The UAlbany Provost’s Fellows Program

Over the years, a number of University at Albany tenured academic faculty members have expressed interest in exploring the possibility of augmenting or broadening their research and scholarly activities with administrative and leadership responsibilities. In an effort to grow leadership capabilities at UA and to respond to these kinds of requests for growth and creative uses of faculty expertise, the Provost’s Fellows Program is being established.

Program Description

The faculty members who participate are placed in and work on a project introducing them to an important and timely issue in higher education administration. As Provost's Fellows, they will also participate in a Fellows Council designed offer a forum for exchange of ideas, opportunities to explore creative solutions to challenges experienced within the projects, and opportunities to hear invited speakers on topics relevant to their projects.  The Provost’s office will sponsor and negotiate release time for each Fellow in accordance with the time commitment required for any specific project.

Provost's Fellows projects will: 

• Be of interest to the faculty member in question
• Fill a need within the University
• Reach any or all of the following goals:
• Achieve greater student and faculty engagement
• Create improved administrative functions
• Cross boundaries and create new and productive connections
• Generate new sources of revenue for the university

Three Provost's Fellowships are initially proposed (see full descriptions below)

Faculty may also propose additional or alternative Provost's Fellows Projects and submit applications for them.  Application procedures can be found at the bottom of this document.  Other projects might include such activities as analyzing and enhancing communication across Academic Affairs; effective use of data within or across units; or enhancing service learning opportunities for students and faculty.  Other types of project ideas are welcomed.

1. Provost Fellow: Internationalization Collaborations and Initiatives

Description of Fellowship:

The Provost’s Fellow will work closely with the Vice Provost for International Education promoting the internationalization of the UAlbany curriculum. Curriculum internationalization may include one or more of the following: 

• creating opportunities for faculty international experiences;
• creating new courses and tracks in international fields; 
• helping faculty develop international and comparative case study materials;
• adapting curricula to encourage international and multicultural experiences through group work and online international projects; 
• encouraging students to study abroad, and advising them which programs best fit their majors and career objectives. 

Collaboration will be focused on a few departments that have expressed special interest in internationalizing their curricula and/or in using study abroad to enhance their academic programs. 
Depending on interests and specialization, the appointee may take on additional responsibilities:

• in developing a dual degree initiative with a foreign university,
• promoting study abroad opportunities in the sciences,
• promoting an online international learning opportunity in collaboration with SUNY’s COIL Center.

The position is open to full-time faculty with continuing appointment in any academic department. Candidates should have significant international experience, but there is no specific requirement as to duration, world region, disciplinary specialization, or foreign languages.

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2. Provost Fellow: Accreditation, Organizational Effectiveness and Assessment of student learning

Description of Fellowship:

The Provost’s Fellow on Accreditation and Assessment will play an integral role in the various processes and activities that underlie UAlbany’s institutional accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, our internal quality assurance processes around student learning outcomes assessment, and more formally integrating academic planning into the program review process over the next year.  The successful candidate will have myriad opportunities to delve into the day-to-day activities that undergird these critical functions, and to directly influence higher level campus policies supporting them by helping the Provost’s Office to revisit how it links planning and budgeting processes. Finally, the inherent faculty perspective the successful candidate brings to the Provost’s Accreditation and Assessment Fellow is an essential ingredient to the further strengthening shared governance around these issues.

The Provost’s Fellow will

• Work with the Director of Academic Assessment and Survey Research in overseeing the academic program review process.
• Help coordinate the development of departmental program review self-studies.
• Provide feedback and suggestions to academic departments, particularly in assessment planning and execution, as they develop their self-studies.
• Participate in departmental external review site visits (3-5 per year).
• Observe the work of the Council on Academic Assessment and its two committees, the General Education Assessment Committee and the Academic Program Review Committee, with an eye toward better integrating their efforts with overall academic planning in the schools and colleges, and in the Provost’s Office.  
• Develop familiarity with MSCHE standards and expectations, and represent UAlbany at MSCHE meetings and training events.  And help UAlbany lay the groundwork for its upcoming 2015 MSCHE Periodic Review Report.
• While most of the Provost Fellow’s duties focus on academic effectiveness, there is a natural overlap with aspects of institutional effectiveness, especially in the areas of planning, budgeting, and resource allocation. In this respect, the Provost’s Fellow will work alongside the Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Resource Planning.
• Assist in the monitoring and coordination of institutional effectiveness assessments of the UAlbany strategic plan implementation, particularly as they relate to student engagement and learning, in collaboration with the Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Resource Planning.

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3. Provost Fellow: Promotion and Tenure Issues

Description of Fellowship:

The Provost’s Fellow on Promotion and Tenure will play an important role in proposing, planning, negotiating and implementing changes to the policies and practices around tenure and promotion at UAlbany.  Indications and recommendations for change in this area have arisen over the last few years from the Going Forward Plan, the CLUE Group on Promotion and Tenure, UAlbany’s Strategic Plan, and members of the CPCA.  In each case, there is an expressed wish that UAlbany ensure better dissemination of information about tenure and promotion, more consistent mentoring around tenure and promotion,  and changes in policy that align better with best practices found nationally.

The successful candidate will have many opportunities to discuss these issues with a broad range of stakeholders including review committees at the departmental, School/College and University level, and will directly influence and streamline a process that may currently provide more anxiety for both candidates for promotion and review committees than is necessary.  The candidate will write new policy language and negotiate its acceptance and integration into how UAlbany does its work. The Fellow will work closely with staff from the Provost’s office to ensure that all levels of governance and the UUP are appropriately consulted to maximize broad acceptance of new policies and practices. 

The Provost’s Fellow will

• Work closely with Bill Hedberg, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ben Weaver, Executive Assistant for Academic Affairs and Administration, and Tine Reimers, Director of Faculty and Program Development to review existing recommendations from the Going Forward Plan, the CLUE Group on Promotion and Tenure, and UAlbany’s Strategic Plan, to prioritize them and create a plan for effective change in promotion and tenure policies and practices that fit the UAlbany culture.
• Work with the CPCA to collect recommendations and plan appropriate solutions for any ‘gaps’ or difficulties that the council identifies with the process or dossiers that they receive for consideration for tenure or promotion.
• Work with School/College review bodies to collect recommendations and plan appropriate solutions for any ‘gaps’ or difficulties that those bodies identify with the process or dossiers that they receive for consideration for tenure or promotion.
• Help coordinate information sessions for junior faculty going up for tenure, associate professors going up for promotion, and chairs and ad hoc committee members putting together dossiers for tenure and promotion
• Provide information and develop policy language about appropriate mentoring practices across the university.
• Work with Jim Dias, Vice President for Research and Tine Reimers on appropriate mentoring solutions for junior faculty

Eligibility and Application Procedures: 

Tenured full or associate professors are encouraged to apply to the Provost’s Fellows Program. Interested faculty may submit to their dean their curriculum vitae and personal statement of interest in the area of proposed assignment and project. Application materials should be forwarded to the Office of the Provost by the dean with an accompanying letter of nomination. Completed application packets should be sent to Tine Reimers via email at treimers@albany.edu, either as PDF or Microsoft Word documents.

The deadline for completed nominations is April 30, 2012

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