Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to a new academic year from the Provost's office! This is an exciting time in the history of our great University. We welcome more than 70 new faculty in our 13 schools and colleges at UConn. They hail from top research institutions from around the world and will contribute to our bold University Academic Plan to achieve excellence in teaching, research and engagement. Our new faculty join a distinguished group of colleagues who bring innovative ideas and opportunities for collaboration and continue the tradition of making important discoveries and offering a high-quality education.
We also welcome almost 3,800 (Storrs) and 1,400 (Regional Campuses) enthusiastic, academically advanced talented freshman as well as 1,100 transfer and 2,200 graduate students, whose talents and quest to learn will motivate us to enthusiastically guide their educational, professional, and personal growth.
We look forward to supporting your initiatives and celebrating your many successes at UConn. Below we provide updates on major activities that directly affect faculty and reminders about important policies. Please review these topics carefully. We thank you for your commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and engagement and UConn's overall success.
Sincerely,
Mun Y. Choi, Provost
Sally M. Reis, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Amy K. Donahue, Vice Provost for Academic Operations
Academic Plan Implementation
The University’s Academic Plan, “Creating our Future: UConn’s Path to Excellence,” was approved by the Board of Trustees in April 2014. Our academic vision will guide future goals and strategic initiatives to enable us to achieve our aspiration to become one of the best universities in the world – recognized for excellence in breakthrough research, innovative education, and engaged collaboration with our state, country, and the world. This vision focuses on excellence in all areas, as well as specifying interdisciplinary research and education initiatives that will be enhanced and supported by significant investments from Next Generation Connecticut.
Implementation of the Academic Plan is well underway. Last fall, we solicited proposals from faculty university-wide to support research, teaching, engagement, and technology. At the end of last semester, we announced almost $10 million in awards for projects across a wide variety of disciplines and departments – in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and professional schools and colleges. There will be a second round of solicitations announced later this semester for additional awards to be made in the spring.
Next Generation Connecticut
In February 2014, the University initiated a comprehensive Campus Master Plan to drive transformative change with an emphasis on excellence, community, inspiration and innovation. The Campus Master Plan was approved by the University’s Board of Trustees in February 2015. There are now over $400 million in construction projects active on the Storrs campus. Both the Engineering Science Building and Innovation Partnership Building have begun and will be complete in 2017. The new STEM residence Hall is well underway and will be complete next summer. Monteith is undergoing a major renovation and will be the new home of the Math Department next summer. A major renovation to the Gant complex is being designed now. In addition, eight of our historic academic buildings received new paint, flooring, ceiling tiles, signage, bulletin boards, and water fill stations. New LED lighting will be installed over winter break. Finally, major renovations to the utilities infrastructure are ongoing. All of this will cause some disruption to traffic and parking on campus, but the results will represent major upgrades and exciting new facilities for UConn.
Statement on Absences from Class Due to Religious Observances and Extra-Curricular Activities
Faculty and instructors are strongly encouraged to make reasonable accommodations in response to student requests to complete work missed by absence resulting from religious observances or participation in extra-curricular activities that enrich their experience, support their scholarly development, and benefit the university community. Examples include participation in scholarly presentations, performing arts, and intercollegiate sports, when the participation is at the request of, or coordinated by, a University official. Such accommodations should be made in ways that do not dilute or preclude the requirements or learning outcomes for the course. Students anticipating such a conflict should inform their instructor in writing within the first three weeks of the semester, and prior to the anticipated absence, and should take the initiative to work out with the instructor a schedule for making up missed work. For conflicts with final examinations, students should contact the Dean of Students Office.
Faculty and instructors are also encouraged to respond when the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes (CPIA) requests student progress reports. This will enable the counselors to give our students appropriate advice.
Policy on Faculty Leaves
On May 7, 2015, the University reached agreement with the AAUP on guidelines for approval of leaves for faculty for family or medical circumstances covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act. These guidelines articulate what leaves may be available, and can be found here. Faculty who need to take leave should consult with Human Resources as soon as possible so appropriate arrangements can be made.
