Day 2: Keynote, client presentations, and a birthday party

Before the first full day of the Summit even got started, a handful of intrepid attendees and Interfolio staff went on a 5K walk/run around the monuments.

Keynote: “I started my career at a community college.”

The second day opened with a compelling keynote address from Lynn Pasquerella, President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, thoughtfully moderated by Paul Fain, News Editor at Inside Higher Ed.

In her address, Dr. Pasquerella discussed some of higher education’s most pressing contemporary topics, including the direct implications of academic employment models for student attainment, the critical role of community colleges in the future of U.S. higher education, and the operational decisions by universities—including but not limited to new technology—that provide opportunities to share resources beyond the borders of campus.

(Want more? Take a look at our recent Q&A with Dr. Pasquerella on the Interfolio blog.)

Client presentations: diversity, community, and local configurations

The day’s remaining sessions (some in concurrent pairs) featured engaging presentations from representatives of a dozen different institutions. Here are just a few tidbits.

At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the full picture of improving diversity and inclusion in faculty recruitment includes the Interfolio Faculty Search module—alongside other components such as focused conversations, mandatory action plans for new faculty searches, and a devoted STRIDE team. In the UMBC example, the Interfolio platform enables the gathering of applicant data that can lead to interventions in searches, a leveling of the field during the committee review process, and an automatic reporting on where applicants are finding position listings online.

The University of Arizona shared how they have developed a carefully structured internal user support community for collecting, validating, and reporting on data through the Interfolio Faculty Activity Reporting module.

Evening events: DC excursions and Interfolio’s 20th birthday

After the day of thoughtful conversation and discovery, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy an architectural walking tour, explore the National Portrait Gallery, or visit a free concert at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

Afterward, attendees convened at the Interfolio offices for a 20th birthday-themed happy hour.

For more information on the 2019 Interfolio Summit, check out the other two posts: Recap + Day 1: The (Inaugural) 2019 Interfolio Summit and Day 3: Success stories, a look under the hood, and a 6-month roadmap.

Recap + Day 1: The (Inaugural) 2019 Interfolio Summit

What outcomes should faculty technology provide to colleges and universities? How can they use it most wisely? And where is it going next?

Those were the questions in play at the first-ever Interfolio Summit, held in mid-July 2019 at the Westin City Center in downtown Washington, DC.

Over 175 individuals representing 80 colleges and universities descended upon Washington, DC for this three-day event offering learning and networking opportunities for anyone who uses Interfolio to manage academic hiring, faculty activity reporting, and professional review workflows in higher education.

Throughout the event, it was clear that the Faculty Information System has an essential role to play in empowering global higher education not only to work more cost-effectively, but also—especially—to eliminate the current pervasive blindspot around academic lifecycle moments like faculty hiring, teaching, scholarship, professional advancement, and service to the institution.

Prologue to the Summit: the Product Advisory Committee

Preceding the Summit proper, we met with the 2019 cohort of the Interfolio Product Advisory Committee (PAC). The PAC is a small, rotating group of faculty affairs, technology, and administrative leaders from 12 academic institutions who consult with Interfolio throughout the year to provide input and reactions to the investments that we’re making in the products.

Day 1: Setting the stage

The beginning of the Summit took place on Wednesday afternoon, giving attendees ample chance to get in, get registered, and take stock of the opportunities.

The Summit kicked off with reflective opening remarks—first from Interfolio founder, president, and chief product officer Steve Goldenberg on the 20-year anniversary of the company’s founding, and next from Interfolio CEO Andrew Rosen on the critical and timely necessity of the Faculty Information System technology category.

Steve Goldenberg, Chief Product Officer of Interfolio

Lessons on change management—from those that have done it

Following the opening remarks, and connecting the dots with the 2019 PAC meeting, the very first session of the Summit addressed change management as it relates to higher education faculty technology.

We heard from experienced Interfolio champions at 2019 PAC member institutions UCSD, Vanderbilt, and Tulane, as well as Interfolio Senior Consultant David Schenirer.

For some of the concrete guidance including best practices from the field and notes from these speakers (among others), take a look at our free downloadable white paper, Managing Change When Implementing Faculty Technology.

While the educational programming of that first short day wrapped up, we invited Summit attendees to an entertaining happy hour complete with rooftop views at the Eaton DC.

For more information on the 2019 Interfolio Summit, check out the other two posts: Day 2: Keynote, client presentations, and a birthday party and Day 3: Success stories, a look under the hood, and a 6-month roadmap.

Are you asking yourself “Should I apply for postdocs this year?”

