Resources for New Faculty

The Office of Academic Personnel is a service organization whose mission is to facilitate the recruitment, appointment, advancement, and development of outstanding and diverse faculty and academic appointees at UCSB. The office is charged with developing, analyzing, interpreting and implementing academic personnel policies and procedures. Their website hosts the UC Academic Personnel Manual and its local implementation, The Red Binder, both of which can guide you in your UC career. 

The Academic Senate is the voice of the faculty in the University of California. The Senate is the one organization that enables the faculty, through shared governance, to exercise its right to participate in the University's governance. The Academic Senate seeks wide faculty involvement for all of its councils and committees, both at the campus and systemwide levels.  Additionally, the Senate administers research and travel grants and academic awards. 

Among other activities, the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is responsible for the administration of campus faculty enrichment programs, including:

• The President's Postdoctoral Recruitment Program
• The Faculty Career Development Awards
• The UC Regents' Humanities and Junior Faculty Awards
• The Faculty Fellows Program.

The office has oversight of the Career Equity Review process and sponsors our institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity  which provides free mentoring and professional development services to faculty. 

UC Santa Barbara Library enables exploration and collaboration for scholars in their intellectual engagement with the world of ideas and the creation of knowledge. Faculty members have access to nearly all materials in the vast University of California library system. Library staff can also help with course reserves, research and data curation, and photocopying and printing services. The library has a special quiet study area for faculty located on the first floor, mountain side (near Current Serials). 

The Office of Research helps the university community secure support for their research and creative activities and oversees the research mission of the university to ensure consistent quality and compliance. The Research Development Office offers proposal-related workshops and has discipline specialists who can help faculty identify funding opportunities, assist with proposal development, and facilitate multidisciplinary partnering. 

The Office of Public Affairs & Communications is the official mouthpiece for the university, working with local, national and international press to share news and tell the story of UCSB. The office strives to generate media coverage of the extraordinary development of UCSB as a leading research institution and of the people, programs, events and activities that distinguish the campus. In addition to its public information and media relations functions, the office designs and maintains the UCSB website and The Current news site, and produces major university publications. Feel free to contact them (or have your department chair contact them) if you feel you have a newsworthy item. 

The Graduate Division is available to help students, staff, and faculty with academic policy and practical questions pertaining to graduate education at UCSB. This unit is responsible for awarding all master’s and doctoral degrees and navigating academic performance and progress.

The Office of Undergraduate Education serves as the guiding body for campuswide policy related to undergraduate education and administers several programs that meet campus educational needs. The office provides academic guidance to L&S undergraduates, connects students to a wide variety of services across campus, and has resources available to help students enhance their undergraduate experience and complete the bachelor's degree in a timely manner. They also provide academic advice to departments and helps to fund departmental honors sections.

The UG Education Division also provides opportunities and resources for faculty to work with undergraduate students, such as:

• the Faculty Research Assistance Program (FRAP)
• Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) grants
• opportunities to teach freshman seminars and discovery seminars

The office runs the Transfer Student Center, provides pre-professional advising and internship opportunities, and runs the ONDAS Success Center. The ONDAS Center offers seminars and workshops for faculty professional development related to learning, teaching, and diversity. 

Instructional Development, under the Office of Undergraduate Education, is a campus service organization supporting faculty and classrooms. Services include instructional consultation, assistance with course development and evaluation, technical media production support, and general assignment classroom technical support.  

The Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (CITRAL) is a collaboration between UCSB Library and the Office of Undergraduate Education. CITRAL is a research hub that promotes and supports inclusive teaching and learning. Primary areas of focus are improving learning in large classes, teaching and learning in a minority serving institution, fostering information and data literacy, teaching effective communication, and undertaking community-informed assessment.

