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Engaged Faculty and Staff

Goal D Banner: Faculty member teaching.

Goal D: Engaged Faculty and Staff

Be the employer of choice

It would be impossible to stay true to our mission without investing in our faculty and staff. This investment will require us to devise strategies for recruitment, development, support, recognition, reward, and retention. We must be proactive and equitable in our recruitment and hiring of faculty and staff, who reflect the diversity of our students, and in our efforts to retain them. Attracting and retaining top talent will mean positioning the university to provide competitive compensation and benefits and an inclusive and representative work environment.

As highlighted in our Guiding Principles, the university is committed to nurturing growth and goal-driven mindsets. Our ability to do so will depend on placing greater institutional emphasis on investment in professional development and in providing time to take advantage of professional development opportunities. For faculty, this development would include attending to the tenure and promotion processes and providing critical mentoring from onboarding through tenure and promotion and beyond. For staff, this would include training that emphasizes customer service, collaboration, communication, leadership, transparency, and proactivity.

Also featured in our Guiding Principles are the values of Teamwork; Competence; Relationship; Leadership; Integrity; and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Cultivating these principles and transforming them into shared values will make the experience of working at UHD even more meaningful.

Rewards such as salary and benefits should also be commensurate with those of our peer institutions. Reward incentives must be tied to behavior and performance that advance the seven strategic goals and their priorities. However, perhaps more valuable than monetary rewards are the recognition and appreciation that we can confer on all who work at UHD.

If investments in the areas of development, support, recognition, and rewards succeed, then retention should increase. Increased staff and faculty retention would elevate the reputation of the university as a higher education employer of choice.

  • D1
    Establish funding mandates in the budget planning process that produce competitive salaries for faculty and staff.
  • D2
    Revise and improve faculty recruitment and staff hiring practices to broaden talent invested in serving the UHD student population.
  • D3
    Establish and implement a faculty and staff workload study to gather data to resolve workload issues; revise policies and evaluation rubrics around faculty and staff workload to promote know creation and dissemination.
  • D4
    Develop and implement a plan to reduce employee turnover, increase retention, and foster employee engagement.
  • D5
    Develop a robust set of employee policies that address flexible work environment, promotion processes and career path achievement goals.
  • D6
    Increase the funding pools for staff to increase development opportunities.
  • D7
    Establish an ombuds position to be an advocate for staff in employee issue.