彩民宝典

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Dear Faculty Relations: What can I do about a faculty member who doesn鈥檛 respond to emails or submit required activity reports, like FRPA or DEPA? I email reminders; they say they鈥檒l get around to it but don鈥檛. Sometimes they also ignore my emails. I have more urgent matters to attend to, and besides I resent having to baby-sit adults, so I let it go. Should I? - Fed Up

Dear Fed Up: Your frustration is well-founded. Faculty should be responsive. When they aren鈥檛, the Chair should not only continue to model behavior, but also serve as the enforcer. This may be a less attractive, but still an important, role of the Chair as the department鈥檚 academic leader.听

It can become overlooked. Most know to act on faculty who mistreat their colleagues. But it is easy to dismiss what could be chocked off as paperwork. University communications are more. They include information for shared governance, community engagement, and can have compliance implications, such as the mentioned FRPA and DEPA forms. And failure to enforce enables a pattern. Once the person realizes if they procrastinate long enough, you鈥檒l stop emailing, they are likely to repeat the behavior.听

Start acting by using the PRD (see PRD, Part II.C.1.b.) to raise their awareness that faculty are expected to participate in the operation and governance of their department. When they don鈥檛 respond it impacts the functioning (and contributes to a dysfunction) of your unit. If they still don鈥檛 respond, use the procedures in Part IV.C. to emphasize their professional responsibilities. Write a note in your records that you addressed it. If there are repeated violations, the policy may need enforcing through sanctions. Guidance is available from Faculty Relations; contact Suzanne Soled.

Written by Suzanne Soled, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Support; Director of Faculty Relations, Office of Faculty Affairs, 彩民宝典, November 2020