COACHE and Academic Analytics

Dear Colleagues –

On January 20^th, Senior Vice Provost Laura Hill presented information about the upcoming ‘Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education’ (COACHE) survey that will be launched by late February. This effort is in response to a funded request from the legislature, and it offers an important opportunity for faculty to provide feedback on their work environment with respect to teaching, research, and service. I strongly urge everyone to participate so that we have full representation. I have accepted an invitation from Laura to co-chair a committee that will review the findings from the survey and propose ways that the university can address shortcomings that are identified from the survey.

Laura also discussed Academic Analytics, which is a database system that allows academic leaders to understand our position in the larger academic ecosystem, while also providing tools to help identify under recognized but high performing faculty at our institution. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee worked with Laura to develop a best practices statement that provides guidance on the limits of use for this resource. We are also still working on getting access for faculty (at least periodic if that model works) so that individual faculty can review their record and provide corrections. Part of this includes working out a process for submitting corrections. Overall, unit leaders are likely to gain the most from this resource if only because it can be used to provide data-driven arguments for state and university investments and provide tools for promoting unit faculty.

A copy of the best practices statement and additional information from Laura’s presentation can be found on the Faculty Senate Agenda: January 20^th, 2022 (linked here).

Sincerely,

Douglas Call, Faculty Senate Chair