UFF-USF

Last week, the administration distributed the budget priorities task force report to all chairs. On Friday, I posted that report here, and after discussion with a chair, I have substituted this brief entry for the moment.

The chair told me that the administration did not give chairs and directors the opportunity to respond to the tentative judgment of individual departments/units before distributing it to all chairs. In every case that I can imagine with an external review, the draft review is circulated to the units and faculty involved, with an opportunity for a response. In this case, the task force subcommittees had only a spare set of data provided by the administration and a narrative supplied on short notice by the chair or director of each reviewed department/unit. Those reviewing other colleges were working out of their fields, with data from a national report that I am not sure was ever intended for this type of summative judgment, and in at least one case the subcommittee made clear that it was uncomfortable with making the type of summative judgments that it was asked to, given that lack of data.

The additional information about the lack of an opportunity to respond makes me concerned about the process that is being followed, and it would be inconsistent with those concerns for me to keep the report available.

UFF-USF and USF BOT bargaining session

Friday, March 7, 2008, 2-4 pm

SVC 2070

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

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.

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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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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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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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

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)