In June 2021 the Senate- Administration Workgroup on Academic Advancement (SAWAA) in the Wake of COVID-19 submitted a report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Senate faculty, including recommendation for short term responses to mitigate the impact.  As part of this report, the workgroup made ten recommendations, outlined below, which Academic Affairs will now work to implement as endorsed by Executive Vice Chancellor Simmons.

Recommendations 1-8 apply to all faculty and researchers reviewed by the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP), the Academic Administrator and Academic Coordinator Review Panel (AARP), the Project Scientist and Specialist Review Panel (PSSRP), and the Research Scientist Committee on Academic Personnel (RS-CAP).  Recommendation 9 applies only to Senate faculty, and recommendation 10 is relevant for all instructors, regardless of appointment series.

The implementation of these recommendations has been modified to address issues related to timing and feasibility, and to restrict scope for the maximum positive impact. 

Please note the guidance and information contained on this page is in response to an evolving situation and information may be added, removed, or modified on a regular basis.

SAWAA Recommendation: It is important to introduce the concept of achievement relative to opportunity as an evaluative concept enabling fair and equitable assessment given the opportunities won or lost due to COVID-19.

Implementation Guidance:  All candidates and reviewers are encouraged to adopt the concept of achievement relative to opportunity.

In response to COVID-19 the teaching, research and service contributions of many academic appointees have been affected. The University is committed to appropriately recognizing contributions and reviewers will work to ensure this is achieved through considering the affects of COVID-19 relative to opportunity.

Achievement relative to opportunity is a positive acknowledgement of what an academic appointee can and has achieved given the opportunities available to them and results in a more calibrated assessment of their performance. It is not about providing “special consideration” or expecting lesser standards of performance; instead, it places emphasis on quality and impact of output and outcomes, as opposed to quantity or rate.  It provides a method for making merit-based assessments taking into account the accomplishments of the individual despite reduced opportunities for contribution. In some cases, it may be necessary to rebalance the weight of academic portfolios of different disciplines during COVID-19 depending on the scope and scale of work. 

A body of resources are available below.  Additional resources and reference material related to the concept of achievement relative to opportunity will be added over time.

 Resource and Reference Links:

• Whitepaper on Guidance for Rewarding and Recognizing Community-Engaged Scholarship in the Arts from the Big Ten Arts Administrators
• "I Have No Time for Anything" Differences in Faculty Research Productivity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Academic Personnel Services invites all UC San Diego departments and divisions to assist in compiling a body of resources about the impact of the pandemic on various disciplines by submitting relevant resources, publications, and research material to be made available on this page to assist reviewers as they assess a candidate’s accomplishments.  Individual departments and divisions are also welcome to assemble and provide their own information and guidance to support discipline specific issues for publication on this page.

Items for publication under this heading can be submitted to Academic Personnel Services at academicpersonnel@ucsd.edu. Please include a link or PDF attachment and whether the provided resource should be considered a general or department/division specific resource.

SAWAA Recommendation: Within the department letter, the Chair should include a statement providing general context and a clear articulation of how the pandemic has affected the specific case, including increased specificity for the sub-discipline as necessary. The department letter should set the standard by which the candidate is assessed using the concept of achievement relative to opportunity. Where applicable, the department is encouraged to employ the flexibility provided in the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 210: Review and Appraisal Committees when weighing achievements across the different evaluation areas.

Implementation Guidance: Each department is strongly encouraged to write a Departmental COVID Impact Statement that addresses the overall impacts to their discipline(s), e.g., widespread lack of access to venues in a performance-based discipline. Department chairs should not discuss detailed personal circumstances of a specific candidate. 

Departmental statements may be included in each candidate's review file as an addendum to the department recommendation letter or within the body of the letter itself.  This saves time for each candidate, who will not have to repeat the same points in their individual COVID Impact Statements.

