Faculty Executive Committee discusses interdisciplinarity and faculty survey results

The Faculty Executive Committee met Monday to address how the University can increase interdisciplinarity and discuss the results of a recent faculty survey.

“We want to improve coordination (and) cooperation between areas of study,” Bruce Cairns, faculty chair, said.

In order to do that, Kevin Guskiewicz, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, believes the University needs to break down the barriers between the different colleges.

Guskiewicz said one such way to do that is to focus on ways to bridge and collaborate across disciplines. He proposed creating more integrated first-year seminars, focusing on cluster hires and changing the faculty culture.

Vincas Steponaitis, an anthropology professor, said he also believes faculty culture would be a principal obstacle in interdisciplinary.

“If the University can foster a culture of team teaching, people will start seeing things they have in common,” Steponaitis said.

Steponaitis believes the research aspect of interdisciplinarity is easier to address than the teaching aspect.

“On the research side, you just have to assemble a team and apply for a grant together,” Steponaitis said. “Interdisciplinary teaching is harder and that’s where most of the obstacles are.”

Among the challenges to teaching, Steponaitis said, are bureaucratic obstacles as different departments frequently have different goals and standards. Guskiewicz added that finances and faculty workload plays into it as well.

Guskiewicz is focusing on creating “super courses,” which would be taught by three faculty members, all from different departments.

“It would be what is best for students in reimagining the curriculum. It brings a greater amount of expertise to the classroom,” he said.

Cairns said problems with super courses are allocation of credit, cost and logistics.

Guskiewicz said he believes these super courses would help the faculty goal of fostering high-structure active learning.

The committee also reviewed results from the 2015 Collaborative on Academic Carers and Higher Education (COACHE) survey.

The COACHE is an instrument developed by Harvard and used by U.S. universities to survey faculty members about satisfaction and areas which need improvement. The standardization of the tool allows UNC to compare results with its peers.

The COACHE has been distributed for four years, however, 2015 was the first year UNC included fixed-term faculty members. Fixed-term faculty members are contracted faculty who are not on the tenured track.

Ron Strauss, executive vice provost and chief international officer presented the results of the 2015 COACHE to the committee.

Faculty reported satisfaction with teaching, department collegiality and promotion at a rate higher than faculty from UNC’s peers.

Faculty rated health and retirement benefits more negatively compared to other universities.

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