Activity insight…Yes, it’s that time!

Dear Colleagues:

If it hasn’t happened already, you will soon be asked to embark on the annual ritual of preparing your materials for your annual reviews, and this invariably includes working with Activity Insight to document your efforts. Many of us have traditionally entered the minimal amount of information to ease the pain of this process, and I confess that I have been as guilty as anyone for most of my time at WSU. Frankly, it is difficult to find time during work hours, and all of us have real lives that need nurturing during the evenings and weekends.

So, why am I writing about this? I want to urge you to find a bit more time to work with Activity Insight. It is a cumbersome process, but it is also the only way that you and I can document our efforts in a centralized manner so that our administration understands what we do during the year.

Why is this important? Besides the fact that documentation is needed for evaluation, this process allows us to collectively elevate the visibility of important activities that might not otherwise receive much recognition. For example, there is a section in Activity Insight called “WSU Institutional Priorities.” Here you will find text boxes where you can enter narratives about high-impact practices, about diversity, equity and inclusion, about community engagement, and about internationalization.

No one is obligated to fill out these boxes, but these provide opportunities to inform administrators about the broader narrative of our contributions to our academic, local, state, national and international communities. Doing so encourages greater recognition of these efforts while providing administrators with rich narratives that can be shared with the state legislature, stakeholders, students and their families, and taxpayers in general.

I urge you to find the extra time to address these questions…and I fully recognize that this is asking a lot. If it helps at all, please know that I am committed to doing the same.

Sincerely,

Douglas Call, Faculty Senate Chair