Office of the Provost

Dear Colleagues,

As I begin my tenure as interim provost, I have been working closely with Provost Carl Lejuez to ensure a smooth transition between leadership. Carl has been an invaluable colleague during my time as a dean, and I appreciate his generosity in sharing his expertise and insight.

While Carl and I work on this transition, I wanted to share the status of a number of initiatives, as well as highlight a few updates of note.

The Office of the Provost holds many strong partnerships with units across the University. Among the most critical of those is our collaboration with the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The Provost’s Office and ODI teams have worked closely together, which has produced several new initiatives to support a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable University. I want to bring your attention to a few of the most recent developments, listed here:

• Faculty Hiring Handbook: Best Practices for Diversity in Faculty Hiring
  This handbook serves as a guide for hiring faculty candidates following best practices that reinforce the University’s goal of hiring an excellent, diverse, and talented group of faculty members. This information was compiled by the Office of the Provost and Office for Diversity and Inclusion, with input from the Office of Institutional Equity and Human Resources. The handbook is available to view on the Provost’s Office website.
• Faculty trolling support
  The Provost’s Office and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion have developed a coordinated approach that helps faculty access guidance when they are targeted (trolled) on the basis of their scholarship. Please visit the Provost’s Office website here for more information.
• Trigger warning and content warning language
  In 2021, through the prompting of a concerned student, the Provost’s Office formed a task force to educate and determine the use of trigger and content warnings in our classrooms. This multidisciplinary and representative committee devoted research and significant time to seek out exemplary practices of trigger and content warnings in the academy. The committee has provided resources on the Provost’s Office website including definition of terms, template language for faculty to integrate into syllabi and verbal prompts to use in class before content is introduced.
• Resources for expecting and parenting students
  A collaborative working group with representatives from across the university has developed a website with resources and support for expecting and parenting students, both undergraduate and graduate. The Women’s Center convened representatives from the Moms4Moms group, Human Resources, Dean of Students Office, The Graduate School, the Office for Institutional Equity, the Law School, the School of Business, the University Senate’s Student Welfare Committee, SHaW, and the Provost’s Office. Please visit https://studentparents.uconn.edu/ to view the website and please share widely with interested colleagues and students.

This time of year is busy with transitions in personnel. Many offices across the University are preparing for the arrival of our newest cohort of faculty. At the same time, we have said farewell to many colleagues who are retiring this year. For faculty retirements, please note that anyone who retired as of June 1 and meets the eligibility criteria for emeritus status will be automatically voted on at the June 29 Board of Trustees meeting. Retirements after that date will go to the September meeting for emeritus status. Visit this webpage for more on emeritus status.

In the Provost’s Office, we are also preparing for the departure of our Chief of Staff and Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Communications, Kristi Henderson. Kristi joined our office from the University of Kansas, and will join Carl at Stony Brook University in a similar role. She will also assist in the transition through June. Kristi has played a central role in managing internal communications, representing the Provost’s Office in COVID management, and mentoring the talented staff of the Provost’s Office.

We have also seen movement in several key areas relevant to the academic mission during the spring semester.

• Bargaining agreements
  • These were finalized this spring and are being implemented across the various unions, with more information to be shared by Human Resources.
    • For department heads, Labor Relations is hosting a session on the AAUP contract, set for June 21 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Invitation details will be shared soon.
    • The Graduate School and Labor Relations are presenting informational sessions via WebEx for faculty and staff on the GEU contract. Sessions are on June 8 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. (register here) and July 13 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. (register here).
• Senate motions
  • Pass-Fail eligibility: The Senate approved a by-law change proposed by the Senate Scholastic Standards Committee that removes the requirement that undergraduate students must have earned at least 26 credits to be eligible for pass-fail. This was aimed at allowing first-year students the opportunity to apply pass-fail where appropriate.
  • SET Plus Task Force: The Faculty Standards Committee presented a resolution that was approved by the full Senate to convene a university-wide task force to operationalize “evidence of teaching excellence beyond SET” (formerly known as SET+ or SET Plus). The Provost’s Office is working closely with the Faculty Standards Committee to establish this task force to begin its work in Fall 2022.
  • Missed assessment procedure: The Senate Scholastic Standards Committee advanced a proposal that clarifies the procedures for students to make up missed assessments. The Senate approved an addition to Senate By-Law 2.E.II, which outlines information that must be provided to students in writing on the first day of class. The following requirement was added: “if, when, and how missed assessments (for which medical documentation cannot be required) will be handled.”
  • Academic adjustments policy change: The Curricula & Courses Committee forwarded a proposal to the Senate to update the process for students to submit academic adjustments for general education courses that meet quantitative reasoning and/or second language. Notably, the process shifted from a review by a Provost’s Office-appointed committee to instead start directly with the Center for Students with Disabilities. More information is available on the CSD website.
  • Withdraw and Pass-Fail deadline change: At the Sept. 13 meeting of the University Senate, the Senate Scholastic Standards Committee (SSC) brought forth a proposal to extend, align, and standardize the Pass-Fail and Withdraw deadlines. Their proposal sought to permanently change the deadlines for both Pass-Fail and Withdraw to occur at the same time and later in the semester, to the end of the 11th week of the semester. This proposal was approved by the University Senate, and took effect immediately. This means that starting in the Fall 2021 semester and going forward, Pass-Fail and Withdraw deadlines are at the end of the 11th week of the semester. The Pass-Fail policy applies to undergraduate students only; the Withdraw policy applies to undergraduate and graduate students.
• First Day Complete with Barnes & Noble
  • At its April 27 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved the implementation of the First Day Complete Program through Barnes & Noble. This program charges students a $285 per semester fee for textbooks and course materials for all registered courses at no additional cost from the bookstore. This is an optional program, open to all undergraduate students at Storrs and regional campuses; students can elect not to participate and not be charged. This will take effect beginning in Spring 2023. This initiative is designed as an affordability initiative to help students reduce the money they spend on books. The USG and SEC were involved partners throughout the development of this program for UConn, to ensure it would meet the needs of students and address faculty concerns.
• Future of Journals
  • Finally, I want to thank the Library and the Future of Journals Committee for their hard work in initiating the transition to a new model for providing scholarly articles. Library staff continue to test and improve the request interface, with lots of feedback and encouragement from the many testers across the faculty. Dean Anne Langley and her team will be instrumental in working with our broader community to smoothly undertake implementation over the next year.

I am grateful for the warm welcome I have received coming into this new role. You are a thoughtful and hard-working community, each of you playing a critical role in the success of our faculty, staff, and students. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your provost.

Sincerely,
Anne

Anne D’Alleva
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs