Announcements
Preparing for Teaching Online
Here are some resources for teaching online:
- The university has certified faculty via an Online Instructor Certification (OIC) course, which is heavily influenced by Quality Matters (and some faculty have been certified by Quality Matters).
- This fall, the university is offering a Designing Your Own Course course and wants everyone who is not certified but who will be teaching online this fall (which, to be realistic, means everyone) to take this course.
Here are some additional resources expressing different points of view:
- The American Mathematical Society has posted webinars on Preparing to Teach Online.
- UFF member Scott Grizzard has posted some videos on using audio and visual equipment.
- Open University, a controversial pioneer in online education, has posted a Free Course on how to Take your teaching online.
- The Statistical Society of Canada has posted a Webinar on Teaching Statistics Online.
We will be posting links to resources here; if you know of additional resources, please let us know so we can share them.
UFF STATEMENT ON GEORGE FLOYDGeorge Floyd. Ahmaud Aubery. Breonna Taylor. One more family devastated. One more child without a parent. The list goes on and on, with incidents almost too frequent to be reported. Their crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… and to be Black. The United Faculty of Florida strongly condemns not only the brutal murder of George Floyd, but the systemic racism that tries to excuse this and countless other acts of violence by law enforcement against Black Americans. In a nation that boasts of guaranteeing its citizens life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, Black Americans are too often denied basic human rights that many of us take for granted. They can’t jog without worrying about being shot. They can’t sleep without worrying about being killed. They can’t even go bird watching in a public park without being threatened. No one should be afraid to live their lives as they choose or to seek help from police because of their skin color. A mother shouldn’t be worried about her teenager because he wants to spend time in public with his friends. Fathers should not have to see murders on live TV, and project that nightmare onto their own children. Families should not have to bury their loved ones before they have graduated from high school or known the joy of holding a grandchild. At UFF, we are committed to representing a diverse membership. We cherish that diversity. We only hope that we can understand the pain, anger and the outrage that these continued atrocities have produced. We stand with the thousands who have vocally and peacefully taken to the streets of our country. We stand with those who are the victims of this violence. We stand with those who are no longer requesting, but demanding, meaningful change. The rage coursing through the streets of Minneapolis and other cities is born from hundreds of years of prejudice played out as personal discrimination or legal bias. We oppose any form of violence but cannot delude ourselves into believing that the responsibility lies only with others. It also lies within ourselves. Not one of us should feel that we are untouched by the effects of the pernicious disease of racism. Recent events only underscore this fact. The disproportionate mortality rate of the COVID virus on communities of color is only one more indication of its tragic and enduring legacy. We call upon our members, families, colleges, and communities to stand with us against racism in all its forms. We also call upon Law Enforcement, and, particularly, our union sisters and brothers in Law Enforcement, to examine their contracts and policies to ensure that they are written in ways that hold those charged with keeping the peace accountable for their actions. We cannot claim to be a state which prizes equality so long as we have a criminal justice system that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. Those endangered by racism are our members and colleagues, families and friends, students and former students. It is critical at this time that we not only speak out but live out the values that we claim to cherish. Demands for respect, civility, diversity, equality, and inclusion cannot just be empty words shouted in the heat of the moment. We must speak up and speak out whenever we witness hatred, racism or injustice, however small or subtle it might be. This must be a part of what we do every minute of the day in both our personal and professional lives. In our role as educators, researchers, and mentors, we must prepare those we teach to commit to vigorous and wholehearted participation in our democracy. An honest civic discourse cannot and may not obscure the truth. This cannot be “normal”. The killings must stop. The system must change. We all must work together to build a just society, where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guaranteed for each and every one of us,wherever we were born, whomever we love, and whatever the color of our skin. |
Pandemic News
USF went online in mid-March, and anticipates being online through Summer. As of mid-April, the USF Administration anticipated reopening classrooms in fall – with adjustments to permit physical distancing – but no decision on that is anticipated before May or June. We will try to keep people up to date as much as possible.
Here are some useful links:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page on Coronavirus (COVID-19), and their guidelines for Colleges, Universities, and Higher Learning
- The Florida Department of Health page on What you need to know now about COVID-19 in Florida.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services pages on Coronavirus Answers and Coronavirus News.
- The Florida State University System has posted a a Blueprint for Reopening Campuses Fall Semester 2020
- The Hillsborough County Stay Safe page.
- The Manatee County Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information page.
- The National Institutes of Health page on Coronavirus (COVID-19).
- The National Science Foundation page with Coronavirus Information.
- The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
- The Pasco County Coronavirus Information & Pasco County Operational Changes page.
- The Polk County page.
- The Sarasota County page on COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
- The USF Academic Continuity Resources page had links to the Faculty, Current Student, and New Student & Parent toolkits. Also, an Important Update to Fall 2020 Academic Calendar (5/27)
- The USF Library has put up a Florida COVID-19 Hub page as “a resource guide to GIS data, mapping tools, news, and related information concerning Florida’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
- Here is the World Health Organization page on the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic.
