In a recent letter sent to Academic Senate membes, senate chair Bruce Madewell asked faculty to revisit the 1999 Report of the Task Force on Faculty/Staff Partnership. The document represented the work of a joint faculty and staff committee to develop principles to foster and sustain collegial interactions between staff and faculty in support of the missions of the university. 

“The austere budget outlook for the next year or more will, no doubt, have an impact on our staff,” Madewell said. “Although the campus administration has announced a number of staff support activities, it is important for the faculty to assume some of that responsibility.”

In his letter, Madewell advised faculty to carefully consider work demands and expectations of staff in light of budget cuts that may be imposed. “The staff are key to our collective success, and now is the time for the faculty to reach out and support staff employees.”

The task force report, he said, presents good ideas to enhance partnership  Some of those ideas include:

• Increasing the visibility of best practices that support collaboration;

• Building awareness of avenues available to faculty and staff to resolve conflicts through campus Ombuds Programs, Mediation Services and other mechanisms;

• Fostering open and inclusive communications at the department level among faculty and staff members;

• Recognizing that both faculty and staff members bring value to the university and equally share responsibility for creating and sustaining a positive work environment; and

• Expanding knowledge through training and development opportunities already available to include discussions on faculty-staff relations.

The full text of the report is available at: http//:www/ucop.edu/humres/facstaff/docs.html.