Welcome to UCF! The Faculty Center provides you with much of the important general information you need as a new faculty member. We hope you will find it useful. Your individual departments will also have specific information and processes necessary to your work. Be sure to contact your Chair to learn other essentials as soon as possible.
New faculty members at UCF are hired by individual departments. As with all hiring processes, the new faculty hiring process at UCF requires that several forms be completed and advanced through a system that includes your home department and the Human Resources Department. Your driver's license and Social Security card will be photocopied at your department.
Forms you will need to complete include:
Other forms that must be generated by your department:
Questions about your hiring should be directed to your department.
New faculty members at UCF participate in two required orientations, each having very different purposes:
Human Resources New Faculty Benefits and Payroll Orientation at which you will complete the paperwork necessary for these two very important areas. Half-day sessions are scheduled during early August (the contract start date is always August 8 every year). New faculty who desire to be covered by health insurance beginning in September must submit enrollment forms in August. This Orientation is hosted by Human Resources.
The New Faculty Academic Orientation at which you will learn about various policies and procedures (including Tenure and Promotion) that impact your various roles as members of the UCF Faculty. The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning is your host for the Academic Orientation. The two-day event takes place in the Student Union and Classroom 1 buildings on the Orlando Campus. Each day of the orientation is filled with important activities that will provide valuable information to enable you to have a successful start to your career at UCF. At the Academic Orientation you will meet the President, Provost, Deans, Chairs, other new faculty, and Directors of support departments. These days also include complimentary breakfast and luncheon events.
As part of the hiring process, you will be assigned three identifiers:
Empl-ID (employee ID): a 7-digit number
PID (personal ID): your first initial followed by the 7-digit EMPL-ID
NID (network ID): an identifier used mostly for network access, often part of your first and last name
To find out your PID (which includes your EMPL-ID per above) and your NID, you can go to my.ucf.edu and click on What are my PID and NID? in the upper top-left of the page. You will be prompted to enter your Social Security number and birth date.
If the system cannot find a record for you, then either your PAF has not been fully processed or your NID has not been generated. Both identifiers must be available for this system to give you either. You may wish to check with your department to verify all necessary materials have been submitted.
PIDs and NIDs have their own passwords associated with them. To reset your PID password, visit https://www.secure.net.ucf.edu/extranet/reset/validation.aspx?type=myucf. To reset your NID password, visit https://www.secure.net.ucf.edu/extranet/reset/validation.aspx?type=webcourses. In both cases, you will need a number listed on your UCF ID card.
In many departments, a central coordinator orders all the textbooks for everyone; inquire whether this is true in your department. If you are joining UCF with little time before the start of the semester, you will want to check first that the books have been ordered, and physically check that they are available for students for purchase in the bookstore.
Desk copies are typically arranged through a campus representative from the book publisher. One common method to be put in touch with this person is to ask a colleague or your department chair to email that representative with your name and contact information. If time is critical before the semester, you can arrange to acquire a desk copy of the textbook from the UCF bookstore. Your department chair or department administrative assistant can give you a letter that will enable you to pick up a copy of the text at the bookstore. When the desk copy you have ordered arrives, take it to your administrative assistant who will then deliver it to the bookstore to replace the one you were given.
To acquire your faculty ID card, which you will need on a regular basis, you can present your hire letter or contract at UCF Card Services. You will need a faculty ID card if you wish to use the Library. Also, to manually re-set your online passwords you will need a number that is printed on your faculty ID card.
Each UCF department or program is assigned a librarian who acts as the collection development liaison. The liaisons assist the faculty with collection recommendations, place orders on the department's behalf, and communicate with department faculty about collection needs, development plans, and notable new additions.
See the list of Library Liaisons here: http://library.ucf.edu/CollectionMgmt/CDlibrarians.php
Most (but not all) departments on campus use Outlook/Exchange email, with the address format first.last@ucf.edu. Your department must initiate the creation of an email account for you. After the account is created, you can access email from Outlook, or by using the web-based interface at http://webmail.ucf.edu.