This post continues our series by a onetime academic job seeker, now academic-at-large, on considering postdoctoral fellowship options & whether or not you should apply.

In the past few decades, as it’s gotten harder and harder to land a tenure-track job in the humanities right out of school, more early-career scholars (especially in fields like history and sociology) have joined scientists—who have long been accustomed to taking temporary jobs after getting a Ph.D.—in assembling a string of short-term postdoctoral positions, while looking for something permanent. But when should a grad student, or recent grad, apply for postdocs, and when should they stop? There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but here are some considerations.

Make sure the postdocs you’re applying for are worthy of the name.

There’s no industry-standard definition of “postdoctoral fellowship,” especially in the humanities. That means that some of these positions—the most prestigious ones—require no teaching at all, while others ask recipients to shoulder a 3-3 or even a 4-4. At that point, they’re really “Visiting Assistant” jobs in sheep’s clothing.

So what should you look for? A postdoc should give you ample time to do research and promise access to a new network of scholars at the host institution. Ideally, you should have enough money to attend conferences and acquire the research materials you need.

In newer types of postdocs, like those that have proliferated in the digital humanities over the past decade, the need for applicants’ vigilance is still higher. In many situations the institution offering the gig might be well-meaning but have very little idea of what they want from the person who fills their position. Miriam Posner, an assistant professor of information studies and digital humanities at UCLA, has a good blog post outlining questions people should ask when they’re applying for an unconventional postdoc—some of these apply to other fields, as well.

If you are looking at taking more than one postdoc in a row, have something to show for it.

In a 2014 series on postdocs for Chronicle Vitae, reporter Sydni Dunn interviewed experts who agreed that extended postdoc-hopping didn’t have to be a black mark on a resume—but added that the early-career scholar who had taken more than one such position should be able to provide ample evidence that their time in “limbo” had allowed them to:

Produce X number of articles
Learn a new skill
Get a book well into the publication process

Essentially, at the end of the postdoc, you will want to have a tangible and transferable outcome.

The chance to research without distraction (which you should get, in a good postdoc) will be difficult to come by later on in the race for tenure, so make the most of it.

Ask yourself: Can my family, finances, and mental health handle another move?

These are not small matters for people looking at adding another short-term position to a CV. Especially in the sciences, the typical salary for postdocs isn’t great. And even if you’re a humanities scholar and are getting slightly better funding for short-term jobs, the opportunity cost of another year (or more) of your adult working life spent trying to get a permanent position in academia should be a consideration. If the idea of moving now makes you feel like screaming, or you’ll have to put off having a baby again, or you’re going to be separated from your partner to take this job, you may not be willing to make the sacrifice.

Every academic has some anecdotal evidence that argues for persistence—a friend, or acquaintance, with a new-ish Ph.D., who “hung in there” through a string of postdocs and visiting positions and finally grabbed the brass ring: a tenure-track job. But there isn’t much data on the topic of postdoc outcomes, so here’s one good way to think about it: If you don’t feel like you’ll be able to be productive in your third postdoc anyway, because you’re so stressed out about the sacrifices you’re making, that may be an indication that it’s time to step off the treadmill.

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Interfolio’s Dossier enables scholars to collect, curate, polish and send out their materials at all stages throughout their academic professional path. Learn more about Dossier here.

Higher Education Software & Technology for Academic Careers

The need for comprehensive, high-quality, cloud-based management software is prevalent for both institutions and individuals to store and report information. The most effective solutions operate on a single interface, eliminating data silos and improving visibility. Interfolio’s higher education software provides all stakeholders with the ability to view and customize information as needed.

When you’d like to equip your faculty, staff, and students with the technology they need to excel in their careers, give them access to our comprehensive suite of tools. Interfolio’s various solutions include:

Faculty Information System for use across educational institutions
Dossier platform for individual academics

All about Faculty Information Systems

Interfolio’s Faculty Information System (FIS) is the first-ever engagement platform that provides insight into all faculty activities, decisions, and data in a single interface across the institution.

Interfolio’s FIS platform is made up of three modules, all of which provide a user-friendly and transparent interface that bridges faculty data, scholarship, governance, and career milestones to inform colleges and universities of the faculty insights that are driving their institutions. These three modules include:

Interfolio Faculty Activity Reporting
Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure
Interfolio Faculty Search

Interfolio Faculty Activity Reporting

This online platform was built for faculty activity reporting, giving academic institutions the ability to make all faculty activity information available and visible. Faculty Activity Reporting can also support universities in the development of reports needed for accreditation and other essential processes.

Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting operates on the basis of improving the quality of data, removing any redundant or irrelevant information. This cuts through the noise, making it faster and easier to access and manage important data sources. By using higher education software with a single interface, institutions are eliminating data silos, and instead making information centralized and secure. The platform is flexible and customizable, allowing users to build custom forms and modify various components in real time.

Faculty Activity Reporting doesn’t just connect faculty and staff to shared databases; it promotes networking, collaboration, and outreach among institutions and other permitted external users, improving universities’ relationships with businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits.

Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure

The occasions that require faculty and staff to compile as much relevant information as possible — reviews and the evaluation processes for promotion and tenure — need a more data-driven strategy than we’ve seen in the past. It’s not an effective practice to continue storing faculty information in siloed digital repositories, or worse, in binders and filing cabinets. Interfolio doesn’t just digitize these processes, it makes information customizable and visible, allowing administrators and departments to address the full scope, from submission to evaluation to decision.

Using Interfolio’s higher education software in the review process provides all participants with the information they need to make highly-informed decisions and gives faculty the materials they need to review their peers effectively. Administrators can use the insights provided by Interfolio’s systems to ensure a commitment to diversity and equal opportunity is being met by tracking promotions and tenure outcomes over time. In addition, this platform gives candidates clear instructions on the promotion and tenure processes so they can be prepared for each step.

Interfolio Faculty Search

Interfolio understands that faculty hiring is a unique process. There are nuances associated with bringing on new faculty members, particularly involving confidential letters, the submission of scholarly materials, and committee decisions. Interfolio’s Faculty Search platform accounts for these subtleties, as this tool was specifically built for shared governance. Rather than keeping prospective faculty data in multiple sources — and thereby running the risk of important information being overlooked — the Faculty Search tool compiles insights on a single interface that is easy to access.

This system is beneficial to all personnel at higher education institutions. It effectively saves staff time by digitizing otherwise manual processes, such as the distribution, organization, and collection of applications. It makes it easier than ever for faculty members to be an active participant in recruiting their peers — a significant benefit, considering the positive effects of hiring internally. Finally, it gives applicants a positive, professional experience as they apply and interview for roles. The Faculty Search technology can also help other professionals — including search chairs, deans, administrators, and EEO officers — by leveraging transparency during each step of the hiring process.

Move onto the next step with Interfolio Dossier

While Interfolio’s FIS supports institutions, the Dossier platform is designed to assist individuals in managing and advancing their career. Dossier is a one-stop shop for organizing the materials needed to apply for jobs, from requesting and storing confidential letters to curating large collections of documents.

After gathering materials on this secure interface, they can be shared with others to get feedback and guidance before submitting them to the official recipient. For a flat fee, Interfolio will send materials to academic institutions to support your application for various roles, such as:

Faculty jobs
Fellowships
Grants
Postdocs
Graduate study

If you’d like to find out more about how your academic institution can best use Interfolio’s comprehensive higher education software, take a look at our resources and data.

Four Reasons to get a Faculty Information System

A faculty information system (FIS) rovides a central platform for all faculty data, which benefits faculty and well as administrators. By enabling greater transparency, FIS systems can actively encourage university personnel to put forth their best contributions. There are four main ways your institution can benefit from adopting a comprehensive FIS.

1. Transparent tracking of faculty data

There are plenty of uses for faculty information systems. They are primarily used as a tracking tool for various pieces of faculty information. This includes — but is not limited to — appointments, sabbatical eligibility, research interests, tenure review, and honors granted to faculty members.

Because a faculty information system is useful during the processes for review, tenure, and promotion, as well as in faculty searches and faculty activity reporting, it is essential that institutions frequently update the information in their systems. However, the more often university faculty and administrators can update this information, the better.

2. Organization pertaining to subject matter expertise

Faculty information systems are effective tools for compiling and gathering information that relates directly to faculty members’ strengths and specialties. When a faculty member, department head, or administrator needs someone with subject matter expertise on a certain specialization or topic, they can turn to the FIS to provide insight.

3. Improved fairness across the institution

Tracking this information in a platform that is visible across the institution allows for an increased sense of fairness. Faculty members directly input their data into the system, allowing control over their information and also offering visibility into their accomplishments to their colleagues and department chairs. In addition, it is crucial that department chairs and administrators have access to faculty information. That way, they stay attuned to exactly when educators should qualify for tenure and sabbatical, and what professional development opportunities they took advantage of to propel their career.