In addition, the department letter should discuss its evaluation and consideration of the impacts of the discipline-based circumstances as part of their holistic assessment of the merits of the case. This includes consideration of the following:

• quality and impact of achievements, rather than the quantity, rate or breadth;
• stage of the candidate’s career and the career trajectory;
• impact of personal circumstances over the period of review; and
• ongoing effects on productivity and achievement beyond the period directly impacted by the COVID-related circumstances 

Below is a list of COVID-19 Impact Statements provided to Academic Personnel Services by departments across UC San Diego:

• School of Social Sciences
  • Department of Sociology 

• School of Physical Sciences
  • Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

• Jacobs School of Engineering
  • Structural Engineering

Additional Department COVID-19 Impact Statements will be added as they are made available.

SAWAA Recommendation: Candidates are highly encouraged to include a COVID-19 impact and adaptability statement in their review file, in which the candidate outlines the ways in which the pandemic disrupted their normal opportunities and expected achievements.

Implementation Guidance:  All candidates are encouraged to adopt the use of a COVID-19 impact and adaptability statement.

Resources and Reference Links:

• How to Write a COVID Impact Statement in one hour

 For Candidates: Addressing Achievement Relative to Opportunity

Candidates are encouraged to provide a statement explaining the negative impacts on teaching, research, or service resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Candidates should detail how COVID-19 impacted specific areas of their academic series criteria.  Disclosures will only be used for the intended purpose and will form part of the holistic assessment of each case

Candidates should refrain from including any detailed personal information, but can attest that caregiver, family, or other COVID-19 related responsibilities arose during the pandemic, and explain the impact of those circumstances on their research, teaching, and service activities.

Below we offer some examples of potential professional impacts that might have disrupted typical workloads, opportunities, workload distributions, accomplishments and performances. The COVID Impact Statement should highlight these impacts while explaining how you are handling or handled them and how they might redress the impact (if needed) in the future.

•  Teaching and Mentoring Examples
  • Changes in teaching workload relative to department or school norms, or teaching overloads undertaken due to impacts on other faculty; faculty member covered another faculty member’s course for some period of time (which is positive in terms of service but might have diverted the work time you had for scholarship or service);
  • Informal student care or advising support added to workload; Additional efforts required for student advising and mentoring beyond the regular expectations (e.g., support provided for emotional or mental health, or economic and social issues);
  • Moving class to alternative modes of instruction resulted in improved pedagogical experience of some kind (e.g., increased office hours attendance, etc.) 
  • Challenges related to alterntive modes of instruction disproportionately impacting specific subjects

• Research Examples
  • Additional work required to maintain operation of research labs or other facilities, including implementation of disinfection and distancing protocols;
  • Negative impacts due to diminished available resources (lack of lab equipment, course software, or TA support);
  • Cancellation of
    • Conference presentations / keynotes / invited talks.
    • Performances
    • Exhibitions
    • Artist/scholar-in-residence appointments
  • Pivot in response to COVID-19 led to new avenue for scholarship.
  • Scholarly expertise of relevance to pandemics led to more scholarly opportunities and collaborations.
  • Closing of specialized facilities or access to research/creative resources (field work sites, archives and libraries, human subjects, performance space, data-gathering /collaboration travel, etc.)
  • Grant funding
    • Restricted
    • Expanded opportunities for those in COVID-related research fields.
    • Paying students although not making expected progress in research – time spent re-defining how to achieve research objectives.
  • Loss of specific scholarly activity or funding opportunities (e.g., performances, fellowships, sabbaticals, field trials, collaborations) due to restricted travel, closed facilities, lack of access to research subjects, or other pandemic-induced influences;
  • Cancelation or delay in the appearance of publications due to publisher’s closures or restrictions
    • Delays in publications due to reviewer inaccessibility; Delays due to increased time required for reviews and publication of books and articles.

