Academic Affairs

Clark University engraved on sign

Information for New Tenure-Track Faculty, 2011-12

Updated 1-9-12 with First Friday dates and hosts

Welcome to the Clark University community. This site offers basic information for new faculty members that we hope will be helpful as you begin your career at Clark. While not meant to be comprehensive, the following items provide some guidance about dates, policies, and resources here. Please feel free to contact me, Deb Brenner, in the Provost's Office (or x7766) if you have questions or concerns. We look forward to getting to know each of you over the course of the year.

Information to Help Get you Started

Support Once You've Arrived

Key Dates:

Important Information for All Faculty

Other Useful Intra-Clark Links

Student Support Services

New Faculty Orientation Schedule

On August 22, 2011 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden we held a day-long orientation for all new tenure-track faculty. Here's the photo I took of you there:

New tenure track faculty at Tower Hill, 8-22-11

Left to right: Guillaume Weisang (Management), Dessislava Slavtcheva (Economics), Nicola Curtin (Psychology), Norm Apter (History), Neva Meyer (Biology), James McCarthy (Geography), Joseph Tang (Chemistry), Dominik Reinhold (Math), Ora Szekely (Political Science), and Michael Boyer (Physics). Note that Eric DeMeulenaere (Education), Jude Fernando (IDCE) and Sitikantha Parida (Management) were not available to attend.

Throughout the rest of the academic year, brief orientation meetings on different topics will be held monthly, according to your collective availability. Once the dates and topics are set, you will find them here.

Childcare Possibilities

Many new faculty arrive in Worcester with small children, and questions about child care often come up, so I asked some current faculty for their suggestions for childcare recommendations in the local area. These are suggestions only and is not meant as a comprehensive list:

The Clark OneCard

The Clark OneCard is your multipurpose Clark ID card. You will need it to access Goddard Library, the Kneller Athletic Center, et al. You will need to have a photo taken (22 Downing St., 2nd floor) to initiate the process, and for this you should email the ID card office or call x7109 to set up a time. There are regular hours for taking student ID photos and you can always drop in during these times but you risk waiting on line. The OneCard webpage is http://www.clarku.edu/offices/id/.

Moving Expenses

If moving expenses are awarded, the maximum amount is specified in the new faculty member's contract letter. These are usually handled as reimbursements. We don't normally pay moving companies directly, as this means setting up a formal relationship with a company we wouldn't otherwise need to. Reimbursements are processed as quickly as possible so that you are paying out of pocket for the shortest possible time.

If paying out of pocket is onerous, it is possible to receive an advance so that you may pay the moving company yourself. For this here's the form to fill out, called Moving-Relocation Advance. Be aware that according to IRS guidelines advances must be cleared within 60 days, and moving expenses in particular must be substantiated/reimbursed during the same calendar year in which they are incurred. If not, we will reimburse you, but these funds will be considered by the IRS as taxable income.

Choosing (and dealing with) a moving company can be stressful. Here is a website that others have found to be helpful (though it is not endorsed formally by Clark): http://www.movingscam.com

The process for handling moving expenses has become more complicated in recent years. First of all, there are two types of guidelines you need to be aware of:

  1. Guidelines for what Clark considers to be reimbursable moving expenses. To date these are unwritten so if you have a question, just email me or call me at x7766. Generally speaking, we choose to define "moving expenses" broadly. For examples, reimbursable expenses might include moving company costs, packing expenses, storage costs, pet moving expenses, office moving expenses (boxes of books, etc.) and trips to Worcester to look for housing. Expenses we would not consider reimbursable are meal costs, lawyers or realtor fees, points paid for purchasing a house, and penalties incurred due to breaking a lease in order to move to Worcester.
  2. IRS Guidelines on taxability. The IRS labels expenses that are not taxable as "qualified," and expenses that are taxable as "nonqualified." IRS guidelines are not related to the Clark guidelines above. For example, while Clark will reimburse the cost of traveling to Worcester to look for housing, only the actual move to Clark is considered "qualified" by the IRS. House/apartment hunting expenses are "nonqualified," i.e. taxable.

