News and Highlights for Faculty & Staff on the Urbana-Champaign Campus  |  February 2014

Faculty leaders across campus have encouraged us to broadly communicate key initiatives and developments supported by the Provost’s Office.  In response to this feedback, we have designed this new communication called Academic Affairs.  It will be published monthly during the academic year.  I hope you find it both useful and a very fast read.  As always, your comments and questions are welcome anytime. 

The cornerstone of the campus strategic plan released last summer is a commitment to invest in our faculty. We will be recruiting 500 new faculty in the coming five-to-seven years with a goal of bringing our total tenure/tenure-track numbers to about 2,100. A total of 180 new faculty searches were authorized for this year. 

A new ad hoc Academic Senate committee, chaired by Jeff Brown (Finance, pictured here), will advise campus leadership on ways to enhance our national competitiveness in faculty and staff compensation. The committee comes out of one of the recommendations from last summer’s Task Force on Faculty Concerns.
Read the full charge letter here (PDF)...

In light of the recent pension reform legislation, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution on January 23 directing the university to explore possible options that would help to offset or mitigate the recent changes to university employee retirement plans. Provost Adesida welcomed the action saying, “It is essential that we recruit and retain the best and brightest faculty in the world.  A competitive pension program is critical to achieve this aim.” The Board resolution asks for recommendations quickly enough to be considered for implementation by the time pension legislation changes begin to take effect, currently planned for this summer. Read the full resolution here (pdf)

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