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Taking Care of Your Family

The Office of the Provost is dedicated to making sure  all faculty members have access to resources that help balance work with home life. Explore the following resources to get started.

Family-Friendly Benefits

The Office of Work/Life Resources, a division of the Office of Human Resources, has a wide range of programming available to assist faculty with a diverse array of family and personal needs. These include assistance with finding and paying for childcare and eldercare and more. For the 2020-2021 academic year, Northwestern will offer a subsidized childcare backup care program through Care.com to find vetted in-home or center-based backup care providers, when regular care falls through. Subsidized senior and adult backup care is also available. The YourLife Well-being program offers the Employee Assistance Program and many other resources for your physical, emotional, and financial well-being. In addition, join your colleagues for the Faculty Well-Being Conversations series—a monthly faculty forum for conversation, sharing, and connection, focused on well-being, boundary-setting, and stress reduction.

Employment Assistance for Faculty Spouses/Partners

Northwestern has partnered with the Greater Chicago Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (GC HERC), which includes other area educational institutions such as the University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, Argonne, and Fermilab.  Through the sharing of information and resources, the GC HERC supports its member institutions in attracting outstanding faculty, administrators, and staff, with a particular focus on assisting dual-career couples. GC HERC contains a web-based search engine that includes listings for both faculty and staff jobs at all member institutions and is available at no charge to anyone seeking employment in higher education. The search engine allows users to link two profiles and find jobs that match both search criteria.   

Northwestern Career Advancement invites all faculty and their spouses/partners to attend any career-related events and programs on both the Evanston and Chicago campuses.  In addition, spouses and partners can contact NCA for a consultation appointment with the Executive Director.  Please have your academic department office email Mark Presnell, the Executive Director of Northwestern Career Advancement, to request arrangements on your behalf. 

Dependent Care Professional Travel Grant

The Dependent Care Travel Grant offers funds to cover your dependent care costs incurred during short-term travel to attend meetings, conferences, or other professional development opportunities.

Family Leaves

Childbearing, adoption and childrearing leave policies vary according to one's faculty category. Find the policy that pertains to you.