UCSC Senate Newsletter, Spring 2022

Current news from the Academic Senate

UPDATE FROM THE SENATE CHAIR

This is Senate Chair David Brundage wishing you the best as we come to the end of the tumultuous 2021–22 academic year. In this edition of the spring 2022 Senate Newsletter, I write to you with updates on several campus and systemwide issues and on matters of major import to campus faculty research support moving forward, in addition to providing an update on the return to an in-person Faculty Research Lecture, and the awards for teaching for the year. Finally, we will provide links to the most significant Senate responses from the previous quarter, and the review materials of several more issues currently under review.

Reminder about Memorial Voting

The Academic Senate is conducting a systemwide faculty mail ballot vote on a proposed Memorial to the Regents of the University of California. In accordance with UC Academic Senate Bylaws 90[1] and 95[2], notice is hereby given that voting is open for the following Memorial to the UC Regents.

The University of California Academic Senate petitions the Regents for investments in UC’s infrastructure that will reduce on-campus fossil fuel combustion by at least 60% of current levels by 2030 and by 95% of current levels by 2035.

Please be reminded that your vote on the memorial is due May 27, 2022. This is an extended deadline to provide a chance for divisional discussion on the memorial at the May 20, 2022 Senate Meeting (via Zoom).

Note that the final language of the Memorial is a bit different from what I shared with you in the previous newsletter. This new language was the outcome of vigorous discussion—and eventual compromise—at the April meeting of the Academic Assembly. Though the new targets remain ambitious, the feeling was that they are more attainable. The amended Memorial received overwhelming support in the Assembly (46 in favor, 1 against). I’ll add that Memorials like this gain their impact from maximum participation—so please do vote and encourage your colleagues to do likewise!

On a related issue, the Senate Executive Committee and Committee on Committees have provided feedback on the Chancellor’s draft charge for a Joint Senate/Administration Committee on Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency. Though details are still being worked out, it appears that this will be a standing body, with an Executive Committee that provides oversight and four subcommittees that comprehensively address teaching, research, campus operations, and community engagement. Academic Senate members will be involved in all of these dimensions and we look forward to this body taking final shape in the very near future.

Final Mitigating COVID-19 Impacts on Faculty Working Group (MCIF-WG) Report Be on the lookout for the final report of the Mitigating COVID-19 Impacts on Faculty Working Group (MCIF-WG), which should be released very soon. In winter, I let you know about the ongoing work on the systemwide MCIF-WG and linked to their interim report. The final report will advance five recommendations, with associated actions, to meaningfully mitigate negative pandemic impacts on faculty. Given the ongoing impact of the pandemic, these are intended to be in place through the end of Fiscal Year 2025–26. It is crucial that every faculty member be aware of these recommendations, so please read the report carefully when you receive it.

Excellence in Teaching

I also want to thank the Committee on Teaching for their deliberation and selection of 2021–22 Excellence in Teaching awardees. Congratulations to the recipients, and thank you for your ongoing outstanding contributions to outstanding course pedagogy and student experience at UC Santa Cruz! Awardees include:

1.	Kyle Robertson, Philosophy
2.	micha cárdenas, Arts, Games and Playable Media
3.	Peter Weiss, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ron Ruby Award Recipient
4.	Elena Finkbeiner, Coastal Science and Policy
5.	Gina Ulysse, Feminist Studies
6.	Brenda Sanfilippo, Writing Program
7.	Daniel Wirls, Politics
8.	David Draper, Statistics

Faculty Research Lecture - Sunday, May 22

Finally, I hope you will consider joining us for the long delayed, but very highly anticipated return of the Senate Faculty Research Lecture to be delivered by Professor Terrie M. Williams, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology:

Touching Extinction: A Wildlife Conservation Love Story

•	DATE: May 22 \| 2:30 p.m.
•	LOCATION: Cowell Ranch Hay Barn
•	Parking available across Coolidge Drive in lot 115/116
•	RSVP Here
•	Also available via livestream

CURRENT SENATE PRIORITIES

Faculty Allowance Program

The Committee on Research (COR) is pleased to announce a new Faculty Allowance Program (FAP) that will replace the Faculty Research Grant (FRG) program, beginning in Fall 2022.