LSIT provides email and storage services to many L&S departments, and provides L&S faculty with support and training for these campuswide services:

• GauchoSpace -- the campus course management system
• Connect for Google email
• Box -- unlimited e-storage and collaborative work space
• Campus Software and Licensing
• Digitization of course materials
• Instructional Labs, including scheduling of lab space
• Student IT support centers, computer labs, and PrintSpots
• Faculty Resource Center (Kerr Hall 1110) with drop-in hours available

The Office of the Registrar is responsible for scheduling all classroom space on campus, for publishing the quarterly Schedule of Classes, for maintaining student transcripts and for receiving and officially recording grades. It is important that faculty adhere to deadlines for submitting grades. Functioning on a quarter system leaves a small window for such important processes as clearing academic probations, certifying units for financial aid, certifying athletic and scholarship eligibility. 

The mission of the Division of Student Affairs is to anticipate, plan for, and respond to the needs of a diverse and changing student body by providing services and programs that promote physical and emotional well-being and foster intellectual and personal development.  The Division is headed by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and houses a number of offices and programs that serve our students. Faculty wishing to be involved in student issues beyond the classroom are encouraged to contact Student Affairs. 

A key service provided by the Division of Student Affairs is the Student Mental Health Coordination Service (SMHCS).  This is a single point of contact for the campus community to share concerns about a student in distress or a student distressing others.  As a non-clinical office, SMHCS is able to collaborate with other departments on campus to provide coordination of care, interventions, social support, and follow-up services from a network of campus resources. Call them when you experience a student in distress or if you merely have questions about best practices for dealing with such students. 

CLAS offers tutoring, support, and study skills advice to undergraduate students. CLAS can run exam review sessions when coordinated in advance with the instructor, offers group tutoring or drop-in hours, and helps students take full ownership of their education. Coordinated by the Student Affairs division.

The Disabled Students Program is the central office for assessing student disabilities and advising campus units on needed accommodations. Students should document any temporary or permanent needs through the DSP, not directly with the professor.  DSP will alert faculty to any accommodations or considerations for students enrolled in their classes.  If a student approaches you about a disability, advise them to document it through the DSP office to ensure that adequate considerations may be made. 

The Equal Opportunity & Discrimination Prevention (EODP) Office is responsible for ensuring the University provides an environment for faculty and staff that is free from discrimination and harassment on the basis of protected categories including but not limited to race, color, national origin, age religion, and veteran status. 

The EODP Office responds to concerns from faculty and staff regarding behaviors that may constitute discrimination as covered by University policies. We offer customized training related to discrimination, equity and potential impact of discrimination upon academic and employment environments in conjunction with the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Academic Policy.

The office provides education and training, academic and staff recruitment oversight, and complaint investigation and resolution. The office also has a small fund available to support diversity-related programming and events as well as underserved faculty and staff development. 

ASAP counselors offer confidential, cost-free services to faculty, staff, and eligible family members to promote emotional health and well-being. They can work with individuals or departments and provide high quality consultation, counseling, psychological wellness training, and violence prevention and mitigation services in a safe, supportive, culturally sensitive environment.

The Office of the Ombuds is a safe space at UC Santa Barbara to discuss workplace issues, interpersonal conflict, academic concerns, bureaucratic runarounds, and many other problems. The office serves faculty, staff, students, parents, or anyone else with a campus-related concern.  As a non-reporting office, the Ombuds keeps all conversations completely confidential. They assist the campus community with informal resolution of University-related complaints or conflicts, and they can also advise on formal university channels that could be pursued.  

The Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity promotes a welcoming campus community for UCSB's LGBTQIA+ community, and is located on the 3rd floor of the Student Resource Building.

We offer various services and resources to ensure that LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and faculty have the support they need to succeed at UC Santa Barbara and beyond.

A collection of childcare resources for members of our campus community, including on campus and off campus options. 

WorkLife Employee Services at UC Santa Barbara strives to live up to our reputation as Santa Barbara’s “Best Place to Work” by supporting faculty, staff, and student employees in the pursuit of a fully integrated life. The university offers programs, policies, referrals and education that enable people to be effective, engaged and satisfied at work, school, and home.