To: All FAS Faculty
CC: FAS Steering Committee; FAS Dean’s Office; FAS Chairs’ Assistants, Lead Administrators, and Operations Managers
Dear FAS Colleagues,
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences offers these recommendations to prepare faculty for the possibility that they may be unable to complete their teaching, supervision, or other duties due to illness, their own or of those in their care. Faculty at Yale have always supported one another on such difficult occasions. Here we seek to develop increased awareness of how we might activate support for one another in difficult days ahead.
We write these points as a checklist for individual faculty. We recommend that chairs of departments and programs, in coordination with their DUS, DGS, and course directors, issue any more specific guidelines that suit the particular features of their instructional community.
- I have an up-to-date Emergency Contact listed in my Personal Information in Workday, Banner (SIS), or with my hiring supervisor. My Emergency Contact knows how to contact these colleagues and my chair in the event that I am unable to inform them of my inability to continue teaching, supervision, or other duties.
- For each course I am teaching, I have updated my syllabus on Canvas to indicate the course expectations for the remainder of this term in light of the move to remote learning.
- I have identified at least one and preferably two colleagues in my teaching area who could continue and conclude instruction of each course I am teaching. When possible these colleagues should be multi-year instructional or ladder faculty. If graduate students take over as primary instructors and exceed the number of hours stipulated in their teaching fellow appointment letters, they will be compensated for this work. If appropriate colleagues are not immediately apparent to me, I have reached out to my chair, DUS, or DGS for advice. (In the case of courses with multiple sections, one evident strategy would be to combine sections.)
- I have already reached out to my identified colleagues, discussed the essential elements of the course, shared my evaluations of student work assessed to date, and added them each as a Guest Instructor to each of my Canvas sites. We have decided how they could conclude the course in my absence. Students may be graded on the work they have produced to date.
- I understand that in the event that I have not designated Guest Instructors in each of my Canvas sites prior to a medical crisis, notification to students could be made in one of two ways:
- I will send an e-mail to askpoorvucenter@yale.edu that names the course and my willingness to designate a Guest Instructor.
- If I am unavailable, someone (preferably a chair, DGS, DUS, or course director) may send the same information to the Poorvu Center, cc’ing me and the Guest Instructor.
- I have discussed this contingency plan with my teaching fellow(s) and have made provisions in the event that my teaching fellow(s) can no longer teach. These provisions may include combining sections in a distributed way; distributing grading with possible additional compensation; creating ahead of time alternative assignments that will make grading possible.
- I have made analogous arrangements for my other departmental duties.
Putting such contingency plans in place is difficult but necessary, and it is my hope that all of us remain in good health. However, I also hope that putting contingency plans in place now can alleviate some anxiety and uncertainty in the weeks ahead.
I am always grateful for your dedication and service to your students and to the FAS. I am particularly grateful as we navigate this unprecedented moment.
With thanks,
Tamar
Tamar Szabó Gendler
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science