March 3, 2006 UC Families Newsletter – An online newsletter and resource for faculty, staff and students at University of California campuses who are balancing academic goals or careers with family life. Circulation: 679 Moderator: Karie Frasch email: moderator_ucfam@parents.berkeley.edu Website: http://parents.berkeley.edu/ucfamilies Post a Message: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html ---------------------------------------------- Contents ---------------------------------------------- *Responses Original post: Changes to family accommodation policies for all UC ladder-rank faculty, effective immediately Original post: Same-sex families Original post: Babies matter – academia and family *New postings Spousal employment Berkeley High for Village residents? Leave Policy for Parents and New UC leave Policy A note on retroactive application of ASMD for faculty members Repost: New to UCI - seeking OB & pediatrician *News/media Stretched to Limit, Women Stall March to Work The Stress/Fun Equation of Bringing Children on Business Trips *New members Since 2/21/06 ---------------------------------------------- *Responses ---------------------------------------------- You can post additional responses at: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Original post: Changes to family accommodation policies for all UC ladder-rank faculty, effective immediately -------------------------------------------------- On February 8, 2006, the President of the University of California announced major changes to family accommodation policies for ladder-rank faculty throughout the system. These changes, effective retroactively to January 1, 2006, provide for the first time, a comprehensive package of family friendly policies for women and men with caregiving responsibilities. One of the most significant changes to the family friendly package is the unambiguous message that faculty men and women, with substantial caregiving responsibilities, are entitled to the use of family accommodation policies, and may not be disadvantaged or prejudiced in promotions or advancement. The new family accommodations package is designed to support faculty over their life course. Birth mothers receive fully-paid childbearing leave. New parent caregivers, birth or adoptive, are entitled to a full term of ASMD; biological mothers receive a second term. The cost of replacement teachers is centralized to eliminate hardship for individual departments. Assistant professors who are new parents can automatically stop the tenure clock for one year (up to two years during the probationary period). All parents may at any time request up to a year of unpaid parental leave. And all faculty, pre- and post-tenure, may negotiate with their department to work part-time, temporarily or permanently, to accommodate their family needs. UC is now the leader among institutions of higher education in the United States on family friendly policies. While many other universities offer some of these policies, or additional ones we don’t have (such as a formal dual career program), none provide as comprehensive a package. What do you think about these changes? Do they go far enough? Will faculty feel safe using them when tenure and promotion are at stake? What must UC do to encourage faculty with caregiving responsibilities to take advantage of these policies? Will this persuade more women and men graduate students to pursue academic jobs at UC? Here is the link to the letter from President Dynes announcing the policies, and to the policy changes (the UC Families Newsletter is highlighted in his letter): http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/coordrev/policy/PP020806APMs.pdf -UC Families Moderator Response: Changes to family accommodations ------------------------------------------- The new policy (or package) is a step in the right direction. Diffusing information is crucial. When I was pregnant and trying to find out about Active Service/Modified Duties I asked no fewer than three staff people on campus and two faculty who should be aware of policies (including my chair) and no one had a clue, or even gave outright wrong information. (And I'm in a pretty accomodating department.) My concern, however, is that there is so much more at issue than just the initial period after a baby's birth or adoption. When women have trouble getting tenure and excelling in academics after children, it is not (just) because of the first 6-12 sleep deprived months. Babies become toddlers and preschoolers and school children, and they need lots of attention. A well-rounded family friendly policy would include: * many more daycare openings close to campus (for faculty, staff and students) * emergency backup childcare for when kids get sick and you need to teach * rules about ''proper working hours'' - I'm 100% sympathetic to the posting this week about seminars that go past daycare hours, meetings in the evenings that assume you have nothing better to do than be at the university 16 hours a day, and a general disregard for the unequal opportunities that are created when the childless (or those with stat-at-home partners) can network and meet at odd hours while others are taking care of children. While such changes would take resources, they would certainly help with recruitment. A final note: stopping the tenure clock is a great option, but I worry that sometimes it is pushed too hard in cases where it is not needed, thereby retarding promotion (and salary increases) and also creating inequalities between men and women. Faculty member with 2 kids Original post: SAME-SEX FAMILIES ------------------------------------------- I applaud the progressive initiatives to make UC a more humane and family-friendly environment for faculty and staff employees as well as student parents. But I'm concerned that a distinctive population -- same-sex families (couples whether with children or without) -- has received so little attention. Yes, registered domestic partners and their children are eligible to benefit from UC health coverage, family leave policies, etc. Yet I've read nothing in the various recent work-and-family research papers or policy statements that acknowledge that LGBT people often face special challenges on the job and in balancing work and family. Such additional challenges cannot possibly be addressed so long as GLBT people remain institutionally invisible. UC is presumed to be a non-homophobic environment -- is that true across the board? Shouldn't we be asking the same questions about non-straight women and men that are being asked about women and men in traditional heterosexual families? How can we collect and examine the experiences and wisdom of UC LGBT faculty, staff, and grad students? On the most basic level, who are we, how many of us are there, across what ranks and levels and units do we work and study? Are there places or circumstances within UC where GLBT people hit a 'glass ceiling' or 'closet wall' in their careers? In what ways do personally-held and/or institutionally-supported 'closets' dampen our voices or push our careers and/or families to the margins? Do LGBT people access formally-entitled family benefits equally or differentially compared to their heterosexual peers? How do the ''dual career'' problems affect LGBT couples in making career choices? Do GLBT graduate students ''leak out of the pipeline'' (or concentrate) in certain academic disciplines more than others? I hope to spark some discussion in this forum and perhaps inspire UC to recognize and incorporate this important element of difference into work-and-family research and policy making. Sharon Response: SAME-SEX FAMILIES ------------------------------------------- I'm responding to the email concerning same sex