Continuous Improvement for Operational Efficiencies within Academic Operations

Concurrent Session 7

Brief Abstract

This session will share the continuous improvement process leveraged by the University of Arizona Global Campus’s Academic Operations department to carry out faculty focused system and process initiatives. The focus will be specifically on the design, development, and implementation of a new adjunct faculty compensation model the university launched in October of 2021, and the process used to evaluate and collect feedback from faculty and staff which helped make informed decisions on planned improvements to the model for the next fiscal year.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Bryan Aylward, University of Arizona Global Campus

Dr. Bryan Aylward is the Senior Director of Academic Operations for the University of Arizona Global Campus. Bryan’s division encompasses the Faculty Scheduling department for the university across 50+ start dates annually, the Contracts & Payroll Compliance department, as well as the Data and Academic Systems department for the university. Bryan has almost 14 years of experience in higher education operations across numerous departments including student services, registrar, curriculum operations, as well as academic operations. In addition to this experience, Bryan has been an associate faculty member for the Forbes School of Business and Technology since 2012 with focused instruction on leadership and management courses. Bryan is an advocate of high-quality education, with experience in the online, traditional classroom, as well as hybrid classroom formats (Online and Classroom), and is well versed in the challenges that exist for both students and faculty. Bryan received his Doctorate in Psychology with a focus on Business & Organizational Leadership from the University of the Rockies in 2017.

Additional Authors

Cassie Hurst, University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC)

Cassie joined the University of Arizona Global Campus in June of 2011 serving in several roles within Academics and Information Technology. Cassie currently serves as Product & Client Success Manager, leading a team of academic technology professionals focused on inspiring adoption and effective use of technology solutions and services, and spearheading the integrations and advancement of data that support teaching and learning. Cassie has over 15 years of project management experience, and a record for innovating and implementing faculty support services and technology. She enjoys working collaboratively with academic leadership to plan and promote institution-wide initiatives that ultimately support the academic success of UAGC students. Cassie holds an MA in Psychology from the University of the Rockies and a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

Extended Abstract

There are many challenges associated with the management of adjunct faculty profiles and operations in an online, asynchronous environment. One of the biggest challenges for our institution was with the centralization of many of the processes, records, and data that exists across various systems at the university. Centralization of these systems and processes has been a major focus for the Academic Operations Department at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) for the last 2+ years. Despite the successes experienced through these migrations, the academic operations department has operationalized a process to execute the evaluation of systems and processes to ensure continuous improvement of the user experience. This Session will share the continuous improvement process leveraged by UAGC’s Academic Operations department to identify, plan, execute, and review necessary system and process enhancements. We will specifically focus on the design, development, and implementation of a new adjunct faculty compensation model that the university launched in October of 2021, and the process we used to evaluate and collect feedback from faculty and staff to help make informed decisions on planned improvements for next fiscal year, beginning on July 1st 2022. These include system and process enhancements and additional resources developed to best support our diverse faculty population and improve the overall faculty experience.