Your designated ePAF Originator has been assigned the Outlook Requestor role. This role gives them the ability to request new accounts online. Only employees with Requestor role will have access to the PeopleSoft forms required to submit account requests for employees.
If you have any questions about account requests please contact the
Service Desk or visit the website http://www.servicedesk.ucf.edu for more
information.
The University does not have a set policy for minimum number of office hours to hold, though instructors are required to post their office hours. Some colleges and departments do have individual requirements; check with your department chair for guidance.
After you have your PID, you will be able to use many of the electronic resources available to faculty members, such as online rosters, photographs of your students, and course webpages:
Your course is part of a program of courses and its content includes program student learning objectives (even if this is a General Education Program course). Even if you "inherit" a syllabus from a previous instructor, it is important that you verify the required course objectives or student learning outcomes, and how all the pieces of the course (readings, activities, assignments, assessments) fit together to achieve these objectives and outcomes. Be sure you discuss these and other course requirements determined by the program faculty with your Chair before developing your syllabus.
The University does not have a required grade distribution/scale, and also does not stipulate whether faculty members must use plus/minus grading or flat grading (check with your department to see if there are program or college requirements). There is no A+ grade possible at UCF.
Grade submission occurs at myUCF under "View My Teaching Schedule." The grade roster will not be visible until the last week of classes. Instructors may choose to input grades individually or upload a spreadsheet.
"F" grades require reporting the student's last date of attendance. Incomplete ("I") grades require attendance reporting as well as filling out an Incomplete form. I-grades are to be used in case of end-of-semester emergency only.
Students reported for academic dishonesty in a given class are to receive a "Z" designation next to their letter grade (so transcript grade such as FZ or CZ are possible).
This section provides information about:
This section provides information about:
There are some worthwhile generic books on how to teach in higher education (McKeachie's Teaching Tips, Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis) available at the UCF Library and the Faculty Center's library, available for checkout. You may also wish to peruse this listing of books that discuss discipline-specific teaching methods.
The Faculty Center's primary mission is to support and promote faculty in their roles as teachers, researchers, scholars, and as members of UCF and the Central Florida community. Essential to such support is the enhancement of faculty success at any career stage and the promotion of collegiality. Our services, resources, and events are available to all university instructors, including full- and part-time faculty and graduate teaching assistants. We seek to promote 1) excellence in teaching and learning, 2) successful research and creative endeavors, 3) professional fulfillment, and 4) partnerships with other academic institutions and the regional, national and international community. In terms of services, the Faculty Center:
We encourage all faculty members to consider the Faculty Center as a haven and safe place at the university, where discussions are held in confidence. We welcome drop-ins, appointments, phone calls, and emails.
UCF faculty are encouraged to participate in seasonal and ongoing events at the Faculty Center. Our major events include two faculty development conferences internal to our university, one in summer and one in winter. The Summer Conference is sponsored by multiple offices including the Office of Diversity Initiatives and Office of International Studies, in addition to the Faculty Center.
We also recommend that you participate often in our faculty learning communities, which examine important and new topics in teaching and learning. Our monthly workshops offer a bevy of subjects, ranging from new technologies to eternal issues in classroom instruction. All events with the Faculty Center are free to participants.
Graham Worthy
College of Sciences
During my 22 years in academia, I've tried to excel at teaching, research, and service. I love interacting with students and mentoring them to achieve more than they realize they're capable of. As an undergraduate student, I was known to walk out of a lecture if l didn't think I was going to get s...
Sean Robb
College of Business Administration
I believe that every day my students should leave the classroom having felt the value of preparing for, attending, and participating in class. One way I try to achieve this is by conveying my enthusiasm for teaching and learning. I believe that enthusiasm is infectious and that it can stimulate interest in a topic...
Martha Garcia
College of Arts and Humanities
I consider teaching a vital part of my persona. I am a firm believer in applying teacher-student collaboration through instruction, research, and service. My teaching practice incorporates concepts and premises that I help learners apply pragmatically. I also believe my teaching functions in conjunction with the...
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