This list describes faculty work activities that may have been impacted by the pandemic that faculty members may wish to document for the purposes of evaluation, promotion, and reporting. OFA has subsequently mapped these work activities into the relevant Faculty Success fields.
Note: Corresponding data screen in Faculty Success is noted in italics at the end of each work activity listed.
TEACHING
- Added work in teaching (total number of hours spent revising/preparing for online teaching each course; number of hours per week in teaching additional sections or meetings with students individually/in groups; additional hours beyond the usual in training/meeting with TAs). Faculty Success:Scheduled Teaching
- Course overloads - specify reason, kind.
- Significant additional time (average per week or month) spent advising/counseling students or advocating for students regarding mental or physical health, technology challenges.
- Changes in additional time spent in mentoring graduate students facing COVID-19 related impacts. Faculty Success:Research Advising
- Workshops, trainings, and other professional development related to online teaching and learning. Faculty Success:Continuing Education, or Faculty Success:Teaching Innovation
RESEARCH/CREATIVE ACTIVITY
- Fellowships/other prestigious research/creative activities you applied for or intended to apply for which were cancelled. Applied for: Faculty Success:Other Proposals, Faculty Success:ORA-Managed Proposals; intended to apply – personal statement.
- Online conferences you attended or speaking engagements or performances you had but where usual networking opportunities were lost; or where conferences/performances were held but you could not attend per UMD, state, national, or international travel restrictions or health conditions precluded your attendance. Faculty Success:Presentations
- Time spent in pivoting to new/COVID-related issues/subjects.
- Challenges to research/creative activity (could not conduct planned field research, lost funds for equipment or other resource issues either because of diversion of funds for COVID activities or budget cuts; lost data such as in a lab; lost access to data/lab/studio/research subjects; additional time to restock and/or reopen lab or studio; collaborators/assistants/partners unavailable. Faculty Success:ORA-Managed Awards, Faculty Success:Other Awards and Gifts
- Challenges to publishing (journal issues or books delayed or stopped) or performance (venues closed). Faculty Success:Publications; Faculty Success:Creative Scholarship
SERVICE
- New responsibilities assigned/taken on either virtually or during return to campus (e.g., staff advising office once a week; virtual commencement). Faculty Success:University Service
- Ad-hoc committees, work groups at the department, college, and university level and within professional societies related to return-to-work, virtual learning, etc. Faculty Success:University Service
This list was adapted from:
Gonzales, L.D., & Griffin K.G. (2020). Supporting Faculty During & After COVID-19: Don’t let go of equity. Aspire Alliance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WQrIG6LsR04jGASfF6Z8WVxl4RIRpsMj/view
Malisch, J. L., Harris, B. N., Sherrer, S. M., Lewis, K. A., Shepherd, S. L., McCarthy, P. C., ... & Ramalingam, L. (2020). Opinion: In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(27), 15378-15381.
UMass Amherst ADVANCE Program (2020). Documenting pandemic impacts: Best practices. https://www.umass.edu/advance/sites/default/files/inline-files/UMass%20ADVANCE%20COVID-19%20Tool%20August%2017%202020%20Final.pdf