2002-2003
Communiqués from the
 Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel
 

  Child Care Services’ Name Change to UCLA Early Care and Education
             Issued June 30, 2003


  Health Sciences Task Force Report
             Issued March 18, 2003


New Policy
  Implementation of the Merit Equity Review (MER)
             Issued January 15, 2003


  New Date for the 2002-2003 Advanced Topics Workshop
             Issued October 12, 2002


  Submission Deadlines for Academic Actions effective July 1, 2003
            available in .pdf format
         Issued August 14, 2002


  2002-2003 Academic Personnel Workshop Dates
            Issued August 12, 2002


  New Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor
            Distributed via email July 22, 2002


  Proposed Whistleblower and Whistleblower Protection Policies
             available in .pdf format
          Issued July 10, 2002
          >> Comments due Monday, July 22, 2002

 

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June 30, 2003

DEANS, DIRECTORS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS & ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS

Re: Child Care Services’ Name Change to UCLA Early Care and Education

UCLA Child Care Services’ name has been changed to UCLA Early Care and Education to reflect the importance of education in the early years. This new name is consistent with terminology now used in state and federal agencies that deal with care of children.

Maintaining consistency with the new name UCLA Child Care Services, and avoiding confusion with other campus activities, the Outreach Program will now be known as Early Care and Education Information and Resources.

UCLA Early Care and Education supports the research, education, and community service mission of the University by supporting campus families and by making a unique contribution to the field of early education.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

March 18, 2003

DEANS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS and DIRECTORS

Re: Health Sciences Task Force Report

In October 2001, a Task Force was convened to evaluate the competitiveness of UC health sciences faculty retirement benefits and to report its recommendations to Senior Management. The Task Force comprised faculty and administrators from all health sciences locations and staff from the Office of the President. Based on the concerns expressed by health sciences faculty and the results of a survey on retirement benefits for physicians at the nation’s leading academic medical institutions, the Task Force has recommended three options for improving UC health sciences retirement benefits. We are now requesting campus review and comments on these recommendations.

Depending on the option that is adopted, the costs for improving health sciences retirement benefits would be attributable to either the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) or the fund sources from which newly covered health sciences compensation is derived, such as grants or clinical income. If UCRP remains non-contributory, there would be no direct costs to campuses or faculty for providing additional benefits under UCRP. However, when contributions to UCRP resume, the contributions for any improved benefits under UCRP would also need to be paid.

Please make this proposed new policy available to your faculty and all interested parties for comment. The proposal is also available online at:

http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/acadpers/taskforce.html

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please return any comments to me by Monday, May 12, 2003.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

N E W  P O L I C Y

January 15, 2003

DEANS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS, and DIRECTORS

Re: Implementation of the Merit Equity Review (MER)

The Office of the President has mandated that each campus provide a mechanism for ensuring that all University faculty members are at the appropriate rank and step that is consistent with achievement. The Merit Equity Review has been established for ladder-rank faculty to ensure this mechanism.

Comments were solicited from the campus at large, including all Deans and Directors, and reviewed by the Academic Senate and the Council on Academic Personnel. Throughout the formation of this policy we sought to balance the purpose of MER with the logistics of a major new component to the already complex academic review process. There was some sentiment that UCLA has previously been successful in maintaining equity in rank and step trends for our faculty through the prevailing system – largely through accelerated advancements when appropriate. Concerns about MER centered on faculty bypassing customary and regular merit reviews, opting for Merit Equity Reviews which could, over time, become “automatic” or be seen as a regular entitlement. To ensure clarity as to the unique purpose of the review, the UCLA proposal limits MER to:

(1) once at the Associate Professor level,

(2) once at the Full Professor level prior to Advancement to Professor StepVI, and

(3) once after Advancement to Professor Step VI.

A request for a MER must be substantive and supported by documentation of a significant discrepancy between the faculty member’s existing rank and step and that of his/her peers within the same discipline. Yet it also requires those in administrative positions and the Council on Academic Personnel to suggest a Merit Equity Review for faculty whose rank and step are found to be seriously inconsistent with attainment. It is also an important tenet of the policy that MER may not be used to grieve a recent negative personnel action.

The Merit Equity Review (MER) will go into effect, on a trial basis, effective July 1, 2003. The MER procedure is summarized in the UCLA CALL  Appendix 35 and available online at:

http://www.apo.ucla.edu/call/append35.htm

The MER procedure will be reviewed after two years to examine its effectiveness. At that time, we will make any revisions necessary to ensure that the new policy truly enables all University ladder rank faculty to be at an appropriate rank and step.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

October 12, 2002

DEANS and DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

Re: New Date for the Advanced Topics Workshop

The Advanced Topics Workshop scheduled for Wednesday, November 20, 2002 has been rescheduled for:

Advanced Topics Annual Workshop
Thursday, January 30, 2003
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
California Room, Faculty Center

Please mark this new date on your calendar. We apologize for any inconvenience this change might have caused you. Invitations will be sent out in January with more information. I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

 

August 14, 2002

DEANS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS and DIRECTORS

Re: Submission Deadlines for Academic Actions effective July 1, 2003

Enclosed are the “2002-2003 Submission Deadlines for Academic Actions.” These are the due dates for submission of dossiers to the Academic Personnel Office from the Deans’ for actions effective July 1, 2003.