In addition to providing a sense of transparency to faculty members, faculty information software adds another layer of fairness by looking at equity in pay, hiring, tenure, and promotion rates across many different demographics. With access to a comprehensive FIS, institutions can make sure they are providing fair opportunities to all faculty.

4. Increased communication between faculty and staff

One of the most important components of adopting a faculty information system is deciding who will be part of the platform. The most effective way to make sure you are including every faculty member is to reach out to the faculty affairs department of your university. They will likely have access to the hiring and appointment records for faculty across the university. This is particularly useful when you work at an institution that has multiple locations. State universities located in several cities, for instance, will have faculty spread across a geographical distance, but their HR will likely be cohesive and integrated. You can use HR’s insight to make sure you’ve included each faculty member, regardless of location, discipline, and employment status — meaning part-time and adjunct faculty should be part of the system.

In addition to making sure each faculty member and department head is on this centralized platform, it is essential that certain members of administration have access to the FIS. Individuals that can profit from reviewing information on the faculty information system include deans, human resources professionals, institutional research officers, and payroll personnel. There are other staff members who may not be integrated directly into the system, but may benefit from gaining insight into the faculty data being implemented into the FIS. For instance, a public relations professional writing a press release to announce a professor’s groundbreaking research discovery may find it beneficial to find information from their profile on the FIS system, as certain components — such as honors, years of service, and professional growth opportunities — can further develop the piece.

The integration of both faculty and staff members in this platform is yet another perk of working with an FIS. Rather than keeping faculty information viewable only to faculty members, having this data visible across the organization creates a sense of community among different departments, programs, and disciplines.

Interfolio’s Faculty Information System

If your university is motivated to migrate to a cohesive, centralized data platform for its evaluation and reporting systems, you may consider investing in Interfolio’s Faculty Information System. This suite of solutions allows you to modify data in real time and share accurate, up-to-date information to various members of the university, from faculty and department chairs to staff and administration. If you are interested in finding out more about Interfolio’s Faculty Information System, get in touch with us to see how our capabilities can match your institution’s needs and expectations in order to provide value to all members of faculty and staff.

How is Faculty Activity Reporting software effective?

How can faculty activity reporting software benefit your institution? What results will you see when adopting this type reporting system? Here are just some of the benefits that your institution can realize after implementing Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR) module.

Improving the quality of data

The more information you have floating around, the more convoluted your faculty activity reporting process is. For that reason, Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting seeks to eliminate data redundancies. When institutions have duplicate databases, it results in decreased accuracy and decreased efficiency. FAR has multiple levels of customization, including adaptable tools for data input and reporting that help institutions create its required datasets, all while eliminating redundancies. Faculty Activity Reporting helps ensure that your institution possesses a complete, accurate, and easily accessible profile of its faculty.

Working from a single interface

In higher education institutions of all sizes, it becomes easy for information to pile up and become separated into various silos. Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting seeks to combat this disorderly compilation of information, instead creating a centralized and secure interface that is easier and faster to access than multiple independent data sources — or worse, hard copies. You can import data from ERP systems, reference management software, course evaluations, grant databases, and other faculty reporting systems. Consolidating data into a single source will make it easier for faculty and staff to create everything from accreditation reports to grant applications to webpages.

Providing access to information in real life

Even though your institution is made up of intelligent staff and faculty members, there will come a time when someone has a question about certain data or processes. Faculty Activity Reporting offers dynamic tools that encourage users to access the information they need at any given time – without wasting time sifting through countless siloed datasets. Equipped with the answers to their questions and the solutions to their problems, they can return to work with accurate insight.

Encouraging collaboration

In addition to collecting data into a single, easily accessible system, FAR provides permission-based access that allows your faculty and administrators to more easily interact with external users. For instance, you can give external parties permission to search the database using a variety of tags. When higher ed institutions have increased opportunity to interact with businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies, they can create and foster productive academic partnerships that further the goals of the university and its students.

Benefits of gradual implementation

Faculty activity reporting software can improve various aspects of operations. It may not be the best choice to roll out brand new faculty activity reporting software to every member of each department all at once. A gradual implementation process can be key to promoting transparency at an institutional level and will help ensure that this faculty-focused technology becomes an effective tool across the organization.

When you begin to roll out the new faculty activity reporting software, it may be wise to initially allow faculty and administrative members to join on an opt-in basis. Tenured faculty or long-time administrative staff members may be reluctant to adopt the new system. Rather than expecting them to quit their previous processes cold turkey, you might encourage employees who have bought into the new system to show the other members of your organization how faculty activity reporting software is a time saving, streamlined way to view and report information.

