Our Office coordinates a university-wide committee to understand the scope and depth of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted faculty and staff productivity. The committee is charged with designing and implementing initiatives that address faculty and staff concerns and better supports their productivity. Project initiatives span data collection about faculty and staff experiences, a review of the annual evaluations process as well as the tenure and promotion process, and improvements to campus work/life resources.

Our Office partners with the Office of Diversity Initiatives to launch programs and services to support our diverse faculty and staff, including enhanced support to faculty affinity groups, increased programming that supports underrepresented faculty and staff, improved strategies to increase diverse hiring, and expanded resources on topics such as cultural intelligence, race, racism, and racial identity.

The Office of Faculty Affairs has either led or collaborated with campus units to develop programs and resources that support the professional growth of faculty, staff, supervisors, and teams. Below is a summary of those programs and resources:

• Branding, Self-Promotion, and Visibility
  In collaboration with the University Libraries, a campus-wide committee organized the collection and development of resources to improve online reputation and increase the visibility and impact of research.

• Dialogues
  Dialogues is a process designed to build and strengthen the capacity of teams and units to communicate, collaborate, and institutionalize behaviors that increase overall job satisfaction and improve professional and organizational outcomes.

• Management Training Academy
  The Management Training Academy (MTA) was created in Spring 2020. It consists of a series of courses that builds adaptable leaders who respond more effectively to diverse situations to increase productivity and organizational success.
• National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
  In 2018, UNLV joined the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD), a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.
• Leadership Coaching Program
  The Leadership Coaching Program was created in Summer 2020 to provide campus leaders (faculty and staff) with opportunities to refine existing skills and acquire new skills required to develop and lead a successful, effective organization.
• UNLV Faculty Center
  The UNLV Faculty Center was established in 2018 to provide faculty development in the areas of research, teaching, and career planning at UNLV. The Center also provides social and professional networking and teaching consultations. Campus units, both academic and administrative, work in collaboration to provide the Center’s services.

In collaboration with the campus community, six task forces composed of faculty and staff were established to collect or develop mentoring services and resources. These resources are presently housed on the Faculty Mentoring Resources web page which was created to increase access and visibility of mentoring resources for our campus community.

In addition to offering professional development programming, the UNLV Faculty Center serves as a space for faculty affinity groups, professional organizations, and chapters of scientific societies to network, meet, and host events. To reserve the faculty lounge or classroom space, send an email to facultycenter@unlv.edu.

Our Office organizes efforts to improve the onboarding experience for new administrative and academic faculty, including onboarding events, departmental onboarding guides, and improved communications and promotions of onboarding activities.

Our Office either develops or collaborates with administrative units to propose or revise policies that impact academic and administrative faculty. A representative from our Office also serves on the University Policy Committee to review proposed or revised campus policies.

In partnership with the Office of Human Resources, our Office provides workshops, guides, and materials on best practices in faculty searches and hiring to assist academic and administrative units in conducting an effective and efficient search. In addition, search and hire protocols for visiting faculty and part-time instructors have also been developed.

In Spring 2021, our Office partned with Human Resources to launch UNLV's Search Advocate Pilot Program to support the search and hire process for academic and administrative faculty. The advocate program has three priorities: (1) increase the diversity of candidate pools, (2) ensure equitable practices and treatment of all parties participating the search process, and (3) guarantee compliance with university search and hire policies and procedures. To learn more, click here.

Annually, our Office coordinates a faculty orientation, professional development workshops, and networking activities for part-time instructors. For lecturers, faculty-in-residence, and research faculty, our Office coordinates onboarding and networking events as well as workshops about university promotion processes. Our Office also maintains resources for developing promotion standards for full-time, nontenure-track faculty.