FRIENDS

Faculty Retention and Inclusive Excellence Networks—Designing Solutions (FRIENDS)

July 2021–History Professors Lisa G. Materson and Corrie Decker were selected to pilot the Workplace Climate Action Group with the remaining funds ($100,000) of the FRIENDS grant. Please read the complete announcement here.

In February 2020, a group of committed UC Davis faculty joined together in a Community of Practice to address the pressing problems presented to Associate Professors revealed in the COACHE Faculty Satisfaction Survey. The findings of their year-long inquiry were presented to the public on Monday, April 5, 2021. Below you will find a recording of the event, the presentation slides, and research referenced over the course of the presentations.

Download a PDF of the Presentation Program

Presentation Slides

Introduction and Closing Remarks	COACHE Survey Context
Team Lime - “Invisible” Labor: Service Work Performed By Racially Minoritized Faculty, Particularly Women Of Color	Team Lemon - Faculty Success Center
Team Grape - Climate Change	Team Berry - Dialogues Across Difference, Solutions to Disruptive Speech in the Academic Environment

Reading and Reference Materials

American Council on Education, "Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads: What We Can and Should Do Now," 2021.
Michael Drake, President, University of California, "Mitigating COVID-19 Impacts on Faculty," January 26, 2021.
Kimberly A. Hamlin, "Why Are There So Few Women Full Professors?" Chronicle of Higher Education, March 30, 2021.
KerryAnn O'Meara et al., "Faculty Work Activity Dashboards: A Strategy to Increase Transparency," Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 52, no. 3 (21 July 2020): 34-42.
Presentation Chat Transcript
UCOP, "Appointment and Promotion: APM - 210: Review and Appraisal Committees," Rev. September 23, 2020.
UCOP, Report of the Universitywide Task Force on Faculty Rewards ("Pister Report"), June 26, 1991.
University Committee on Academic Personnel, "Recommendation to Modify APM 210-1(d)," September 28, 2020.

Next Steps: Funding Solutions

The money received as part of this Advancing Faculty Diversity grant was divided into two parts: the first part funded the Communities of Practice that met over the previous year to discuss the themes and devise solutions that could be implemented by faculty; the second part, totaling $100,000, has been reserved to fund those proposed solutions that faculty wish to apply for funding to implement over the AY2021-22. The Principal Investigators agreed upon a process to solicit Letters of Interest from faculty who will then be invited to submit a complete application due in late June. You can find the details of the funding request here.

FRIENDS Launch Event

FRIENDS Community of Practice Team Leads Raquel Aldana, Cindy Pickett, Kimberly Nettles-Barcelón, Mariel Vazquez

Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Renetta Garrison Tull and Academic Senate Affirmative Action and Diversity Chair Jose Torres

Kevin Gee, Leticia Saucedo, Kimberlee Shauman

History professors Corrie Decker and Lisa Materson with DEI analyst Tom O'Donnell at the FRIENDS launch event in February 2020

Kimberlee Shauman, Mark Simon

Margaret Laurena Kemp

Danny Martinez

Claudia Escobar

Mark Simon

Mark Fedyk

Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Mark Simon

Kimberly Nettles-Barcelón

Community of Practice Team Leads

Lisa Materson, Leticia Saucedo

Jochen Ditterich, Stacey Combes

Natalia Deeb-Sossa

Ralph Hexter, Archana Venkatesan

Mark A. López, Laura Cerruti

FRIENDS Planning Team

For questions please e-mail us at diversityinclusion@ucdavis.edu

Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law (Principal Investigator)

Laura Cerruti, Principal Analyst, Office of Academic Diversity | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Philip Kass, Vice Provost Academic Affairs

Adrienne Lawson, Director for Institutional Culture/Climate and Community Engagement