This was a strategy utilized by Miami University, a university partner that worked closely with Interfolio to improve data collection and reporting. Before the university fully rolled out Interfolio’s software to its entire staff and faculty base, it worked with select volunteers across all organizational levels to determine the direct benefits they could gain from this platform and to identify problem areas to mention when providing training to the whole organization. By beginning with this buy-in system, faculty and administrators could readily work alongside their peers — particularly those less adaptable to change — in adopting this technology.

Figuring out who should have access to information

Since faculty activity reporting software is online, it can be easily transferred to individuals across the organization. Conversely, you have the option to keep certain pieces of information confidential, accessible only to certain individuals and their higher-ups. When you’ve implemented this platform, you have the autonomy to provide as much or as little access to internal personnel as you’d like.

Using the new software for faculty evaluation

Faculty activity reporting software isn’t just a means of viewing and sharing information. Organizations can use this technology to schedule, prepare, and conduct faculty evaluations. Administrators and faculty member leaders can select faculty members to evaluate for a variety of purposes — annual review, promotion, tenure, sabbatical, or any other occasion — and select who will sit in on the evaluation. In addition, personnel can use this platform to gather documents and other information that may be helpful to refer to during this meeting.

In addition to this evaluative tool, Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting can automatically notify faculty of formal input deadlines, which may occur on an annual or semester basis. The platform’s faculty input workflows feature can document which faculty members have and have not completed this work and can then send reminders to those who have not.

When you work with Interfolio to strategize your faculty reporting capabilities, you are providing increased transparency and collaboration and improving the quality of data, thereby innovating the way faculty and staff share information.

Accreditation Management Software Made Easy

Higher education institutions seek and maintain accreditation in order for students and employers to regard them as reputable. Accreditation software streamlines the process, making it faster and easier to meet all criteria necessary to gain accreditation. Find out more about accreditation and how accreditation software can automate this process.

What is accreditation software?

This innovative technology saves time and improves record keeping accuracy for higher education institutions that want to gain or maintain accreditation. Accreditation software helps organizations gather the documentation that is necessary to earn and maintain accreditation status. The right accreditation software will fit seamlessly into your workflow, rather than force you to adjust your operational functions to match its specifications.

To achieve and manage accreditation status, organizations may be required to consider the value of investing in faculty. Because many accreditation agencies require schools to hire a qualified and diverse faculty, it’s important to provide administrative university staff with the tools to succeed in this endeavor. One example of such tools are online IT solutions for managing faculty data collection, including Interfolio Faculty Search.

How much does accreditation cost?

The accreditation process is an important step for colleges and universities seeking to legitimize their programs. In addition, accreditation is required in order for an institution’s students to apply for loans and federal financial aid.

Every accreditation agency has different fees to attain and maintain membership. For example, the current standard accreditation fees for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) are as follows:

Annual membership dues and fees: $5,950-$9,600
One-time eligibility application submission fee: $2,000
One-time IAC acceptance fee: $6,500
One-time initial accreditation application fee: $5,950

An organization may also be responsible for the travel costs of peer review team members and other external parties involved in the accreditation process. If the peer review team defers your application, your organization will need to pay for them to make a second visit.

The exact costs associated with the travels of mentors and peer review team members vary based on a number of factors, including how far of a distance they need to travel to make it to your organization and the number of times each representative group needs to visit the school. The standard fees associated with these visits from the AACSB — excluding the cost of travel — are as follows:

Initial business accreditation visit application fee: $15,000
Deferral visit fee: $5,500

Is the accreditation process easy to navigate?

There’s no doubt that accreditation is beneficial in building credibility for higher education institutions. However, the process to attain initial accreditation can be difficult. When you use a manual process, you might be dealing with stacks of paperwork. Do you have the time to sift through the paper to determine what matters to accreditation agencies? This challenge is why universities and colleges are opting for an automated process instead. With a high-quality accreditation management software system in place, institutions can anticipate a much easier and more streamlined process, and workflow tracking and automation reduces the likelihood of inaccuracy and lack of compliance.

How can accreditation software help?

According to the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, it can take a school from 18 months to two years to finish the initial accreditation process. The exact timeline depends on multiple factors. One variable that can slow the process down significantly is when an organization passes along incorrect or invalid data to the accreditation organization. This can happen when organizations use manual strategies for collecting information, as human error becomes a factor.

Accreditation software helps solve this problem. When institutions use an accreditation management system, they are automating the program review process, making each step simpler and more accurate. Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting helps institutions efficiently gather and analyze faculty data, and it includes a built-in capability to produce customizable accreditation reports. This enables institutions to send accrediting agencies the right information in a timely manner, speeding the accreditation process.