• Service Examples
  • Service leadership workload increased in support of staff, students, faculty (positive in terms of service although might negatively impact time available for other areas of specialization like scholarship or teaching, etc.)
    • Clarify the level of the service leadership (program, department, college, school, institution, community, national, etc.)
  • Contributions to initiatives for mitigating the impact of the pandemic, both within one’s own discipline and in the community at large;
  • Lost opportunities for scholarly and professional recognition both on campus and professionally, including invited lectures, plenary sessions at meetings, etc.;

For Reviewers:  Considering Statements Addressing Achievement Relative to Opportunity

Statements addressing achievement relative to opportunity guide reviewers to consider factors that may have influenced a candidate’s productivity during the review period. Reviewers should focus on a candidate’s trajectory prior to COVID-19, and the quality and impact and what has been achieved despite the impacts.  The goal is to make a more equitable assessment than consideration of quantity alone.

The following is guidance to reviewers when considering achievement relative to opportunity and COVID impact statements:

• Breaks related to leaves typically reduce opportunities for collaboration, student supervision and delay publication and potential grant success beyond the return-to-work date; and may also impact opportunities for leadership in unit and course development, ability to contribute to initiatives beyond the department/division/school etc.
• Unconscious biases are held by everyone. They are a result of lifelong exposure and experience and they affect decision making. For example, if someone unknowingly has a bias that part-time work means less commitment to a job, the decision based on that unconscious bias has the potential to disadvantage someone unfairly.
• COVID’s impact does not change the standards for review and promotion, but reviewers are expected to consider achievement relative to opportunity in assessing performance.
• If a candidate mistakenly reveals details of personal circumstances (beyond timeframe for a personal leave) then the review committee must keep those details confidential.

As with any review even in non-pandemic times, if a candidate takes a leave (including tenure clock / probationary period extensions), that should frame the period of review such that it does not include the timeframe during which the personal leave occurred.

Q: What is a COVID-19 Impact Statement?

A: A COVID-19 Impact Statement is a document in which a candidate describes the ways in which the pandemic has affected, both positively and negatively, their effectiveness and/or productivity. This could be in instruction & instructionally related activities and/or research, creative & scholarly activity, and/or in service.

Q: What is the purpose of a COVID Impact Statement?

A: A COVID Impact Statement offers a single statement in which candidates can document the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has directly had on workload and professional opportunities and the resulting impact on productivity, performance and trajectory. The Statement provides reviewers information that they need to perform a fair, contextualized evaluation of the professional performance and contributions.

Q: Is a COVID-19 Impact Statement required?  

A: No, the statement is optional but strongly encouraged. It is one option that UC San Diego is providing to help address impacts of the pandemic. It is likely to be helpful to you to reflect on the ways in which your work may have been affected by the pandemic, and it will be helpful to reviewers to have context for the ways in which your work has been affected. You may want to discuss whether or not to provide a statement with your Department Chair/Program Director.

Q: Where will the COVID-19 Impact Statement appear?

A: You may add a COVID-19 Impact statement to your file when undergoing any personnel review. The document provides context to those reviewing the file.

Q: Are there things my COVID Impact Statement should contain? 

A: The COVID Impact Statement:

• Should describe your workload, performance and trajectory prior to COVID-19
• Should describe the impact that COVID has had on workload and professional opportunities and the resulting impact on productivity, performance and trajectory in each of the relevant areas of specialization (research and creative activity, teaching, advising, service, awards etc).
• Should describe how you adjusted or plans to adjust your work in light of COVID’s professional impact to continue or re-build their trajectory.
• May detail different kinds of professional impact on work (negative and/or positive effects).

Q: Are there things I should not include in a COVID-19 Impact Statement?  

A: Yes, if you had a leave or modification of duties, such as CCMD or ASMD, you may choose to include this information, but you should not include the reason for the leave/nature of the leave or modification.  Instead, simply provide the timing and duration of the leave or note that a modification existed.  You should also do your best to avoid providing any other information that is personal in nature (e.g., detailed dependent care inaccessibility challenges, personal or dependents' health information, etc.), but you can attest that personal circumstances had a real impact on your research, teaching or service contributions.  While we recognize that an individual’s personal life may have affected their work life during the pandemic, personal information cannot be used to make personnel decisions and such information can increase the chance of implicit bias playing a role in the personnel process.

