To: Faculty and Campus Leadership
We write to request that you read, discuss and act on the Final Report of the Joint Senate-Administration Task Force on Faculty Rebuilding and Renewal (PDF). Recommendations in this report largely focus on faculty hiring and retention, including ladder faculty density, faculty salaries, faculty housing and spouse/partner employment. The Joint Task Force also recommends that the Senate and Administration charge a new joint implementation task force to develop and oversee a more detailed pandemic recovery five-year plan as recommended by the UC systemwide Mitigating COVID-19 Impacts on Faculty Working Group.
The charge of the Joint Task Force was to assess the feasibility of interventions and to develop an ambitious, holistic and exemplary package of actions with resources, deadlines and deliverables to improve UCLA’s student-to-faculty ratio; mitigate pandemic losses to faculty research and wellbeing; support ongoing pandemic-related instructional needs; and plan for enrollment growth and a bright future of teaching, research and service at UCLA. The Joint Task Force was specifically asked to look into ways of increasing faculty hiring while advancing diversity goals and increasing tenure density at UCLA, amongst other goals.
We would like to thank the Joint Task Force’s members for their detailed work and data-driven recommendations. Co-chaired by Professor of Economics Kathleen McGarry and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Personnel Mike Levine, membership on the Joint Task Force included Interim Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Allison Baird-James, Professor of Anthropology Erin Debenport, Professor of Sociology Megan Sweeney, and Vice Chancellor for Research and Creative Activities Roger Wakimoto.
We encourage you to discuss the report in collegial, departmental and administrative settings, and consider ways to incorporate the recommendations into your strategic planning. We welcome your feedback and ideas.
Sincerely,
Darnell Hunt
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Andrea M. Kasko
Chair, Academic Senate
Download this BruinPost PDF Here.