Accreditation Management From Interfolio

Whether you’re a tenured faculty member, new academic, administrator, or another stakeholder involved in a higher education institution, you should ensure that your organization has achieved and maintained all accreditation requirements. Interfolio can streamline the accreditation process, putting your institution on the path to success.

Leveraging Your Faculty Management Software

Higher education institutions of all sizes can benefit from a unified platform for all members of faculty and staff to view (and where relevant, analyze) crucial data. The traditional — in other words, antiquated — procedure for meeting these communication needs involved storing information in spreadsheets and documents, which staff and faculty would have to regularly send back and forth, or even print as hard copies. In order to avoid a large number of files on various computer databases, as well as clunky filing cabinets, many colleges and universities have adopted online faculty management software to store their important information in a productive format. Find out more about how your institution can use this technology to help faculty and staff reach their full potential.

What is Online Faculty Management Software?

Faculty management software can help academic institutions more efficiently and effectively manage their faculty and staff in a wide variety of different areas, from faculty search to communication to review and promotion, to activity reporting.

While many of these areas may already have a process and system in place, an online software can automate these processes, make it easier to store and track related data or information, and remove some of the common pain points across the faculty management lifecycle.

Learn the features of online faculty management software

When you adopt any new technology into your day-to-day functions, it’s essential that your staff and faculty know some best practices for working with it in order to gain the most value. Although educational management software isn’t overly complicated, it can still be helpful to provide your teams with training sessions on how to use this technology to their advantage.

Some features that are worth noting for your faculty and staff include:

Ability to make changes to information in real time
Transparent communication across different teams and departments, bridging the gap between staff and faculty
Faculty workload management
Report generation to support accreditation
Seamless data migration capabilities
Regularly updated information to support faculty evaluations

Leverage online faculty management software for faculty hiring

The human resources departments at higher education institutions are tasked with a significant challenge: finding high-quality talent while having to go through applications from hundreds of candidates. Faculty positions — especially tenure-track ones — are in high demand.

HR professionals and hiring committees need to find the most productive way to view many candidate files quickly. With a faculty management system in play, faculty and administrators can save time through digitizing processes that were previously done manually, such as organizing and distributing application materials.

In addition, faculty management systems allow faculty members to recruit peers from their own network more easily than ever before. Through an automated system, staff and faculty can refer candidates in ways that are equitable and simple.

Encourage faculty communication

One of the most valuable assets higher ed institutions can gain from adopting a comprehensive faculty management system is the ability for employees to interact consistently. it’s crucial that you inform your staff and faculty of the benefits of collaborating and communicating with their peers on a regular basis.

Get the most ROI from your spending

We’re sure you’ve heard the phrase, “You need to spend money to make money.” This is true of faculty management systems, as institutions that adopt these platforms can gain significant ROI. Institutions have seen increased ROI in terms of grant dollars uncovered and time saved by faculty and administrative staff.

With streamlined processes for these complex workflows, faculty will have more time for teaching and research, and administrative staff will have more time to support faculty, strategic initiatives, and the institution at large. If your university is motivated to migrate to a single centralized platform to manage and store important staff and faculty data, consider investing in Interfolio’s faculty management system.

Our top-of-the-line technology can be seamlessly migrated into your current systems to help provide increased transparency across departments and teams. Get in touch with us to learn how our faculty management system fits into your current model and how you can use our technology to gain the most value from your faculty and staff members.

How to use promotion and tenure software to simplify the evaluation process

University department heads, administrators, and faculty alike go through evaluation processes, addressing major issues and deciding which educators should be promoted or considered for tenure. While most faculty members only have to go through this review once a year, department heads need to evaluate every one of their faculty members. What’s more, administrators are often responsible for making sure all faculty information is organized, updated, and accurate at all times. Without a proper system in place, it can be tricky to manage so much faculty data. Effective promotion and tenure software can solve many of these challenges.

With a comprehensive platform in place, faculty members and their reviewers can prepare for the review process with ease. For an educator who is anxious about whether or not they’ll be promoted or if they’ll qualify for tenure, saving them the burden of a confusing preparation process can make a world of difference. Find out how your institution can best use a faculty promotion and tenure software system to improve the effectiveness and ease of the evaluation process and learn how Interfolio’s comprehensive suite of faculty information reporting and management software can streamline this work.

What is a promotion and tenure system?