In addition, faculty should be aware that the University By-Laws require the following: "No member of the professional staff shall be absent from his/her duties at the University except by permission of the department head. Short leaves to cover emergency situations may be granted by the department head, who will make such arrangements as are feasible to re-assign the absent staff member's work. In each such case, the department head will file a record of the matter with the dean. No such emergency leave shall be granted for a longer period than ten days without previous permission of the President for those units which report to the President or by the Provost or the appropriate Vice President."
Accordingly, please remember that unless a short-term absence has been formally approved by the Department Head with notice to the Dean, faculty members are expected to be working. Further, any absence greater than ten days requires prior approval by the Provost's Office. Please refer emergency situations not covered by the guideline that require absences greater than ten days to your Department Head and Dean for approval, followed by approval from the Provost’s Office. The policy is available here.
Requirements Regarding Textbooks
In order for the University to receive student financial aid from the federal government, we must comply with the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA). One provision of the law deals with access to affordable course materials for students, and requires that the University provide the list of prices and ISBN codes of the required and recommended textbooks for each course listed on our online registration schedule.
To comply with the law, it is very important that faculty make course textbook information available before registration begins for each semester. To do this, faculty simply need to provide the information to the UConn Co-op, which then takes responsibility for making the information available as the law requires. The registration deadlines are published on the Registrar’s website. Please note that registration for the fall 2016 semester begins on March 21. Information about how to submit textbook adoption information to the co-op is available on their website.
Important Course Syllabus Content
The University senate by-laws require that all courses, including independent studies, have course syllabus. As a minimum, the syllabus articulates course requirements, identifies assignments, and explains assessment. Syllabi are also very useful tools for communicating important information about University policies relevant to students, including policies related to exams, disabilities, academic misconduct, and sexual assault and harassment, among others. For recommendations about information to include in your course syllabi, as well as suggested language, please refer to the Provost’s website (which includes a brief list of relevant policies) and the Institute for Teaching and Learning website (which offers more extensive suggestions).
Familial Teaching Policy
From time to time, circumstances arise when faculty find themselves in a position where they could have a family member in one of their courses. Ideally, faculty and students would avoid these situations because they can pose a conflict of interest when a faculty member is in a position to grade a relative and affect their GPA, academic standing, and academic record. This conflict arises if the faculty member has a bias (even an unconscious one) towards their relative. Even if such a bias does not exist, other students in the class may perceive that it does, and may legitimately believe they are being treated unfairly as a result. Faculty who may have a family member in class must be sure to follow the Policy on Familial Relationships and Teaching. The policy is available here.
Emergency Closings
During inclement weather and other emergency situations at the University of Connecticut, the safety of our students, faculty, and staff is paramount. At the same time, the University has very important research, teaching, service, and outreach missions, and must maintain continuous and effective business operations. With due consideration to safety, the University will remain open and operate normally to the greatest extent possible. The University policy on Emergency Closings is available here.
Faculty should be aware of this policy, especially as it pertains to class cancellations. If the University does not cancel classes, faculty at all campuses are expected to hold classes as scheduled, except in circumstances when a faculty member determines that he or she is unable to travel safely to campus. In these exceptional cases, the faculty member must notify his or her dean and department head, and must also notify all students in the class. Faculty must not cancel class prior to the University’s decision about whether the University will alter its normal schedule. Faculty may elect to hold classes virtually using online methods.
Instructional time that is cancelled is expected to be made up in accordance with the By-Laws, Rules, and Regulations of the University Senate. The University’s academic calendar includes specified “emergency closing make-up dates.” Faculty who plan to use these times to make up class must inform students as soon as possible and reserve a classroom through the Registrar’s Office. Faculty may also make up classes at other times, but must be sensitive to students’ availability to attend.
In addition, faculty should respect the decisions of commuting students who decide not to travel to campus, or to leave class early in order to get home safely, and provide options for them to make up missed work. The Dean of Students Office is available to assist faculty and students with concerns about missed work.
For more information, contact: Office of the Provost at provost.uconn.edu