courses while maintaining academic rigor and quality.
- Join new efforts to support the incoming first-year class, the sophomore class, and our incoming cohort of transfer students, which may be disproportionately affected by pandemic-related disruptions in their prior learning environments.