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Last May, then-CU Provost Russell Moore commissioned Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, interim vice chancellor for academic resource management (and a member of the Chancellor’s Faculty Salary Task Force), to oversee a working group to focus on advancing some of the recommendations from the Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group (�󳧱ʰ³�).��

The fellows are currently focusing their work on developing best practices and documenting unit-level merit procedures across ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, drawing on the FSPWG report. Specifically, the fellows will be supporting unit level procedures around faculty annual merit evaluations, and aligning those merit evaluations with recommendations for salary increases. In addition, the fellows will provide support and resources, including training sessions for academic leaders on implementing unit-level procedures. Overall, the work of the fellows seeks to promote transparency and best practices in our merit processes.

The fellows are Derek Briggs (education), Steven Vanderheiden (political science), and Jerry Jacka (anthropology)—a group Rosario-Ortiz says “combines experience in unit-level financial and compensation strategy with the operational judgment that arises from long standing as faculty members and unit leaders.”

The Provost’s Post submitted several questions to Rosario-Ortiz to update the campus on the work of the Faculty Fellows. 

Question: How does the Faculty Fellows’ work in the larger context around the work that the campus is doing around faculty compensation?

Answer: Currently, campus has different efforts targeting this topic. This past summer, the chancellor and BFA announced the creation of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Faculty Salary. This group has met and will release its report to the campus community in short order. Parallel to the work of this Task Force, the Office of the Provost is leading other efforts as well. For example, the Faculty Fellows are leading the work around supporting some of the recommendations from the FSPWG. We are starting by asking all units to submit to us any written procedures or guidelines around how they conduct their annual merit evaluations. The plan is to evaluate these submissions and work with units on improving, or implementing procedures as needed, as all units are required to have written procedures for this process. As a faculty member, I know I would appreciate clarity around how my annual evaluation is conducted, and the fellows and I are here to support units in this work. This effort will take some time as we work with all units. Afterwards, the fellows will work on other aspects of faculty compensation including how annual merit evaluations are translated into annual salary increases.

Q: How are people submitting feedback to the fellows? 

A: For the first phase of the work of the fellows, units can submit general feedback to vcaa@colorado.edu. Grace Maniscalco, manager of provost operations, is also supporting this project and is helping the fellows and I collect and assess the annual merit evaluation information provided. We want this process to be in part a conversation with units as well, as we progress we will be reaching out to meet. 

Q: What is the timing for the fellows to complete their work?

A: The overall scope of the work of the fellows will take some time, but we plan to complete this initial part, reviewing and helping units implement annual merit procedures, within the next 6 to 8 months. There will be other recommendations from the FSPWG that we will also look to implement, and we will continue to support units through the different efforts. 

Q: What other efforts in addition to the fellows is the provost’s office working on? 

A: In the larger context of supporting improvements in processes around faculty compensation, the provost’s office is working on updates to faculty salary equity and grievance procedures. Initial drafts of updated policies and procedures will be released to the campus for shared governance feedback in early spring. The Faculty Fellows will also support units in implementing these updated procedures. Ultimately, the work of the Faculty Fellows will help our collective efforts at improving different aspects related to faculty compensation.