The form you need to fill out to request reimbursement is the Moving Expense Reimbursement Request. Please note that the IRS guidelines for taxability are found as a second tab on the bottom of this form.You will need to attach proof of payment such as an invoice clearly marked PAID or an original credit card statement. If you have not yet gone through the I9 process with Human Resources, then you will need also to complete and submit a W4 form. Please fill out the form on line, print it, sign it, and submit it with the reimbursement request form.

Note that everyone with moving expenses must fill out the Moving Expense Reimbursement Form noted above, whether or not you need the Moving Relocation Advance Request.

I know this can be confusing! Much of this is new to us, too. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at any time. Please send all completed paperwork to me. For interoffice mail, "Deb- Provost's Office" will work. From outside, please send to:

Deb Brenner
Provost's Office
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

Start-up funds

Some faculty, especially those in the sciences, are awarded start-up funds as designated in your appointment letter. Please contact me to discuss how to access these funds.

Computer Hardware and Software Support

The majority of your contact with ITS will probably be with one of two groups in ITS: Academic Technology Services or Desktop Support Services. Academic Technology Services is responsible for exploration, development and dissemination of technology-based solutions in support of the teaching, learning, presentation and communication needs of faculty and students. This includes support of Clark's course management system, CICADA. The ATS team actively partners with faculty, staff and students in imagining ways that we might use technology to meet academic goals. Examples of our partnerships include:

  • consulting with faculty regarding existing technologies and their implementation to solve pedagogical challenges;
  • developing applications, learning modules, videos and web sites to support curricular needs;
  • exploring current and emerging technology tools and considering how they might be used at Clark;
  • communicating with faculty, staff and students about technology tools and/or teaching/learning trends;
  • conducting training sessions with students and/or faculty.

More information about what we do is available at academictechnology.

You will also have contact with the Desktop Support Services team. The Desktop Support Services team is responsible for support services (via the ITS Help Desk), installation and maintenance of desktop software and hardware, operation of public computer labs, and break-fix support for University-owned computer equipment.

So when you need it, how do you get support?

The short answer is that no matter who you contact, we should be able to get you connected with the "right" person. That said, your best starting points are as follows:

  • When you have an issue with your username/password, your Clark computing equipment, or have software questions, you should call, email or visit the Help Desk and work with the Desktop Support Services group. (Academic Commons at Goddard Library, helpdesk@clarku.edu, 508-793-7745).
  • If you need AV equipment delivered to your classroom, or would like to borrow equipment to take to a presentation on or off campus, contact Media Services by email at media@clarku.edu, by phone at 508-793-7724, or by stopping by their office on the ground floor of Jonas Clark Hall.
  • As you consider the integration of technology and the teaching/learning/research environments you create, you need support with CICADA, or have questions about curriculum-oriented software, you should contact the Academic Technologist assigned to your department. The departmental assignments are:

Gregory Geiger (508.793.7214),
Education, English, Foreign Languages, History, Political Science, V&PA

Michael Krikonis (508.793.8807), mkrikonis@clarku.edu :
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Math/Computer Science; GSOM; Psychology, COPACE

Cheryl Turner Elwell (508.421.3714), celwell@clarku.edu :
Philosophy, Sociology, Geography, IDCE

Faculty Assembly Meetings

Faculty assembly meetings are held monthly on Wednesday afternoons, normally at 2 pm in the Multipurpose Room on the second floor of Dana Commons. Faculty assembly dates for 2011-12 are as follows:

September 21, 2011
October 19
November 16
December 7
January 25, 2012
February 15
March 14
April 11

Email announcements and agenda are distributed to faculty in advance of each meeting.

First Fridays

Several years ago, the Provost (who is now the President) initiated a series of First Friday receptions. These are held the first Friday of each month of the academic year, 4:30-6 pm, and are meant as a time to unwind from the workweek, socialize with your colleagues, enjoy some snacks and, if you choose, have a glass of wine or beer. All faculty and staff are invited. Typically, First Fridays are hosted by a different academic or administrative department, but for most of the dates during the coming year we are trying something new.

