Resources for Instructors


Appointment process

  • The initial hire and reappointment approval request is initiated by the Vice Chair for Undergraduate Affairs & Administration. Approval rests with the Associate Dean for Mathematical & Physical Sciences. Appointment recommendation paperwork is assembled and submitted by staff in room 175 Physics Building.
  • Once the appointment is approved, employment paperwork is submitted to a central HR/Payroll unit known as AUSSC. Much rests on getting the appointment approved and the employment entered into the payroll system since the lecturer will not be identified as the Instructor of Record (IOR) for a course in the campus student information system, BANNER, until that happens. Until the lecturer is named IOR, access to the learning management (course) site via Canvas will also not be possible.
  • For questions on the status of the appointment process, contact staff in room 175 Physics Building, or the Physics Department Manager Tracy Lade (tjlade@ucdavis.edu).

Computers and computer support

  • Temporary lecturers are expected to have their own computer.
  • IT HELP information is available on the Physics website, via the Intranet link at the top right of the browser. Email help@physics.ucdavis.edu for all computer assistance, or visit the IT Team in room 536 Physics Building.
  • Email: The lecturer’s @ucdavis.edu address will be added to lecturers@physics.ucdavis.edu email list by department staff in room 175 Physics Building.

Cheating or other misconduct

Copy services

  • The Physics Department’s primary copier is located in room 173 Physics Building (the mail room). See the receptionist in room 174 Physics Building to obtain a copy card.
  • The department recommends that large copy jobsbe sent to Reprographics Copy Services. Reprographics offers free pickup and delivery, and a quickturnaround. Jobs can also be submitted online. http://reprographics.ucdavis.edu/ Reprographics services will be billed to the Physics Department: contact Tracy Lade tjlade@ucdavis.edu for an account number.
  • Quick Copy Request Form: http://reprographics.ucdavis.edu/PDFs/QC_form.pdf

Emergency contact list for lecturers

  • Coordinated by Dina Zhabinskaya,dzhabinskaya@ucdavis.edu

Employee health and welfare benefits

Faculty Guide

  • The Office of the University Registrar publishes a faculty guide with “policies and procedures concerning faculty members and their relationship with student registration, classroom assignment, and other areas of responsibility”: http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/index.cfm

Grades

  • Final grades can be submitted to the UC Davis student information system, BANNER, via either the grade book within Canvas, or through http://classes.ucdavis.edu/grading/
  • A history of grade distribution for PHY and AST courses is available for review by instructors. Contact the Physics Department Undergraduate Program Coordinator via studentasst@physics.ucdavis.edu.
  • See the campus Faculty Guide for grading policies.

Homework submission boxes

  • See staff at the reception desk in room 174 Physics Building to be assigned a homework submission box for your class.

Instruction Workload Credit

Keys

  • Lecturers are provided with access to the building, their office, and department common areas, including the mail/copy room,meeting rooms, and the Lounge Lagrange.
  • See department staff in room 174 Physics Building for keys.

Learning management tool – Canvas

  • UC Davis uses Canvas by Instructure for its course/learning management system. Support for Canvas is coordinated and provided by UC Davis Academic Technology Services, and also by Instructure via a support line: 844-303-8285. The Canvas support line is staffed 24/7 for the 2016-17 academic year. See http://movetocanvas.ucdavis.edu/for general information, workshops, webinars, and forums.
  • In order to have access to the course site via Canvas, the lecturer must be identified as the Instructor of Record in BANNER. Contact the Undergraduate Academic Advisor Jason Sison at jcsison@ucdavis.eduto verify this has been done.

Mailbox

  • Each lecturer will be assigned a mailbox in room173 Physics Building. Campus and USPS mail is delivered and picked up three times per week, MWF.

New to the UC Davis community?

Office hours/review sessions

Office space

  • Given the limited availability of office space in the Physics Building, lecturers may be asked to share offices. Space assignments are made by the Department Manager, Tracy Lade.

Paychecks

  • Lecturers are paid monthly on the first business day of the month. When the first day of the month falls on a non-work day, payment is received on the last work day before the 1st of the month. We highly recommend signing up for direct deposit, but if a paper check is issued it will be mailed to the address on file for the employee in the payroll system UCPATH. Employees with questions about paychecks, start here:
    https://ucpath.ucdavis.edu/payroll-benefits

    Pay statements are provided via UCPATH:
    https://ucpath.ucdavis.edu

PHY 7 and PHY 9 resources and course basics

  • PHY 7 lead instructor: Dina Zhabinskaya (dzhabinskaya@ucdavis.edu)
  • PHY 9 lead instructor: Tom Weideman teweideman@ucdavis.edu
  • Before the start of each quarter, decide when the Discussion/Labs (Physics 7) or discussion sections (Physics 9) will start meeting and let the Graduate Program Coordinator (rm 174 Physics) know so that information can be added to the TA assignment sheet. When there are two tracks of the same Physics 7 class, the instructors should also decide whether to have joint TA meetings, and if so when/where. Otherwise many TAs -- especially first-years in the fall -- get confused when they don't have to teach until what is nominally their second or third section.
  • Lecturers for PHY 7 and PHY 9 are encouraged to seek out Dina and/or Tom with questions about those courses and how they’re run.
  • A Physics staff member is responsible for PHY 7 discussion/lab setups and can be found in room 2309 EPS Building, or call 530-752-0679.

