Resources for Pandemic Impact and Recovery

This webpage gathers information about University resources available to assist faculty with continuing short-term and long-term mitigation and recovery, grouped according to the five broad areas of support identified by the Faculty Pandemic Impact Response Workgroup in its Fall 2021 report. Faculty members who need assistance determining eligibility, finding additional resources or getting questions answered are encouraged to email faculty@northwestern.edu.

Explore Resources

Career Recovery

COVID-19 Research Recovery Grant Program: Provides up to $35,000 (Purple grants) or up to $10,000 (White grants) to assist pre-tenure assistant professors and tenured associate professors whose research or creative work has been markedly delayed, interrupted or otherwise disrupted by the pandemic.
Provost Grants for Research in Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts: Expanded funding and prioritized instructional/clinical faculty, caregivers, performing/creative faculty and those impacted by COVID-19.
Career Development and Writing Support Grants: New flexible grants for faculty who wish to hire professional editors, writing coaches, and utilize other programs and services to support recovery of research or creative work.
Summer Writing Retreats: Weeklong writing retreats to provide time and space for writing.
On-site Writing Group: A weekly on-site writing group for time, space and accountability.
COVID-19 Tenure Clock extension: All pre-tenure faculty in their probationary period during 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 were granted a one-year automatic clock extension and are eligible to request an additional extension.

Health and Well-being

Faculty Wellness Week: A variety of in-person and remote options for physical and mental health, including access to Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, offered free of charge.
Faculty Well-being Resources: Information on consultation and counseling, faculty well-being programming, access to virtual meditation, yoga, and exercise classes, and other resources.
Faculty Wellness Program: Contact facultywellness@northwestern.edu.
Support for Student Well-being Resources: Information on how to respond to students in distress and provide resources for a variety of mental health, behavioral, and academic concerns

Caregiving

Portable Caregiving Grant: New grants of up to $1,500 to help mitigate costs of caregiving to eligible faculty and staff for in-home care, home-based centers or centers other than partner centers.
Cariloop: Cariloop is a comprehensive caregiving facilitator with a track record of excellent customer service that pairs licensed and certified healthcare coaches with clients to assist with finding the caregiving resources they need to manage care transitions and life events. Available to Northwestern’s benefits-eligible faculty beginning June 1, 2022.
Center-based fee assistance: Fee assistance for select partner childcare centers for eligible faculty and staff has been expanded to include part-time enrollment.
Backup Care: Provides short-term care when regular childcare or eldercare falls through. Access to a subsidized rate has been extended to up to 10 days per year for all benefits-eligible faculty.
Sitters and Tutors Network: Provides a new online site to find student-provided sitting and tutoring services for the Northwestern community.
Northwestern Working Parents Network: Join this group to connect and share and to be informed of all resources and events for families and parents.

Communication

Office of the Provost Website: Redesigned to refresh content and improve navigability in February 2022, the Office of the Provost website provides information about the strategic priorities of the office, faculty resources, faculty honors, policies and procedures, news and announcements, events and much more.
Faculty Newsletters: Faculty newsletters from the Office of the Provost provide information about grants, trainings and other opportunities and supports for faculty.
Faculty Resources Email Account: Faculty members are encouraged to use this email address, which is monitored by the Associate Provost for Faculty team, for inquiries about personal and professional resources.
Webinars: Provost Kathleen Hagerty hosts quarterly webinars for faculty that address issues that are specific to faculty interests and offer an opportunity for faculty to ask questions and provide feedback.

Institutional Response

Northwestern is evaluating its options regarding pandemic impacts in evaluation and promotion.
Some schools have made changes to instructional and clinical faculty workloads.
Office of the Ombudsperson: Sarah Klaper was appointed the first University ombudsperson in August 2021.

Additional Resources

Please visit Faculty Resources for a comprehensive guide to resources for faculty, including career development programming and work-life supports.

Questions?

If you are not sure of your eligibility, are searching for other resources to meet your needs, or have additional questions, please email faculty@northwestern.edu.