And here are news articles we ran on the pandemic (and the pandemic at USF):
- The 6 August 2020 Issue had articles on how USF has no good choices, on what the UFF is doing, and teaching online
- The 4 August 2020 Extra carried an Open Letter to USF President Steven Currall from UFF USF Chapter President Art Shapiro, and here is President Currall’s response
- The 31 July 2020 Extra covered a press conference in which the UFF state leadership announced a call to have all classes online
- The 23 July 2020 Issue had articles on Getting There (racism and the pandemic), Amidst the Surge, and Getting Online
- The 9 July 2020 Issue had articles on the USF Reopening Plan, a Reality Check, and The Latest on the Budget
- The 18 June 2020 article on Reopening (on the USF BOT Guidelines)
- The 4 June 2020 article on Fall (on the BOG Guidelines).
- The Letter to the Faculty in the 30 May 2020 Extra.
- The 21 May 2020 article on the MOU signed May 15 to be ratified by the Bargaining Unit and the Board.
- The 7 May 2020 article on Teaching in Fall described the context for initiating impact bargaining.
- The 23 April 2020 article on The Web of Scholars concerned what we want the world to look like after the pandemic – and about working to get there.
- The 9 April 2020 article on Wilding Online, which was about how non-students were invading online classes.
- The 26 March 2020 article on A Fox and a Hedgehog Teach Online… concerns the ways a teacher can select an online strategy that fits her or his own approach to a prolonged crisis. This included some advice to and from Sir Winston Churchill on doing something new.
- The 12 March 2020 article with A Few Resources had links to some of the Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed articles that came out as the pandemic arrived.
- The 12 March 2020 article on Of Germs and People on fake news.
Our affiliates are also maintaining pages on dealing with the pandemic:
- The American Federation of Teachers has a page of COVID-19 Resources and a A Plan to Safely Reopen America’s Schools and Communities.
- The Florida Education Association has a page on Florida Schools and the Coronavirus Outbreak and Higher Education Re-Opening Committee Guidelines : Priorities & Recommendations.
- The National Education Association has a page on Schools and Coronavirus: What You Should Know.
Here are some other pertinent news sources:
- Science is the AAAS’s flagship journal, and they have a page of links to Coronavirus stories.
- The Atlantic launched a COVID Tracking Project which has been used by The Atlantic, CNN, The New York Times, Pro Publica, Vox, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the White House.
- BBC is probably the world’s preeminent news source, and they are maintaining a page on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
- The Conversation is a platform providing articles and op-eds by academics for news media. It was created by a consortium of colleges and universities, including USF. They have a page of links to Articles on Coronavirus, and another page of links to Articles on Fake news.
- Politifact is maintaining a page on Coronavirus.
- Avi Schiffmann’s ncov2019 site.
- Snopes is maintaining a Coronavirus Collection of Memes and Misinformation in blocks of twelve articles per page: as of May 3, there were pages I and II, and there almost surely soon will be more.
- The Tampa Bay Times is the only surviving major metropolitan daily in the Tampa Bay area, and they are maintaining a page with links to their stories on Coronavirus in Florida.
Consolidation
We are watching the USF consolidation process closely. Here are links to UFF USF Biweekly articles on the process:
- The 18 June 2020 article on Consolidation
- Then in February, a more detailed proposal
- Then President Currall’s October 2020 Iteration of the Consolidation Plan
- The 26 September 2019 on President Currall’s proposal
- The 21 March 2019 on Consolidation
- The 22 February 2019 Consolidation Update.
- The 25 January 2018 article on the USF System.
- The 8 February 2018 article on the USF System.
- The 6 September 2018 article on Consolidation.
- The 24 January 2018 Consolidation Update.
In addition, here is the USF page on the Consolidation Task Force.
Organizing
We are planning for a recruitment campaign. We need volunteers! We need to get UFF members more active in the union. If you are interested, contact the Membership Chair, Debbie Sinclair.
Tenure and Promotion
Newsletter Series on Performance, Evaluations, and the Reward Structure: Raises, Renewals, Tenure and Promotion
The newsletter is running a series of article on job performance, how it is evaluated, and how evaluations are translated into raises, renewals, tenure and promotion decisions. This series was inspired by recent changes in the tenure and promotion guidelines at USF. Articles thus far:
- What is Tenure For?
- Attacking Tenure
- Eroding Tenure
- The Contract and the Guidelines
- What They [the Guidelines] Say
- Teaching, Research and Service
- The Fourth Criterion
- Foggy Areas
- Getting Ahead
- Evaluations
- More than Nature or Nurture
- Editorial Comment on Tenure and Promotion Criteria
- (Departments and) Tenure and Promotion Criteria
- Getting Grants on the Job
- Grantsmanship
- Getting Real About Grants
- Tenure and the Odds
- Why Young Researchers Aren’t Getting Grants