Q: What might a COVID Impact Statement look like? 

A: Keeping in mind all facets of an academic appointee’s workload and professional opportunities and depending on series and rank (research, creative activity, scholarly work, teaching, service, etc.), there are many different possible effects (negative and positive) that COVID might have introduced and should be discussed in a brief memo-format COVID impact statement.  These include, but are not limited to the following broad examples about changes in:

• Amount, patterns and performance in terms of workload, responsibilities and accomplishments
• Prospects for development and innovation
• Timing and availability of opportunities and access to facilities and personnel

Q: If I received an extension to my probationary period for COVID-19, may I still include a COVID Impact Statement in my tenure file? 

A: Yes, you may include a COVID Impact Statement even if you have received a COVID extension to your probationary period.

Q: How does COVID change review and promotion standards?

A: COVID’s impact does not change the standards for merit and promotion, but reviewers are expected to consider achievement relative to opportunity in assessing the file.

Q: Is this my only chance to include a COVID impact statement in my personnel review?

A: No, there is no time limit on when a covid impact statements may be included in a file.  Given your individual circumstance, it might be necessary to add the context in your next review instead of this one – or to add one now and an updated version in your next file.

Q. Should I write a covid impact statement even though my projects all came to fruition?

A. You might determine that you don’t need a covid impact statement this year because the effects on your review are not readily apparent.  However, the effects of COVID might impact your future trajectory, not the current cycle, and you want to set the stage of achievement relative to opportunity for that next consideration.  It’s also a good idea to write an impact statement now while the details are fresh in your mind and to continue to update it over time as positive or negative impacts become clearer. For example, an impact that you aren’t aware of now may arise with time in the wake of the pandemic -- or an impact that you’re worried about now may turn out not to be a big deal by the time of your next review. 

SAWAA Recommendation:                                

• October 15^th file cut-off date - Allow an extension to the file cut-off date for career review actions by allowing CAP or the final decision maker to request an update to the file.  The update may be solicited by CAP or the final authority (VC/Dean/Dean equivalent, EVC or the Chancellor) in lieu of a preliminary negative decision. If solicited, candidates will be allowed a one-time file update through April 30^th. Acceptable updates for these cases include inclusion of significant service commitments, additional teaching evaluations, updates to grant awards and publications, and previously solicited extramural letters that arrived late.
• Service in lieu of promotion - Alternatively, the campus should more liberally make use of service in lieu of promotion. Use of service in lieu of promotion prevents loss of salary and allows candidates to subsequently submit promotion files within the normative time at step without requiring off-cycle or accelerated review considerations.

Implementation Guidance: In consultation with the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP), it’s been agreed these two recommendations will be implemented only in tenure and security of employment reviews.

Service in lieu of promotion is explained in Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 220-18: Professor Series where service at Assistant Professor, Step V, may be in lieu of service at Associate Professor, Step I, for which the published salary is slightly higher.  Likewise, service at Assistant Professor, Step VI may be in lieu of service at Associate Professor, Step II.

In those instances of service at Assistant Professor, Step V, followed by service at Associate Professor, Step I, the normal period of combined service with both titles at the steps indicated is two years.  The same normal two-year period of combined service applies when service at Assistant Professor, Step VI, is followed by service at Associate Professor, Step II. 

This same concept applies to services at Associate Professor, Step IV, followed by service at Professor, Step I, for which the normal combined period of service is three years.  Same goes for service at Associate Professor, Step V, followed by service at Professor, Step II.

Please note service at Professor, Step VI or higher may be of indefinite duration.  Advancement from Professor, Step VI to Step VII, from Step VII to Step VIII, and from Step VIII to Step IX usually will not occur after less than three years of service at the lower step, and will only be granted on evidence of continuing achievement at the level required for advancement to Step VI.

Advancement to an above-scale rank involves an overall career review and is reserved only for the most highly distinguished faculty.

Below is a visual representation of service in lieu of promotion.