Promotion and tenure software provides a system for administrators and department heads to not only organize their faculty data for easy access during review season, but also facilitates the entire process in an efficient and fair way. In fact, promotion and tenure software can take any process you currently have in place and allow you to keep the parts that work and improve the parts that don’t. The interface usually contains 3 elements:

Faculty Interface – curate evidence of faculty performance and accomplishments
Reviewer Interface – central database for review materials, either to conduct or evaluate
Admin Interface – repository for processes across the campus and to keep updated on reviewer material

There are many benefits to using a promotion and tenure software system to conduct faculty reviews, like saving deans and other department heads time reviewing information during the review cycle, providing a seamless, user-friendly experience for faculty and candidates throughout the entire review, tenure, and promotion process, and, of course, keeping everything organized and safely stored digitally (no paperwork involved).

Go Paperless with Promotion and Tenure Software

In the past, universities needed to keep hard copies of faculty information to have on record during reviews and evaluations. Once technology became a common practice, administrators and department chairs could store information onto their desktops, making it less cumbersome to pull up the data they needed. These processes work – for the most part, but basic manual and digital formats don’t adequately accommodate the nuances of faculty information management.

When institutions rely on manual processes, administrators spend even more time searching through papers to find the necessary information. Even in standard digital approaches, professionals need to keep their materials in separate files, which are scattered around their desktop. It might take a little less time to find important data with this system, but it still is a labor- and time-consuming process.

Rather than relying on tedious manual processes when going through the evaluation and review processes, institutions can save time and increase productivity when they switch to a centralized promotion and tenure software system. By using a comprehensive platform to store and manage faculty information, department heads and administrators can find all the information they need in one place; there’s no need to rifle through filing cabinets or scour the computer for the files.

How faculty achievements influence evaluation

When formulating a consistent review process, department chairs and administrators should consider the emphasis the institution places on certain professional development opportunities. Of course, much of the faculty member’s work and research should contribute to a professor’s eligibility for promotion or tenure. But what about the academic feats they’ve accomplished that don’t necessarily tie into the university’s successes?

A 2016 study by JMIR Medical Education sought to understand how and if academic blogging enhances a candidate’s likelihood of earning tenure or promotion. Of the 267 chairs of U.S. and Canadian medical departments surveyed, 87% of respondents considered educational achievements as an important component for promotion. However, only 23% of those surveyed saw the value of creating content for journal-based blogs. Although 72% of surveyed department chairs considered journal-based blogging more notable than society-based or personal blogging, a majority did not consider it to be relevant in the evaluation process.

With 23% of department chairs in favor of acknowledging this form of academic achievement and 77% not in favor of doing so, it’s imperative that institutions develop a system for consistent evaluation across all teams. If, for instance, the department chair of the Biochemistry program finds journal-based blogging to be a value-add but the head of the Psychology department does not, there may be a systematic imbalance in the promotion and tenure review processes. By using a comprehensive system, institutions can enhance fairness in faculty evaluation, with all department chairs using the same qualifications in their reviews.

Streamlining the evaluation process with promotion and tenure tools

When your university is ready to simplify the evaluation process from start to finish, consider looking into Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure. This platform allows institutions to consider the full scope of academic tenure and promotion, from the moments leading up to the evaluation to the final decision.

With Interfolio Review, Promotion & Tenure, institutions can improve all participants’ experiences in the review process. With it, faculty members can undergo peer evaluation with increased efficiency, with plenty of tools to make notes, send messages, review comments, and receive external peer reviews instantly. Staff can use this platform to streamline their administrative work by sending entire digital packets between committees and standardizing methods for each type of review. Administrators can leverage Interfolio’s tools to monitor the institution’s commitment to diversity in promotion and tenure outcomes. Interfolio provides faculty committees with a comprehensive system that matches the actual work they do throughout the academic year. Last but certainly not least, candidates can receive instructions on the review process and build out professional-looking digital packets of their materials using Interfolio’s high-quality promotion and tenure software system.

How to make the switch to an alt-ac career

Maybe you went for your doctorate with the intention of pursuing a tenure track position in academia. Unfortunately, as you know, the coveted tenured higher education jobs are limited–with many people vying for them.

If you’re currently working in academia, perhaps it’s not what you thought it would be, or maybe you would like a change of scenery. The skills you’ve gained from work in academia can translate to a new, alternative academic role.

The term “alternative academic” (alt-ac) refers to positions in academia that aren’t traditional tenure track faculty positions. It can also describe positions outside academia that require similar skills and responsibilities to academic jobs. Alt-ac jobs can be strong career choices for PhD graduates who want alternatives to full-time, tenured professorships.

