Getting Started Resources
Getting Started with Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads by Design – Video #1
Following the Equity-Minded Faculty Workloads by Design video, reflect on these questions:
- Does the “Hallway Ask” happen in your department or college? Why or why not? What are the consequences?
- This video articulates the reasoning for understanding workload equity as an important issue that is shaped by our implicit biases and the structures of the university. How might you make this case to a colleague who doesn’t see workload as a pressing problem?
- The ACE report, “Equity Minded Faculty Workloads By Design” identifies six conditions for workload equity:
- Transparency: Departments have widely visible information about faculty work activities available for department members to see.
- Clarity: Departments have clearly identified and well-understood benchmarks for faculty work activities.
- Credit: Departments recognize and reward faculty members who are expending more effort in certain areas.
- Norms: Departments have a commitment to ensuring faculty workload is fair and have put systems in place that reinforce these norms.
- Context: Departments acknowledge that different faculty members have different strengths, interests, and demands that shape their workloads and offer workload flexibility to recognize this context.
- Accountability: Departments have mechanisms in place to ensure that faculty members fulfill their work obligations and receive credit for their labor.)
Which initially seem important in your context?
- Consider your own experiences of workload (in)equity. What has been the hardest? How might this experience relate to the above set of conditions?
- O’Meara references Joya Misra’s article which describes how white women perceived the workload problem as one of unfair distribution, while women of color were more likely to see it as one of not even counting/distributing invisible labor. How might approaches to workload equity differ depending on which problem you see as more important? How could you address both?
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Want a way to jumpstart equity? KerryAnn O’Meara, Dawn Culpepper, Joya Misra, and Audrey Jaeger, writing for The American Council on Education, offers these worksheets based on their report. Take one to your unit or department meeting and take a concrete step to move forward on workload equity.
Equity Minded Faculty Workloads Report
Faculty Work Activity Dashboard Examples- Handout #1
Faculty Service Audit- Handout #2
Faculty Expectations Guidelines- Handout #3
Compensation for Key Roles- Handout #4
Teaching Credit Swaps- Handout #6
Planned Service Rotations- Handout #7
Planned Teaching Times Rotations- Handout #8
Differentiated Work Policy- Handout #9
Modified Criteria for Promotion & Tenure – Handout #10
Restructuring and Reducing Committees- Handout #11
Statement of Mutual Expectations- Handout #12
Department Equity Action Plan- Handout #13
Understanding and Acting to Advice Workload Equity (Tuesday Inbox) – Video #2