SAWAA Recommendation: Allow academic appointees who were appointed between 7/1/2020 and 6/30/2021, and who are subject to an 8-year clock, to request a COVID-19 pandemic related extension to the probationary period. The department must make the case that exigent circumstances support the extension. The “opt-in” mode will allow faculty to request the extension as soon as it becomes apparent that their productivity has been negatively impacted rather than offering an automatic extension that they may not need.

Implementation Guidance: This recommendation is being adopted. Requests to extend the probationary period for tenure-track/security of employment faculty owing to impacts of the COVID-19 impact will be made available to faculty appointed between 7/1/2020 – 6/30/2021 if supported by the exigent circumstances of the pandemic and its impact on their academic file.

As touched upon in the SAWAA report, the candidate, department, and dean must make the case that exigent circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic support the proposed clock extension request.

Clock extension opportunities for appointees hired between 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 represents an extension of the COVID-19 probationary period extension and academic deferral program which was previously available to appointees hired on or before 6/30/2020. 

Please note, a clock extension for appointees hired between 7/1/2020 through 6/30/2021 is not automatic and appointees must make a formal request by following the process outlined below.

1. Candidates makes a formal request via memo to their department chair
2. Chair reviews the request and supplies memo for or against the request and forwards to Dean
3. Dean reviews candidate and chair memos and provides memo for or against the request
4. Request packet consisting of the candidate, chair, and dean memos is forwarded to Academic Personnel via GoogleDrive for submission to the final authority

Please note, extensions constituting a candidate’s third extension request will be submitted to UCOP for review and approval. 

SAWAA Recommendation: Academic Personnel Services should revise solicitation letters to allow writers to include information regarding the impact of the pandemic on their field and the implications of achievement relative to opportunity. Outside reviewers and ad hoc committees should be encouraged to pay special attention to contextualizing the lack of opportunity that may exist in specific fields during the COVID-19 pandemic. The solicitation letter should additionally ask reviews to comment if pandemic related issues make a difference in the case presented to them and if so, to explain how.

In AY 21-22, departments could request an exception to the number of required letters vs number of letters received if reviewers report an inability to respond due to their own pressures and time constraints related to the pandemic. In those cases, the letters received must be appropriately evaluative and unequivocally supportive of the advancement. The exception is intended to be utilized in cases in which a candidate’s record of research, teaching, and service within their respective rank and length of service is commensurate with the proposed action, and for which there is strong departmental and divisional support.

Implementation Guidance: This recommendation concerns changes in the language of solicitation letters for academic review actions. Although it is too late in the current review cycle to make this change to solicitation letters, below you can find sample verbiage to assist you with your recruitments.   In consultation with CAP it was also determined that it would not be appropriate to support exceptions to the number of required letters for academic review actions.

• Recruitment Sample Language:

We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a substantial impact on academic productivity. In our academic hiring processes, we will be keeping this in mind as we consider achievement relative to opportunity. We encourage you to reflect on constraints on opportunity in your field that were caused by the events of the pandemic and where applicable, to discuss your achievements in this light.

• Academic Review Solicitation Letter Sample Language (New-Updated 02/22/2022):

“We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a substantial impact on the productivity of faculty in (your field). In our academic review processes, we will be keeping this in mind as we consider faculty achievement relative to opportunity. In your evaluation of the contributions of [Prof. X], we encourage you to reflect on constraints on opportunity in your field that were caused by the events of the pandemic and where applicable, to consider Prof. X’s achievements in this light. Please comment on whether the impact of the pandemic influences your evaluation of [Prof. X], and, if so, please explain how.  “

Sample templates can be found on the Forms and Templates section of the Academic Personnel Services website under the Reviews header.

• Appointment Solicitation Letter Sample Language (New-Updated 02/22/2022):

“We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a substantial impact on the productivity of faculty in (your field). In our academic appointment processes, we will be keeping this in mind as we consider faculty achievement relative to opportunity. In your evaluation of the contributions of [Prof. X], we encourage you to reflect on constraints on opportunity in your field that were caused by the events of the pandemic and where applicable, to consider Prof. X’s achievements in this light. Please comment on whether the impact of the pandemic influences your evaluation of [Prof. X], and, if so, please explain how.  “

Sample templates can be found on the Forms and Templates section of the Academic Personnel Services website under the Appointments header.

