Archive for February, 2008

Collective bargaining session March 7

Friday, February 29th, 2008

UFF-USF and USF BOT bargaining session

Friday, March 7, 2008, 2-4 pm

SVC 2070


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Minutes, February 22, 2008, Chapter Meeting

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

UFF/USF Chapter Meeting

February 22, 2008

Sarasota Campus

In attendance: N. Spaid, B. Welker, M. Klisch, L. McBrien, S. Dorn, B. Butler, J. Benowitz, P. Jones, S. Permuth, J. Martin, W. Mo.

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Down to the phones…

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Budget cuts professors’ phones, a letter to the editor in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

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Kudos to USF authors!

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

A smattering of USF authors already published in 2008:

 

Greenbaum, Susan. 2008. Poverty and the Willful Destruction of Social Capital: Displacement and Dispossession in African American Communities. Rethinking Marxism 20, no. 1:42.

Hood, M. V, and Seth C McKee. Gerrymandering on Georgia’s Mind: The Effects of Redistricting on Vote Choice in the 2006 Midterm Election. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/ssqu/2008/00000089/00000001/art00004 (Accessed February 28, 2008).

Murphy, Robin R., and Sam Stover. 2008. Rescue robots for mudslides: A descriptive study of the 2005 La Conchita mudslide response: Field Reports. J. Field Robot. 25, no. 1-2:3-16.

Nouar, F. et al. 2008. Supermolecular Building Blocks (SBBs) for the Design and Synthesis of Highly Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks. Journal of the American Chemical Society 130, no. 6:1833-1835.

Zaworotko, Michael J. 2008. Materials science: Designer pores made easy. Nature 451, no. 7177:410-411.

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Minutes, January 25, 2008, Chapter Meeting

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

UFF/USF Chapter Meeting
January 25, 2008
Lakeland Campus

 

In attendance: P. Terry, S. Mathur, R. Evans, M. Klisch, B. Welker, R. Weatherford, S. Wohlmuth, K. de la Peña McCook, J. Martin, C. Knight, S. Permuth, S. Dorn, M. Moats, G. McColm

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Minutes, January 11, 2008, Chapter Meeting

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

UFF/USF Chapter Meeting

January 11, 2008

In attendance: J. Martin, S. Ramírez Wohlmuth, E. Odgaard, S. Permuth, B. Welker, E. Mitchell, C. Jevitt, L. Gonzalez, M. Klisch, S. Tauber, F. Burgos, J. McBrien, M. Barnett

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Advice on annual evaluations

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

It’s spring, and in most USF colleges, faculty are either working on or have just finished their reports of activities in 2007, and both peer committees and chairs are starting or anticipating the review process. Some reminders of provisions in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (PDF) and some common-sense advice:

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Draft agenda, February 22 chapter meeting

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

UFF-USF Chapter Meeting
February 22, noon
Sarasota-Manatee campus, A214

  1.  Agenda amendments/approval
  2. February 21 consultation
  3. Legislative agenda
  4. Regional campus concerns
  5. Reports
  6. New business
  7. For the good of the order
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Tenure workshops March 3, 4, and 5, Tampa

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

The United Faculty of Florida Tenure and Promotion Workshop is back, with three sessions covering the same material the week before spring break! Don’t forget to sign up (e-mail Sherman Dorn) so we have a sense of how many people will come.
TENURE WORKSHOP
March 3, 2007, 8:00 am – 9:30 am, EDU 261 (Tampa)
March 4, 2007, 8:00 am – 9:30 am, EDU 258 (Tampa)
March 5, 2007, 8:00 am – 9:30 am, EDU 258 (Tampa)
UFF MEMBERS ONLY (we’ll make it easy to become one!)

Do YOU know insider secrets to making your tenure case?
Do YOU know how to address the unwritten expectations and navigate the ambiguous procedures in your department and college?
Do YOU know how to pick external reviewers who will seal the decision effectively?
Do YOU know your rights in the tenure process?

Topics to be addressed:

* Handling unwritten guidelines
* Annual reviews and third-year reviews
* Addressing weaknesses
* Identifying and winnowing the external reviewer pool
* Describing your publication/production cycle)
* Interpreting the USF (and NCF) promotion/tenure guidelines
* Research influence statistics
* Your contractual rights (though that will vary by university)
* Establishing an academic persona

If you are not currently members, you can register and then sign up as a member that day.

Refreshments will be served (tea, coffee, bagels, goodies)

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USF stops asking for SSNs in public ID card centers

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

A few years ago, Parking Services stopped using Social Security Numbers in managing its accounts. Last month, a faculty member was asked for her SSN to get a new ID card. She e-mailed the chapter, which asked the administration to look into it. The response today from Sandy Lovins, Associate Vice President of Human Resources:

We did find out that the Card Center was taking social security numbers in order to generate an ID card (it was a field required in the system that they are using). However, we’ve been able to configure a change in their system and feed required information in from the GEMS system so that social security numbers are no longer needed. The Employee ID number is now officially being used. No longer will the Card Center staff be asking for social security number.

The UFF membership form now gives the option of providing the employee ID instead of the SSN, but includes the SSN option because many faculty know their SSN but not their employee ID. One of the concerns about asking for Social Security Numbers in public situations (whether in parking services or at a card center) is that they are public: You’re in a line, and someone asks you for the SSN. Anyone else in line could overhear your name and SSN, and then they have what they need to generate a false identity. If you are asked for your SSN at USF in a public context, gently refuse to, explain why not, and insist on using your employee ID instead.

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