If you’re thinking about making the switch to an alt-ac career, you might have some questions before you can take the leap. We’ve provided some advice you need to know before and during your transition into an alt-ac job.

Assessing your transferable skills

You’ll need to make sure you have the skills needed to perform the day-to-day duties of the alt-ac job you have in mind. Whether you’re a recent graduate or have worked for a few years as an instructor or researcher, you’ve certainly gained some expertise during your education that you can transfer over to your new career.

Did you write a two-hundred-page thesis on a highly specialized topic? Even if the content or research isn’t directly related to the type of career you’re pursuing, there’s something noteworthy about the amount of patience and drive that went into completing it on time and in full. Leverage your thesis to show recruiters and hiring managers that you have these soft skills.

Perhaps you needed to experiment and test different theories during graduate school. Whether or not the material is relevant to the next career you plan on pursuing, your work reflects your ability to solve complex problems in comprehensive ways.

During your doctorate or years in academia thus far, you’ve likely built a rapport with individuals through group projects, collaborative workshops, and other forms of direct communication. In the process, you’ve improved your interpersonal and communication skills, which are necessary in a variety of jobs.

Where a PhD can take you

Many people get their PhDs to go after certain career paths, whether they’d like to be a university faculty member or expert researcher. Some may also go to graduate school simply because they are passionate about a subject and want to immerse themselves into the topic. No matter what compelled you to earn your PhD, there’s no doubt you can leverage your education to pursue an alt-ac career path that appeals to your goals and interests. There are plenty of places you might look to when trying to secure a career outside academia, including online resources and even your own networks.

What are some job opportunities that might be a good fit for doctoral students when they don’t want to pursue the track of a tenured professor? The answer: It depends on the subject area of your PhD, as well as the type of careers you’d like to pursue.

Alt-ac careers in the humanities

If you’d like to continue working in higher education, you might decide to transfer your skills in the humanities to a career in administration. You might consider working in a public affairs office, which handles university communications, including newsletters, social media, magazines, press releases, and more. Or maybe you’d rather work directly with students, leveraging your interpersonal skills to work in career services, residential life, student affairs, or counseling. You might work toward a career as an admissions officer, coordinating interviews with prospective students, reviewing applications, and communicating admissions decisions to applicants. Even if you aren’t able to secure a tenure track position or dislike teaching, you don’t necessarily have to leave academia altogether.

There are a variety of jobs you might pursue with a PhD in the humanities. You might decide to pursue a career as a secondary education teacher, working with high school students instead of undergraduate or graduate students. Some other non-academic environments you might consider include nonprofits, consulting firms, publishing, cultural and historical organizations, research, and government.

Alt-ac careers in the sciences

If you’re looking for a career path that utilizes your skills in the sciences, you can continue to work in higher education without taking on a faculty position. One of the top choices for those with a PhD in the sciences is a research associate position in a university’s lab.

If you’d prefer to work outside of academia, you can pursue your choice of sectors. Many industries can benefit from having someone with advanced knowledge in a STEM field. Market research analysis or other quantitative consulting services could be a good fit for the corporate work, or you may like to work in research for a hospital or other non-academic lab. A career in health care might also suit your skills and goals. Whether you’re interested in medicine, pharmaceuticals, or the public sector, your subject expertise can add significant value to a variety of organizations.

Applying to alt-ac jobs

Once you’ve made the decision to transition to an alt-ac career and have looked into possible paths that suit your skills and interests, you’ll start the process of applying to various alt-ac jobs. You might have already refined your resume and created a polished cover letter template that you can adjust for each job application. However, you’re not quite finished, as many alt-ac jobs require candidates to provide multiple letters of recommendation in order to qualify.

Even if the alt-ac jobs you’re applying for don’t require letters of recommendation, including a few first-hand accounts of your work ethic and capabilities can do wonders for your applications, making you stand out among the other applicants. Get in touch with individuals in your network and request that they write you a letter of recommendation. Make sure you give them adequate time to write the best account possible. We’d recommend giving no less than two weeks’ notice as a matter of courtesy.

Who exactly should you ask for a recommendation? The individuals should be professionals who have worked directly with you over an extended period of time. It might be someone on your dissertation committee or a professor you worked for as a TA. Or maybe you’d like to branch out of academia and ask for a recommendation letter from someone working directly in your field of interest. No matter who your letter comes from, make sure you use a reliable reference delivery system. Interfolio’s Dossier system streamlines the reference letter process, making it easier than ever to request recommendations and score the alt-ac position you’ve been eyeing.