Dear Colleagues:
The Senate Committee on Academic Personnel and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor recognize that the effects of COVID-19 on academic appointees will extend past the immediate public health crisis. The impacts of the pandemic on our ability to carry out research, creative activity, professional practice, teaching, and service may be profound. Therefore, it will be important for faculty to document, and for reviewers to be mindful of, the challenges that individuals have faced in their academic endeavors due to COVID-19.
Candidates are strongly urged to include a brief, reflective self-evaluation statement in their academic review files.
Doing so enables faculty to express in their own words how the pandemic has affected their academic activities and performance and, when possible, to include specific time metrics (e.g. publication delays, field research delays, etc.) which help reviewers judge the candidate’s scholarly record during the review period.
While some departments currently do not require faculty to include such a statement in their academic review files, we strongly encourage departments to consider adopting this practice during this unprecedented time. For candidates undergoing career reviews, it is particularly helpful to note any significant delays to works in progress as a result of the pandemic.
Department chairs should consider detailing any discipline-specific challenges posed by the pandemic in their departmental recommendation letters to help reviewers understand the scope of potential delays in candidates’ performances across the candidate’s discipline. Deans are also encouraged to provide a broader analysis of division-specific challenges or themes that have been observed and should be taken into consideration when evaluating candidates.
Including these materials in an academic review file will enable all reviewers to make a holistic evaluation of the file, based on all pertinent information. The Senate and Administration are continuing to monitor the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the academic review process and are empaneling a Senate-Administration workgroup to make further recommendations.
