Archive for February, 2008
Minutes, February 22, 2008, Chapter Meeting
Thursday, February 28th, 2008UFF/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.
Down to the phones…
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Budget cuts professors’ phones, a letter to the editor in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
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.
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
Minutes, January 11, 2008, Chapter Meeting
Thursday, February 21st, 2008UFF/USF Chapter Meeting
January 11, 2008
In attendance: J. Martin, S. RamÃrez Wohlmuth, E. Odgaard, S. Permuth, B. Welker, E. Mitchell, C. Jevitt, L. Gonzalez, M. Klisch, S. Tauber, F. Burgos, J. McBrien, M. Barnett
Advice on annual evaluations
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008It’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:
Draft agenda, February 22 chapter meeting
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Tenure workshops March 3, 4, and 5, Tampa
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008The 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)
USF stops asking for SSNs in public ID card centers
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008A 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.