Thanks to a generous allocation by Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Kletzer, COR will be able to support a yearly research allowance of $2,000 to all FTE Senate faculty who apply for it. We expect this new funding model will reduce barriers for many of our faculty, address aspects of equity, and allow faculty to focus more time on research and other scholarly activities. COR is currently developing a streamlined application process for the Faculty Allowance Program (FAP) in which faculty will simply check off which categories the funds are planned to be spent on. This information will provide COR with prospective data on how the new faculty allowance is being spent across the campus and the divisions. Similarly, future applications will require reporting back on previous activity. COR will also work with research analysts to ensure consistency across the campus regarding allowable expenses. Based on the first year of implementation, COR will determine if there are enough left-over funds to support larger grants in the second year and beyond.

The UC Systemwide Academic

Senate hopes to gather the voices

of the faculty and instructors.

Two previous Senate surveys, in 2020 and 2021, greatly helped the Senate to convey accurately the broad array of faculty and instructor perspectives and pandemic experiences directly to the UC Administration, the UC Regents, and the California Legislature. Indeed, the Regents continue to refer to these surveys in their remarks, underscoring how important your voice can be. This survey has been sent to all instructors at the 9 UC undergraduate campuses. The survey should take about 15-20 minutes to complete and must be completed by midnight on June 25, 2022. It is recommended that you do this in one sitting—depending on your browser settings, you may not be able to return and pick up where you left off if you exit midway. Your participation is completely voluntary and your responses are anonymous.

Professor Emeritus E.G. Crichton has been awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship for 2022–23

The Committee on Emeriti Relations (CER) is pleased to announce that Professor Emeritus E.G. Crichton has been awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship for 2022–23. Professor Crichton’s Dickson funded project, “Q+ Public Comes Out” will focus on developing a website and social media presence for the Q+ Public initiative, which aims to provide a bridge between academic and public discussions about and within the LGBTQ+ community. Along with the proposed web and social media presence, Q+ Public includes a magazine (of which Prof. Crichton is a founder and co-editor) and an impressive book series published by Rutgers Press.

Up to three campus Dickson Professorships are awarded annually, funded by an endowment from the estate of former UC Regent Edward A. Dickson. The awards acknowledge, publicize, and enable the creative and innovative work that our faculty continue to do after retiring. They may be used for activities in service, research (including creative works and performances), or teaching. At UCSC the awards are managed by CER, in collaboration with the local Emeriti Association.

Distinguished Teaching Award 2021-22 recipient: Associate Professor Nick Mitchell

Associate Professor Nick Mitchell,

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Dept., Feminist Studies Department

Our congratulations to Associate Professor Nick Mitchell! The award nomination solicited information on nominees’ contributions to a culture of teaching, their use of research-based pedagogy, and their contributions to educational equity. Professor Mitchell is the third awardee in this award’s existence.

The nominations put forth by both Critical, Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) and Feminist Studies spoke eloquently and persuasively about the positive impact Professor Mitchell has had on the students who have been part of his classes and the decisive role he has played in creating new programs that foster the intellectual development of students and UC Santa Cruz, notably through the creation of the Black Studies minor. The committee was deeply impressed with the portrait of Professor Mitchell as a teacher who has succeeded in creating space for diverse students, both undergraduates and graduate students, to thrive at UC Santa Cruz.

COT will hold an event in the 2022–23 academic year to recognize and celebrate this award and recipient, Professor Nick Mitchell!

The Distinguished Teaching Award event, hosted by the Chancellor, occurred virtually on Wednesday, April 20. Due to the pandemic, this is the first opportunity we have had to celebrate the previous winners, who held a panel discussion about their approach to teaching pedagogy. With opening remarks from Chancellor Larive, this event gathered the three inaugural recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Award - Ingrid Parker (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), John Tamkun (Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology), and Jackie Gehring (Legal Studies) in conversation with Sylvanna Falcón (Latin American and Latino/a Studies) to discuss their contributions to the culture of teaching that has long distinguished UCSC. Attendees heard about how these outstanding teachers engage their students and draw on their research in creating dynamic learning experiences for UC Santa Cruz students.

Senate staff have refreshed the Issues section of the UCSC Division’s public website to include the responses to both systemwide and campus requests for Senate review in 2021–22. I direct your attention to these important responses which have been communicated post-winter newsletter.