Faculty Give-a-Fund

Dear Fellow Faculty,

The last year has been a challenge for everyone. The Division of Biological Science’s staff have handled working remotely, supporting online education, etc with more limited resources than faculty. Adding to the challenge of COVID and all of the associated uncertainty, anxiety and adjustments to working remotely, many of our staff have had the additional burden of needing to adjust to and compensate for several entirely new (and deeply flawed) financial, purchasing and HR systems. Many of them have been working countless extra hours (really, 10-15+ hrs per week for close to a year in their living rooms without childcare) to ensure that we, as faculty, are not forced to deal with the massive repercussions of this changeover. Said another way: the staff are the ones who make your grants go out, deal with your financials, process your promotion files, hire your lab members, support your teaching, and they are massively insulating you from extra work that is resulting from these system changeovers! Even more, there is little evidence problems with these systems will be remedied any time soon! What we do see, such as a lack of financial reports, glitchy ordering and HR snafus, is a fraction of the disruption that these systems have caused. The brunt of these new systems have been absorbed by extra hours spent by staff in the Division, and we would argue that it’s time for us to recognize these efforts in a meaningful way.

Inspired by the recent introduction of the Kudos Boards, we are starting a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to distribute to the staff as a token of gratitude for their extraordinary efforts. While we know that attempts have been made within the Division to encourage the UCSD administration to provide bonuses/compensation for increased work load to the staff that have been most impacted by the administration’s decision to make all of these changes in the midst of the pandemic, but it is our understanding that these have been denied by the campus. As such, fundraising from faculty appears the best course of action, as we need to do something now. The staff are an essential part of the functioning of the Division, and in addition to voicing how grateful we are for the support we receive, this seems the least we can do. While showing our appreciation is the most important reason for this GoFundMe campaign, it’s also worth noting that staff are getting burned out and leaving the Division in alarming numbers, and it is our hope that an organized effort from the faculty put something in the hands of our staff that says “we value you” might go a long way in stemming that tide.

Our fundraising goal is $20,000. This will allow us to provide gifts ranging from $100-$500 (depending on the unit) to each staff member of the Division. To reach that goal, we are suggesting faculty donate at least $100, with a request that senior (i.e. well-compensated) consider donating $500 or more. Your donations will be distributed to the staff in the form of Visa cards or the like.

Thank you in advance for making this campaign a success. If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that we need to protect those  closest to us, and the staff of the Division are an integral part to every aspect of our UCSD successes.

 
Ananda and Matt