UB Champions Workplace Flexibility for Faculty, Joins American Council on Education's Challenge for Retaining Scholarly Talent
July 1, 2013
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The University of Baltimore will join the American Council on Education's National Challenge for Higher Education: Retaining a 21st Century Workforce, a campaign to engage the higher education community and to create a broader awareness of the positive institutional and faculty benefits of workplace flexibility. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this outreach effort builds on successful models of workplace flexibility that have succeeded in corporate America.
The campaign was launched in June by ACE, the coordinating body for all the nation's higher education associations. It encourages colleges and universities across the country to become Coalition Partners by signing a Statement of Support for Expanding Workplace Flexibility. UB President Robert L. Bogomolny has become a Coalition Partner and has expressed his support for this campaign.
As a Coalition Partner, Bogomolny joins a cohort of leading best-practice champions that recognize that workplace flexibility improves not only the lives of faculty and their families, but also improves UB’s ability to successfully compete for the best talent, thereby meeting our institutional strategic goals of increasing diversity and inclusion. Additionally, the cost savings to the University by retaining talented faculty have been proven in several studies.
"UB is committed to workplace flexibility for faculty as part of our strategic goal of making our University a preferred workplace," Bogomolny.said. "This builds on previous work we've done with the support of the Sloan Foundation in recognizing and meeting the needs of faculty, both today and in the future."
The campaign notes that the increasing numbers of faculty who care for children or the elderly necessitates a fundamental change in workplace culture in order to meet the needs of both institutions and their faculty. Flexible workplace policies and practices make this possible by enabling faculty to better balance their professional work and their personal lives. In turn, reduced turnover leads to increased commitment, engagement and ultimately increased productivity.
"Institutions that are thinking about the future and that want to compete globally are increasingly embracing workplace flexibility policies as a tool to recruit the best and brightest," said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. "The Coalition Partners in the National Challenge for Higher Education have taken a great step in indicating their commitment to policies that will ultimately help faculty and strengthen their institutions."
As a Coalition Partner, UB recognizes that flexibility policies are valuable talent recruiting tools that help meet the needs of the institution for diverse faculty. When presidents sign the Statement of Support for Expanding Workplace Flexibility, they commit to the following principles:
- to actively communicate the importance of workplace flexibility;
- to expand flexibility within their own institutions as a tool to advance mission;
- to educate leaders in strengthening skills for managing flexibility; and
- to change the culture so that flexibility is accepted broadly, implemented equitably, and made available to faculty throughout their careers.
Learn more and get periodic updates on the National Challenge for Higher Education.
Learn more about ACE.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.