families at UCB. I think it is really dependent on the department you are in, who your boss is, and what position you hold. Some departments can be extremely homophobic especially if the upper echelon sends that message out either consciously or subconsciously. Others can be very open and accepting. Tolerance for LGBT people in upper management and professorial positions is less than for people in lower positions. UC is better than a lot of private companies and other colleges and universities although it could still stand to improve. There is also a definite glass ceiling for women and minorities here too. Maybe the discussion needs to be how to improve UC for all the people who are on the ''inside''. Kay Original post: Babies matter - academia and family -------------------------------------------------------- I am currently the Graduate Dean at Berkeley and a researcher on the effects of family formation on the careers of academics. I am also a mother of two grown children and navigated these issues while they were growing up. Despite intensive research in this area it is still difficult to answer the question often asked of me by my graduate students, "when is the best time to have a baby?" What do you think? Before women begin graduate programs should they be given more clear information about the challenges of managing family and career in academia? Should more be done to help graduate students make decisions about the timing of these issues? What can current professors do to better encourage promising young women to stay in the "pipeline" to satisfying tenured jobs? And finally, when do you think is the best time to have a baby? Mary Ann Mason Response: Babies matter – academia and family ----------------------------------------------------- I have very much enjoyed reading the variety of thoughtful responses that have been posted regarding my ‘Babies Matter’ questions. It reminds me how important it is to have a venue for discussions that highlight the complexity of these issues for women and men who want to combine childrearing and academia. Now that additional family accommodations have recently become available to faculty with caregiving responsibilities, it will be important to publicize them, and to ensure that faculty feel comfortable using them. I was surprised that few graduate students weighed in on the dialogue, particularly in light of the fact that they are the next generation of women and men who will continue into faculty positions or opt for other choices. Age timelines for the receipt of the PhD continue to extend, so that the median age at PhD is now 33, and the median age at tenure is now 39 years of age. As many of you pointed out, it is becoming less and less an option for women faculty to postpone childbearing until after tenure. We must then do more to make childbearing feel like, and be a viable choice at the graduate level, as we are working to do at the assistant professor level. I hope that we can continue to engage in discussion on these valuable topics. Mary Ann Mason ---------------------------------------------- *New postings ---------------------------------------------- You can post a response message: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Spousal employment ------------------------------------------- My spouse is currently on the job market and has been offered several opportunities, some of which have offered me a PhD as well promises of employment. One offer seems sincere and offers to put it in writing, but the more I look into it there is no real match for my research interest. My spouse is very keen on this choice, and wants the best for me and tells that they must find something for us to accept. But its not solid and is very uncomfortable for me, I feel like Im pushing myself into a job I was not highered for. A less promising option for my spouse has offered me a 3 yr funded research position where I could create my own research. Im really stumped and could use some help in deciding...SOON! Anyone with expereince in this situation or just knowledge of it we would be greatful. Thank you anom Berkeley High for Village residents? ------------------------------------------- Has anyone in the Village successfully sent their teen to Berkeley High? Any advice other than ''submit a transfer request''? We have an 8th grader who is looking at either Berkeley High or Albany High. He's most interested in their Computer Science depts. BHS has bigger dept; AHS has newer equipment and possibly better support? Also, has anyone ever seen a teen taking CS courses at UC- Berkeley? Our two teens (13 & 14 yo) have been learning programming since they were tots & are now programming their own games & have professional resumes (worked for MS & several small companies). What they really need is access to UC CS classes, but they're still too young and I haven't found a way around the age requirements. ?? trying to find the right spot for my techy-kids Leave Policy for Parents and New UC leave Policy ------------------------------------------- I have a question about the family accommodation policies for UC ladder-rank faculty. I'm a father-to-be at UCD and have requested my one quarter of active-service modified duties (My wife and I will be sharing childcare responsibilities). This will reduce my teaching load by one course (out of the usual four per year) and give me a break from service responsibilities. I want to make sure that I am requesting all that I am eligible for, while remaining on full-time status. (I am aware of the possibility of leaves without pay). Is there something else beyond the one quarter of active- service modified duties for new fathers? Thanks in advance for any advice. Ben A note on retroactive application of ASMD for faculty members ---------------------------------------------------------- I posted a query about this last week but have subsequently learned the answer and am sharing it with the list. This is a complicated issue, particularly for the second semester, but at least in a case in my department, the Dean of Arts and Humanities and the Vice-Chancellor are showing flexibility in handling a request from a faculty member in that situation. It seems they will allow a recent mother who used sabbatical credits for a self-financed second maternity semester to recoup the sabbatical credits and receive regular salary instead, provided, of course, that she takes on service responsibilities. I suppose retroactive application would be more difficult in a case where a recent mother (or father) has already been teaching a class for seven weeks. Someone would have to be found to teach the course... Repost, no responses previously - New to UCI - seeking OB & pediatrician ------------------------------------------- I'm joining UC Irvine in May and I'll be 31 weeks into my pregnancy. Can anyone recommend an obstetrician and/or a pediatrician around Costa Mesa? Rebecca ------------------------------------------ *Articles and media ------------------------------------------ You can post comments or discussion points about any of these, or offer new ones - http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Stretched to Limit, Women Stall March to Work, By EDUARDO PORTER New York Times, March 2, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/business/02work.html?_r=1&oref=slogin The Stress/Fun Equation of Bringing Children on Business Trips, By PERRY GARFINKEL New York Times, February 28, 2006 http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/business/28kids.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- - Post a message * http://parents.berkeley.edu/post.html - Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Address Changes, Help * http://parents.berkeley.edu/subscribers.html