As reported last year in one of our membership news bulletins (see Board Seeks Input on Family Policies on the DFA website at www.ucdfa.org), in the fall of 2006, UC Davis and UC Berkeley received a $250,000 Alfred P. Sloan award to “expand programs supporting career flexibility for tenured and tenure-track faculty” (UC Berkeley Press Release, September 25, 2006). UCD’s share of the award was to be used to create:
–a comprehensive educational campaign;
–training/workshop programs for faculty;
–a family friendly advisor/mentorship program; and
–a ‘frequently asked questions’ section to be added to the academic personnel website.
During the past year, according to Binnie Singh (Director, Faculty Relations and Development in the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost and one of the co-authors of the proposal submitted for the award), considerable progress has been made on all of these projects. Here are the highlights:
–descriptions of the new family friendly policies emanating from the Office of the President and the programs which support these policies have been posted at http://worklifebalance.ucdavis.edu/ and at http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/worklife/;
–various brownbags and workshops designed to educate department chairs, staff, and new and continuing faculty about the policies and programs have been held or scheduled, including a session on “Worklife Policies/Programs” in the 2007-2008 New Faculty Brownbag Series (scheduled for May 29, 2008 from 12-1:30 in 203 Mrak and presented by Binnie Singh and Barbara Ashby, Manager, Work/Life, Child Care & Family, Human Resources;
–a “Faculty Advisors for Work Life” program was established with 14 faculty answering the call to serve as advisors/mentors. A list of them can be found at http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/worklife/; and
–the promised FAQ section has been added to the academic personnel site (shown just above). In addition to ‘answers,’ the site also provides sample language that faculty and/or department chairs can use in requesting or defending exceptions to the normal personnel process as provided by the new family-friendly policies.
The DFA Board invites comments–whether positive or negative or both–from members who have had first-hand experience with these policies and/or the programs which implement them.