Faculty Administrative Leadership Program - 2020-21 Projects
FALP projects for the 2020-21 academic year have been cancelled to allow the project administrators to focus on business and academic continuity in the time of COVID-19.
1. Academic Affairs, Online Education
Digital Teaching and Learning at UCSC
Support for digital teaching and learning at UCSC is currently approached through a variety of efforts. Online Education creates online and hybrid courses; the Faculty Instructional Technology Center supports Canvas and other instructional tools; the Digital Scholarship Commons provides access and support for emerging technologies; the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning promotes inclusive and engaged teaching (occasionally in digital formats); divisional IT liaisons support faculty directly with the use of technology; many faculty and graduate students experiment with digital teaching on their own; and so on. With this rich assemblage of support or effort spanning almost every major division on campus, Academic Affairs seeks a FALP fellow to explore digital teaching and learning at UCSC with the purpose of creating greater coherence for faculty, students and staff. The fellow will work closely with leadership in Academic Affairs and will be placed in Online Education, a unit within its division.
The fellow will be responsible for exploring and detailing the landscape of digital teaching and learning at UCSC and within the UC system. This research will involve interviews, communications and collaborations with unit leaders on campus and outreach to other UC campuses. Campus leaders include VCIT Williams, Librarian Cowell, faculty and staff stakeholders, as well as VPAA Lee, AVPTL Greene and Director Tassio. The fellow will also bring together the campus groups that support digital teaching and learning through regular meetings with the purpose of creating a consortium of units that is more agile in promoting and supporting instructors and students. The fellow’s work will culminate with a report, or a plan of coordination, to the campus administration.
2. Business Administrative Services
Applying Faculty Research to Campus Operations
Faculty choosing to work with the Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services (VCBAS) will have an experience tailored to their interests. The BAS division is a diverse one that includes functions such as Human Resources, Financial Affairs, Housing, Construction, Facilities, Sustainability, Athletics, Recreation, Dining, Transportation, Emergency Management and Police. The following is a proposed area of focus, but can be adapted to take advantage of the skillset and interests of the selected faculty member.
Linking Faculty Research to Campus Operations. UC Santa Cruz is at the forefront of groundbreaking research that is aimed at tackling some of the world's greatest challenges. The division of Business and Administrative Services (BAS) would like to work with a faculty member on a project to identify how to find linkages between campus operations and faculty research to advance the model of our campus as a living laboratory. This project would involve identifying areas where faculty research aligns with operational areas, resulting in the potential for faculty to partner with BAS to apply their research in solving campus challenges. Whether it is Economics faculty partnering with Financial Affairs, Engineering or Physical and Biological Science faculty partnering on new water treatment plants planned for campus, Sociology or Psychology faculty partnering on housing or employee engagement, the opportunities are many. This model could result in meaningful research projects for students in these departments and, where appropriate, might even result in grant opportunities.
3. Information Technology Services
Cross Divisional Scalable IT Support Model
The goal of the project is to work with ITS Leadership, the Office of Research, Planning and Budget, Academic Divisional Deans and the Academic Senate to come up with a proposal for a scalable cross divisional scalable IT support model. The model would differentiate between at least four types of support areas research, instruction, theater/performance/exhibits and basic technical support (i.e., basic computing). The proposal would contain a mechanism for scaling allocation of resources in each of those areas to support growth, a recommendation on appropriate funding models for each and a recommendation around the location of staff for each. We hope that the faculty administrative leader will be able to provide a faculty voice, help make connections/coordinate focus groups with other faculty members for feedback and help to draft the report.