SAWAA Recommendation : Departments should be encouraged to adopt the short-form for normal, on-time merit actions where the departmental criteria have been met and there are no special circumstances.

Implementation Guidance: Departments and divisions are encouraged to simplify the academic review process through the use of streamlined processes to the extent possible. 

Short form merit evaluation instructions and a related checklist can be found here.

SAWAA Recommendation: As a one-time measure, when there is clear evidence of significant loss of productivity due to COVID-19 along with an otherwise worthy academic record during the review period, such that an individual cannot earn a full-step advance, a half-step offset will be provided to enable a full step advance if required. This provision does not apply to accelerated merit advances, merit advances to Professor Step VI, merit advances to Professor Above Scale, or promotions since those personnel actions occur at barrier steps that involve career reviews. Actions at a barrier step could use the offset to justify a bonus off-scale.

Implementation Guidance: This recommendation concerns the availability of a one-time offset for advancement.

These actions will be subject to CAP, AARP, and PSSRP review, as applicable and will be EVC authority. The mechanism for initiating these actions will be by request of the candidate at the time Certification 2: Certification of Departmental Recommendation is executed during the file review process, following completion of the departmental review.

Cases eligible for the one-time advancement offset are those where the department has recommended a no-change review with a new bonus off-scale salary component.

Additional information and guidance can be found in the SAWAA report appendix here.

Recommendation and Implementation Guidance:     

• CCMD Extension: Provost Brown approved an extension to the CCMD program through the 2022-2023 Academic Year.  For more information on the program, see the COVID-Related Caregiver Modified Duties Program page. 

• Dependent Care Travel Grant Program: As proposed by the workgroup, the flexibility in use of the Dependent Care Travel Grant program will be extended to allow faculty to continue to request up to one DCTG grant per quarter to support dependent care needs that originate from faculty teaching responsibilities or from participation in professional conferences even if remote, through the coming academic year. For more information, see the Dependent Care Travel Grant Program page.

• Bridge Funding Program: Faculty in need of bridge funding support are encouraged to apply to the existing Bridge Program through the appropriate Research Grants committee (General Campus, Health Sciences, or Marine Sciences) of the Academic Senate.

SAWAA Recommendation: As has been previously stated, the COVID-19 pandemic required faculty to adapt to teaching in a remote teaching environment. Some faculty are eager to return to the classroom and to jettison online instruction entirely. However, other faculty are interested in carrying over some elements from the remote instructional experience to their post-COVID-19 classroom. Others have become interested in continuing to develop remote instruction.

The SAWAA teaching workgroup made a number of suggestions for implementation. Department might identify and engage with pedagogical experts who can share disciplinary specific ‘best practices’ in teaching, drawing on the scholarship of teaching and learning in light of the experiences that COVID-19 has offered to the field of higher education. Our Teaching Professors could be particularly useful in disseminating such information. Each academic division or school could hold annual or semi- quarterly workshops coordinated with the Teaching and Learning Commons. Faculty can include a narrative in their teaching portfolio showing their participation in such workshops and explain how their teaching aligns with best practices in their discipline. (The campus’ holistic teaching report recommended a related idea).

Above all, the entire committee recognized the extraordinary work that university faculty did in maintaining pedagogical continuity over the past year - courses were taught, grades submitted - and this should be recognized as sufficient to demonstrate that faculty have met teaching expectations through this year. Fundamentally, faculty “did their jobs" through an extraordinary time and this must be acknowledged.

Implementation Guidance: This recommendation addresses best practices in teaching in the post COVID-19 environment.  The Teaching and Learning Commons (TLC) can provide support for Schools/Divisions and Departments that want to develop teaching workshops and support the efforts of faculty to develop holistic teaching portfolios for their academic review files.

The Teaching and Learning Commons (TLC) website can be found here.