The failure to adhere to the established deadlines remains a serious problem, created by delays in departmental processing and other reviewing agencies. The policy established regarding retroactive advancement will be strictly enforced. Cases that are submitted after the applicable deadline that are not completed by June 30th of that year will not carry a retroactive effective date. In addition, dossiers found to be incomplete will be returned to the Dean’s Office and will be considered late if not forwarded to the Academic Personnel Office by the established deadline.

SUBMISSIONS

1. The following dossiers with a July 1, 2003, effective date require submission to the Academic Personnel Office with a Dean’s statement:

• Adjunct
• Clinical Compensated
• Accelerated Merits
• Further Above-Scale Merits

2. For any actions where an ad-hoc review committee may be appointed:

• please provide a list of potential UCLA faculty (in alphabetical order) and ensure that all of those named have not co-authored with the candidate under review.
• include Rank and Step of all nominees for proposed merits to Step VI.

3. The list of external letter-writers must clearly indicate whether the letter writer originated from the candidate’s list, the chair’s list, or whether suggested by both.

4. Self-statements should be no more than 3 to 5 pages.

INTERCAMPUS & AAU APPOINTMENTS

Appointments of faculty members from other AAU and California Institutions, as well as intercampus UC recruitment, must comply with applicable policies and deadlines. Offers of appointment to faculty holding positions at any other University of California campus must be made by April 1st. Offers of appointment to faculty from AAU institutions must be made by April 30th. Please refer to The CALL, Appendix 22 for more information (available online at http://www.apo.ucla.edu/call/append22.htm).

FORMS

Forms for advancement and adjustment can be accessed from the Academic Personnel Office website at: http://www.apo.ucla.edu/salary.asp.

If you have any questions, please contact Marsha Fractor regarding academic review action processing at extension 69515 or Esther Hamil for academic policy at extension 55462.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

 

The UCLA CALL
Summary of Procedures

— 2002-2003 Submission Deadlines for Academic Actions —

Due dates for submission of actions to the Academic Personnel Office from Dean’s Offices
for actions effective July 1, 2003

August 12, 2002

DEANS and DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

Re: 2002-2003 Academic Personnel Workshop Dates

Each year two workshops are held in which we address the various aspects of academic personnel policy and procedures.

The first workshop for the 2002-2003 academic year is designed for new Deans and Chairs. The second workshop is designed for all Deans and Chairs and is tailored to address advanced topics and current issues.

Please hold the following dates on your calendar:

New Deans and Chairs Workshop
Thursday, October 24, 2002
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Hacienda Room, Faculty Center

Advanced Topics Annual Workshop
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
California Room, Faculty Center

Invitations will be sent out in late September with more information. I look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

July 22, 2002

DEANS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS and DIRECTORS

Re: New Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Robert Goldstein as Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel.

Among other things, he will assist me as Grievance Liaison (formerly Eliza Vorenberg) in cases involving Charges, Privilege and Tenure matters, APM 140 Grievances, and other investigatory processes.

He has been Associate Dean of the Law School for four years, where he has acquired substantial experience with the personnel process. He has served on a variety of campus-wide committees since he was first appointed at UCLA in 1983. He currently teaches constitutional law and the campus’ interdisciplinary class in child abuse and neglect and is the author of “Mother-Love and Abortion” (U.C. Press) and “Child Abuse and Neglect” (West).

Professor Goldstein can be reached at:

Professor Robert Goldstein
Academic Personnel Office
3109 Murphy Hall
140701
tel: (310) 794-4217
fax: (310) 206-9643
email: rgoldstein@conet.ucla.edu

It is a pleasure to welcome Professor Goldstein to this new position.

Sincerely yours,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

P L E A S E   P O S T

July 10, 2002

DEANS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS, and DIRECTORS

Re: Proposed Whistleblower and Whistleblower Protection Policies

As indicated in my June 28, 2002 communiqué regarding the University's Whistleblower policies, I am enclosing two more policies revised to conform to the California Whistleblower Protection Act:

1. Policy on Reporting and Investigating Allegations of Suspected Improper Governmental Activities (Whistleblower Policy); and
    
2. Policy for Protection of Whistleblowers from Retaliation and Guidelines for Reviewing Retaliation Complaints (Whistleblower Protection Policy)

The policies are now being sent out for a final formal review. Because the University desires to issue the policies on August 1, 2002, we are requesting an expedited review.

In April 2001, a draft Whistleblower Policy and Whistleblower Protection Policy were distributed for formal review. Through the summer of 2001, comments were received, reviewed and considered. Since that time, the policies have been further revised to conform to amendments to the law. A new section (Section VI) has been added to the Whistleblower Policy entitled "Roles, Rights and Responsibilities of Whistleblowers, Investigation Participants, Subjects and Investigators" that codifies long-standing University practices with regard to the responsibilities of whistleblowers, witnesses, subjects, and investigators. The primary changes made to the Whistleblower Protection Policy include the expansion of evidentiary standards required by the law and the addition of clarifying language throughout the policy. A report of the Whistleblower Policy Task Force is also attached.

The proposed policies are available online at:

  Whistleblower Policy
    http://www.ucop.edu/humres/whistleblower_policy.pdf

  Whistleblower Protection Policy
    http://www.ucop.edu/humres/whistleblower_prot_policy.pdf

Please make this information available to your faculty and all interested parties for comment. Because Office of the President would like to implement this policy by August 1, 2002, I would appreciate receiving all comments by Monday, July 22, 2002. We apologize for the short notice and any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Donna L. Vredevoe, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Academic Personnel

Enclosure