We have asked the faculty most recently promoted to the rank of professor (8 this past year) to give a talk about their research to the campus community on a First Friday date, with the First Friday event serving as the reception for that talk. We anticipate that the talk and the First Friday will take place in that person's home department.

First Friday speakers and dates for 2011-12 (and running over into Fall 2012) are beginning to fill in. Here's what I know so far:

  • September 2, 2011 - Academic Affairs is hosting as a kick-off to the new year. On the Wetzel Terrace, outside of Tilton Hall, UC
  • October 3 - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (they were booted out of their FF date last spring by the Clark Picnic, so they got first dibs for this year.
  • November 4 - Marketing and Communications, 138 Woodland Street.
  • December 2 - Clark University Bookstore, Main Street
  • February 3, 2012, DOORS CLOSE AT  4:15 SHARP - Matt Malsky, Professor, Visual and Performing Arts (music): A concert followed by a talk, then First Friday
  • March 2 - Valerie Sperling, Professor, Political Science Department
  • April 6 - Yuko Aoyama, Professor, School of Geography
  • May - Philosophy, Philosophy House
  • June - Open

First Fridays 2012-13:

  • September, 2012 - Elli Crocker, Professor, Visual and Performing Arts (fine art)
  • October - Gil Pontius, Professor, School of Geography
  • November - James Cordova, Professor, Hiatt School of Psychology
  • December - Kristen Williams, Professor, Political Science Department

Faculty Advising

Faculty in their first year at Clark typically do not take on formal advising duties. However, after the first year all regular faculty are expected to advise. Faculty who teach a First Year Intensive course typically advise the new students who are enrolled in this class. The Academic Advising office publishes an online adviser's handbook, The 3 Rs, which may be accessed at the Academic Advising website. If you have any questions, please contact Kevin McKenna, Associate Dean of the College, at x7468.

Teaching Evaluation Process

The teaching evaluation process uses paper evaluations completed by students during the penultimate week of each semester, during the first 20 minutes of each class. Evaluations are completed every semester for every class taught. We are hoping to move to an on-line evaluation process in the not-too-distant future.

Email Distribution Lists

There are two email distribution lists to which faculty can post, neither of which are moderated in any way. Individual faculty can opt out of these lists if they choose. They are as follows:

1) faculty-announcements@lists.clarku.edu - This list is comprised of all full-time faculty and, because we're trying to be inclusive here, a smattering of other folks within the Clark community who've asked to join. This list is meant for announcements of any kind, e.g. upcoming lectures or concerts, apartments for rent, whatever. Faculty can opt out of this list, but very few have. When you hit REPLY to an email from this list, your email goes to the sender only.

Alternatively, or in conjunction with the announcements listserv, you may post to the on-line ClarkYOU, which is accessed by the Clark community only.

2) faculty-general@lists.clarku.edu - Although the address is "faculty-general," messages sent to this listserv come through as "Faculty Discussion." As the name suggests, this listserv is meant for discussion among faculty, on whatever topics interest you.

In addition to the above there are listservs to which only the administration can post, and from which faculty cannot opt out. The one you will see is faculty-tenuretrack, which we reserve for important university business only. If you hit REPLY to one of those messages it will be sent only to me, because I'm the list moderator. In other words, if the Provost or President sends out to this list and you want to write back to him, you'll need to type in his email address.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center offers free one-to-one writing assistance to all members of the Clark University community. Writing consultants will work with student writers on any piece of writing -- short papers, research papers, lab reports, presentations, senior honors theses, graduate school applications or resumes. Students may bring writing at any stage of the writing process, whether they are brainstorming, outlining, revising or editing.

Jennifer Plante, Director of the Writing Center and Writing Program, consults with faculty across the disciplines. If you would like to talk about your students' writing, your writing assignments (formal or informal, in-class or take home), or your responses to student writing, or if you would like to know more about how you can encourage your students to work with the Clark Writing Center, please contact Jennifer by email or at 508-793-7469.