Mark A. López, Chief of Staff, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Kimberly Nettles Barcelón, CAMPSSAH Faculty Director, Office of Academic Diversity | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Thomas O’Donnell, Analyst, Office of Academic Diversity | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Lorena Oropeza, Professor, History (Co-Principal Investigator)

Binnie Singh, Associate Vice Provost, Academic Affairs

Hendry Ton, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at UC Davis Health | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Renetta Garrison Tull, Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Mariel Vazquez, CAMPOS Faculty Director, Office of Academic Diversity | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

From Storywalkers Consulting Group: Mark Simon, Principal Consultant

FRIENDS - Background and Context

A Project Funded through the University of California’s Advancing Faculty Diversity Improved Climate and Retention Program and led by the UC Davis Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, in collaboration with UC Davis Academic Affairs

Background and Context:

Campus leaders at all levels recognize that some of the most important conditions affecting achievement of UC Davis faculty are the ways they think and feel about such aspects of their employment as work expectations, availability of resources for teaching and research, recognition and reward, opportunities for advancement and professional development, and campus commitment to equity, inclusion and diversity. For faculty from underrepresented and/or marginalized groups, the effect of structural barriers and bias may magnify the real and perceived inequities in these areas, impacting our institution’s ability to retain and build on valuable perspectives from a diverse community of faculty.

UC Davis proposes a series of Faculty Retention and Inclusive Excellence Networks—Designing Solutions (FRIENDS). In year one, Associate Professors will be invited to join working groups involved in design thinking to remove barriers for underrepresented and/or marginalized faculty to thrive in our institution. The project has three parts

share learning from stories behind data-driven insights on faculty experiences,
develop communities of future faculty leaders interested in issues of faculty equity, retention, and climate; and
design innovative interventions to tackle known issues. In year two, two (or more) working groups will have the opportunity to pilot their proposed intervention.

Read the Full Grant Proposal

Read the Original Call for Grants

Our four CoPs will be led by the following ladder rank faculty:

Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law, co-Principal Investigator
Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Associate Professor, Department of History
Kimberly Nettles Barcelón, Associate Professor and Faculty Advisory of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; Faculty Director, Center for the Advancemetn of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Science, Arts, and Humanities (CAMPSSAH)
Lorena Oropeza, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity, Office of Academic Diversity, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Professor, Department of History, co-Principal Investigator
Mariel Vazquez, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; Faculty Director for the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives in Science (CAMPOS)

In addition to the four faculty leads, our entire leadership team, which will convene regularly to provide guidance and support, includes Renetta Garrison Tull, Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Philip Kass, Vice Provost Academic Affairs; Hendry Ton, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at UCD Health | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Adrienne Lawson, Director for Institutional Culture/Climate; Binnie Singh, Associate Vice Provost, Academic Affairs; and Mark A. López, Chief of Staff, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

As well, the CoPs will benefit from the contributions and time of exceptional and dedicated analysts – Thomas O’Donnell and Laura Cerruti and a graduate student Claudia Escobar will be supported by Executive Assistant Rosa Deniz.

Based on COACHE survey results and research about the factors that influence faculty climate at UC Davis, we have identified the following four topics, each of which will be taken up by one of the CoPs:

Challenges faced by women and minority faculty in advancing from Associate to Full Professor. This including the concept of “Epistemological inclusion of efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the University’s intellectual work,” or scholarship that falls outside of disciplinary norms (perceived or actual) with a focus on addressing both formal hierarchies as well as informal processes that serve as barriers to the valuing the work of faculty of color or work that is or is perceived to be on the disciplinary margins (Settles & Buchanan, 2019).
“’Invisible labor’ service work performed by racially minoritized faculty,” particularly Women of Color (WOC).
“Developing a critical consciousness among majority faculty to create and support healthy, productive academic climates.”
Addressing issues related to classroom climate, including hate speech and racial harassment.

Individual participants will receive $1000 to be placed into an academic enrichment account and acknowledgment in personnel file letter describing how participation in this project reflects a significant contribution to diversity.