The Office of Faculty Affairs sees an upward trend of events produced for UMD faculty

Dr. John Bertot, professor for the College of Information Studies and associate provost for Faculty Affairs, explains how the Office of Faculty Affairs strives to make the University of Maryland a home away from home for its faculty. (Jaime Williams/The Black Explosion)

The Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) at the University of Maryland is known for its efforts in promotion and tenure for faculty on campus, but the office also has its hands in retaining faculty while simultaneously creating a positive culture for them. 

The office does this by planning and executing a number of events throughout the calendar year for faculty to take part in. 

According to Michele Frazier, assistant director for faculty development and awards, the types of workshops the OFA offers include faculty forums, new faculty orientation, chair workshops and more. 

Frazier stated that the OFA has always provided events for faculty, but since she started in 2017, there has been a huge increase.

“When I started tracking, roughly we started out with 47 events in 2017-2018 [academic year] and then last year, 2018-2019 [academic year], we held 67 [events]. Currently, we are at 49 events [in the 2019-2020 academic year],” she said. 

Since the 2019-2020 academic year is currently underway, those numbers are still changing. 

“We are on track to be similar to or above those numbers,” Frazier said.

Considering that there is an abundance of events being generated from the OFA, planning happens through a collaborative effort from everyone in the office, Frazier explained. 

The office is composed of Dr. John Bertot, professor for the College of Information Studies and associate provost for faculty affairs, Bonnie Miranda, manager for the Office of Faculty Affairs, Michele Frazier, assistant director for faculty development and awards, Laura Rosenthal, director for faculty leadership, Heidi Bulich, associate director for faculty initiatives and Andrea Goltz, director for faculty initiatives.

“We try to program events and set them up logistically in ways that we hope are enticing to faculty and administrators,” said Goltz. 

For faculty to be successful, faculty need to feel like they are a part of a larger community, which is why we produce these events, Dr. Bertot said.

The goal of connecting them to the larger campus community is to provide a network and support structure for faculty, according to Dr. Bertot. 

“It’s vital to be able to do that for our faculty,” Dr. Bertot said.

“We are here to promote faculty success and that often involves bringing in experts and others from the campus community,” he said. 

“We partner with a lot of other offices on campus, like the ADVANCE Initiative, Teaching and Learning Transformation Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Division of Research and the Office of the General Council,” said Goltz. 

All of these efforts serve the estimated 5,100 faculty members on UMD’s campus.

That number is made up of the tenured and tenure-track faculty, professional-track faculty and librarians. 

Frazier said that they have asked faculty members for input and feedback on events, and the office has previously included a survey in their newsletter. 

“We are always open to suggestions on different types of workshops that will be best suited for their position here at Maryland,” Frazier said. 

Dr. Melvin Seale, assistant professor and director of Graduate Studies in Health Policy and Management, said, “the events on campus are very beneficial. Most recently, the Office of Faculty Affairs hosted a faculty forum on the future of higher education, and it was a positive experience.”

“The Office of Faculty Affairs strives to provide informative sessions that identify best practices for understanding compliance, cultural awareness, and the tenure/promotion process. Since my first day in New Faculty Orientation, I knew that I was surrounded by bold thinkers and change agents,” Seale said.

“The OFA addresses a lot of different matters that affect faculty on this campus. So we oversee issues affecting their life cycle, from initial recruiting and hiring, to tenure and promotion, any leaves they might want to take, to professional development and to eventual retirement,” Goltz said.

To learn more about the Office of Faculty Affairs and upcoming events, check out the website here.