Hello everyone! As we enter October and move quickly toward the midpoint of the semester, I hope that your classes, research and creative work, service activities, and all the other ways you contribute to the CU Denver community are going well. Whether this is your first semester at CU Denver, or you have been with us for decades, I wish you all a warm welcome and thank you for the work you do.
When I arrived at CU Denver in 2016, in addition to inspiring colleagues and students, I quickly discovered a love of acronyms that were often used yet rarely defined. Fresh out of graduate school, in my first full-time faculty position, and the sole Instructor among the art historians in CAM, I was hesitant to ask for clarification. With my past self in mind, for those of you new to CU Denver, and those who do not yet know UCDALI, let me provide a quick primer on two critical acronyms you’ll come to see and hear used frequently: UCDALI and IRC.
IRC (Instructional, Research and Clinical) encompasses ALL Lecturers, Instructors, Research and Clinical Teaching faculty at CU Denver. It was adopted several years ago to replace “NTT” or “Non-Tenure-Track” faculty so as to define this majority of CU Denver faculty by what we ARE rather than what we are not.
UCDALI (University of Colorado Denver Association of Lecturers and Instructors) is a campus-wide organization that endeavors to support the recognition, professionalization, and status of IRC faculty at CU Denver; to help build and ensure community and connection; and to represent the needs and experiences of IRC faculty with leadership at the school/college and campus levels.
As IRC faculty at CU Denver, you are automatically a member of UCDALI. In addition to general membership, we maintain a “Bridge Network” of IRC faculty across campus who have expressed interest in receiving more frequent communications, meeting invitations and updates, and in participating in events when possible; a small group of “Bridge Network Liaisons” who serve as points of contact within individual schools and colleges and act as a conduit between schools/colleges and the Executive Committee; and the Executive Committee, composed of IRC faculty from across campus elected to two-year terms. If you’d like to learn more about UCDALI, please visit our website or reach out to me at elizabeth.pugliano@ucdenver.edu. For information on the Bridge Network and the Bridge Network Liaisons, please contact me or Bridge Network Coordinator Jennifer Fox at jennifer.fox@ucdenver.edu.
UCDALI newsletters are distributed every semester with the aim of providing valuable and useful information to IRC faculty. In this issue, for example, you’ll find information on recent and forthcoming initiatives impacting IRC faculty at CU Denver as well as upcoming opportunities for professional development and community building. The newsletter is also a chance for us to feature some of CU Denver’s incredible IRC faculty, such as Sam Walker, Senior Instructor in Philosophy and a founder of UCDALI who is the subject of this issue’s Faculty Featurette. We hope you’ll find these communications helpful, informative, and perhaps even inspirational.
While each of you will have throughout your time here your own needs as your story unfolds, I encourage you to connect with UCDALI, to consider us a partner and resource, and to let us know how we can support you and all IRC faculty because whatever your school or college, whatever classes you teach, whatever your title, every one of you is critically important to the mission and success of CU Denver. To each and every one of you, thank you for being here. Please know that we are here for you.
Convened by Provost Nakuma in fall 2021, the IRC Task Force was charged with investigating policies and practices impacting the working conditions and experiences of IRC faculty. The task force delivered a report and recommendations to Provost Nakuma on April 1, 2022, and formally presented those recommendations to Provost Nakuma and Chancellor Marks in early May. This semester, members of the UCDALI Executive Committee have met with both Provost Nakuma and Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs, Turan Kayaoglu, to hear updates on the recommendations made by the task force.
We recognize that all IRC faculty are eager to learn what recommendations will be adopted and how and when they might be implemented. We understand a formal response from the Provost’s office and a roadmap for implementation and accountability to be forthcoming. As always, UCDALI will continue our efforts to connect with and support IRC faculty, to understand new and ongoing issues and inequities in the working conditions of IRC faculty, and to alert school/college and campus leaders to these issues as they arise.
UCDALI & the CFDA: Partners in Your Professional Growth
Oct 6,2022 | 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM **Note: This event will now take place on Zoom.**
Welcome, IRC faculty! Come join this session to learn about the ways that UCDALI and the Center for Faculty Development & Advancement (CFDA) support IRC faculty, individually and in partnership. During the first 60 minutes, we’ll discuss:
-Ways that UCDALI supports IRC faculty (including grants, services, and more)
-Ways the CFDA supports IRC faculty (including communities of practice, the NCFDD, and more)
-Connections and partnerships between UCDALI and the CFDA
We’ll also have 30 minutes to discuss your individual questions and needs. We hope to see you there!
The CU Denver Provost’s office has provided funds to support the professional development of IRC faculty (Lecturers, Instructors, Senior Instructors, Principal Instructors, and Clinical Teaching Track Faculty) within CU Denver schools and colleges. In recognition of the importance for all faculty to stay current in their fields through professional development, these grants will enhance the recipients’ contributions to the university’s mission and vision of making education work for all through exceptional teaching and cutting-edge research.
The fund will award grants of up to $1,000.00 each to the most worthy proposals for professional development by IRC faculty. Application deadline for Fall 2022 grants is 5:00 pm on Friday, October 14, 2022.
Thursdays | 02:00 PM – 03:00 PM
UCDALI Office, 3rd floor, Learning Commons/City Heights Building OR Zoom
Please drop by or join via Zoom to chat, ask questions, share concerns, make suggestions, etc. Office hours are open to all members of the CU Denver community who would like to discuss issues pertaining to IRC faculty. If you can’t make it at that time, please email Elizabeth Pugliano to schedule an alternative meeting time.
Time Tracking Project: UCDALI is organizing a data collection effort to better understand faculty workloads and work hours. In the coming weeks, we’ll be recruiting volunteers to take part in a simple week-long time-tracking exercise. All are invited to participate, and we are hoping to get data from all IRC faculty ranks and titles. Please watch your email in the coming weeks for a call for participants. Thank you!
IRC Faculty Forum: Tentatively scheduled for Friday, December 2nd at noon. Confirmation of the date and additional details, including modality information, will be shared via email and on the UCDALI website by mid-November.
Lecturers Recognition Event: Tentatively scheduled for late January/early February 2023.
Robertson, D.L. “Equifinality, Equity, and Intersectionality: Faculty Issues in Pursuit of Performance Metrics.” Innovative Higher Education 47 (2022): 683–709.
“This article introduces the Faculty Appointment Security Typology which combines the variables of Permanent Faculty (tenured, tenure-earning), Contingent Faculty (non-tenure), Full-Time, and Part-Time. The research question is, are female and minoritized faculty overrepresented in less secure faculty appointment types, and has the phenomenon worsened in the last decade?” Read more at…
Pope-Ruark, Rebecca. “You’re Burned Out. Now What?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2022.
Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that teaching has been ignored until relatively recently because it “has never been professionalized.” “College teaching,” he writes, “is a highly public act that has remained mostly private.” Read more at…
