AAUP National Resources

What do I do if my research is being affected by the political climate?

We met at the Frederickson Lab on Oct. 15, 2025 with Dr. Margaret McClure of the Meditz College of Arts & Science and the Provost's Office and Dr. Alison Kris of the Egan School of Nursing and the IRB Committee to talk about how faculty members who have experienced pressure on their funding or research agendas, fields, ability to travel, and personal circumstances might pivot, re-see their work, or use campus connections to adapt to our current circumstances. We discussed the possible long-term effect this will have on the pipeline of research, and the history of lower levels of research funding in different presidential administrations. We shared that individuals making cases for tenure and promotion can discuss major research roadblocks in their narratives. Related to this concern, the FWC has contacted the Rank and Tenure Committee to suggest allowing "Research Impact Statements" regarding the current era. Other ideas:

• If a faculty member needs to put a book project on hold, for example, in cases where a research agenda might be specifically risk, then the faculty member can discuss that in their narrative.

• Faculty members who feel impacted should reach out to a mentor in their field for advice, as well as to their chair and dean.

• Faculty members should reach out to the Office of Research and Grants to get advice on leads for future research support and other funding mechanisms for their work. Margaret is also happy to meet with faculty members to brainstorm.

• Another approach is to launch a more long-term research project, with the publication of research timed to hopefully hit at a time when sharing of topics might be less risky in terms of personal exposure.

• Scholars can pivot by focusing on scholarship of teaching and learning as a way to explore opportunities for publication related to pedagogy in their fields. Dr. Mike Andreychik, Faculty Liaison for Research, is leading efforts in this area.

• Dr. Kris shared the many ways that researchers who use human subjects can improve their data collection and use of Qualtrics to protect the identities of people involved in this research. If you have questions about this, please reach out to her at akris@fairfield.edu.

How do I switch my AAUP profile to my personal email?

If you receive national AAUP emails at an address ending in .edu or .gov, please ​log into our member portal​ and change your preferred email to a personal address. Correspondence to and from work emails can be accessed by the employer or via public records requests. You can leave your institutional email on your record so we can run a report to unsubscribe it from emails from our email system, which is separate. If you do get duplicate emails (to both your personal and institutional addresses), please email ​communications@aaup.org​ and we will get it fixed.

• Go to ​https://members.aaup.org/s/login/​.

• Login with your email (the email where you receive national AAUP communications) and password.

• You can click the “Forgot your password?” link beneath the “Log in” button to reset it if necessary.

• Once you’re logged in, scroll down to the second header “Communication Information.”

• Click Change (in red on the right of the screen).

• Add your personal email.

• Select “Personal” under Preferred Email Type.

• Add cell phone under “Mobile Phone” (if you choose)

• Click the yellow save button at the bottom of the “Communications Information” section.

• Please also add your discipline if you would like to by following the same process in the top section, called “Contact Information”.