Physics Intranet

  • General department resources are available via the Intranet. Follow the link from the Physics Department website’s home page, top right corner of the browser window.

Records Retention - student work

The instructor shall retain final examination materials, or a copy thereof, until the end of the next regular term, during which period students shall have access to their examinations. See Section 538.I. (Examinations) of the Academic Senate, Davis Division Regulations.

https://academicsenate.ucdavis.edu/bylaws-regulati...

Special accommodations for students

  • Special accommodations for students with learning disabilities. Instructors must provide accommodations for a student with a disability if the student presents a letter enumerating identified accommodations from the Student Disability Center (SDC).
  • Contact Physics staff for assistance reserving space for students with learning disabilities: email Reservations
  • Campus Testing Services Center (TSC) was developed as a resource for faculty and provides help to manage students in need of authorized exam accommodations. Faculty or TAs may complete an online request form to receive services from the TSC, either space and/or proctors. TSC staff have 5 days to review a request and provide a status update (either they can or cannot proctor the exam). See more information at the Testing Center website: https://testingcenter.ucdavis.edu
  • See SDC website for more general information: https://sdc.ucdavis.edu/
  • RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS
    UCD PPM210-50 provides policy information for granting schedule changes for exams to students requesting accommodation for religious creed.
    Policy

    A. The University accommodates requests for alternate examination dates, without penalty, at a timewhen the activity would not violate a student’s religious creed.
    B. Instructors must accommodate students’ requests for alternate examination dates for religiouscreed when accommodation does not impose an undue hardship that cannot reasonably beavoided.
    Instructor responsibilities:
    1. Attempt to schedule examinations to avoid conflicts with religious creed (seehttps://www.ucdavis.edu/calendar/diversity-inclusion/multicultural-calendar).
    2. Should provide a syllabus for the course that specifies exam dates.
    3. Consider all requests for the rescheduling of examinations for religious creed.
    4. Work in good faith directly with the student to find a mutually agreeable resolution to the scheduling conflict.
    5. If a resolution cannot be found, document the reason for rejecting any request, describing the nature of the undue hardship the request would impose and the reason the hardship cannot be avoided.

Student clubs

TA assignments

  • Teaching Assistant (TA) assignments are made by the Vice Chair for Graduate Affairs, in coordination with the Graduate Program Coordinator. Direct questions to Physics Grad Coordinator in room 174 Physics Building or via email at grad-info@ucdavis.edu.

Teaching evaluation

  • Student instructor and course evaluations are conducted at the end of each quarter. Evaluations for PHY 7 and PHY 9 are done online using the campus electronic course evaluation tool known as ACE. Evaluations are set up by the Physics Department Undergraduate Academic Advisor. The UG Academic Advisor also coordinates the distribution of completed evaluations and will make those available to course instructors and TAs after the final grade for the class has been submitted. To review completed student evaluations that have been made available to the instructor, go to http://eval.ucdavis.edu.
  • All lecturers will have at least one in-class observation by the Department’s Teaching Evaluation Committee each academic year. The in-class observation will become part of the annual review (see below).
  • Each temporary lecturer will receive an annual written review from the Vice Chair, Undergraduate Affairs & Administration each year.

Teaching support for lectures and labs

  • Physics staff member Matthew Smith provides lecture support in the form of physics demonstrations and audio visual support. Contact him in room 50 Roessler Hall, via email at msmith@physics.ucdavis.edu or call 530-752-2223.
  • Physics staff member Brian Barnett provides technical support for all physics upper division labs. Contact him in room 160 Roessler Hall, via email at barnett@physics.ucdavis.edu,or call 530-752-0679.

Telephones

  • There is one campus phone in each lecturer office. On-campus dialing requires the 7-digit phone number. Off-campus dialing requires the full 10-digit phone number.

Textbooks

  • UC Davis Campus Equitable Access Program

    UC Davis offers students access to textbooks digitally via the Equitable Access program (https://ucdavisstores.com/equitableaccess).

    While digital text for enrolled courses will be active through the Bookshelf e-reader in Canvas for (at least) the duration of the term, students can create their own (free) VitalSource Bookshelf account and store the textbook on their own personal Bookshelf indefinitely (or at least as long as VitalSource remains in business). Using a VitalSource Bookshelf account, students can download course text to up to two computers AND up to two mobile devices. Downloading to VitalSource Bookshelf lets students use the text offline, and the textbook is available forever in the mobile and web versions of Bookshelf.

    When no digital version of a textbook is available, students enrolled in the campus Equitable Access program can pick up print versions at the Campus Store for free (except for shipping costs). The student then owns the books and does not need to return them to the Bookstore.

    Text adoption is coordinated by the Physics UG Academic Advisor, room 174C Physics Building. Email studentservices@physics.ucdavis.edu.