FAR Faculty Quickstart Guide
Most faculty will manage the majority of their information in the following areas of FAR:
- Profile
- Activities
- Vita & Biosketches
🎦 FAR faculty login & tips for data entry
Profile
The Profile area of FAR contains the following sections. See farther below for tips to help you make the most of your time working in the Profile area.
- Personal Information
- Contact Information
- Biographical Narrative
- Current Appointment
- Academic Appointments
- Administrative and Other Appointments
- Degrees
- Fellowships, Internships, Residency
- Certifications
- Licensures
- Additional Work Experience
- Areas of Expertise and Interests
Tips for working in FAR’s Profile area
Use the Profile area’s Jump to Section button (top left) and Show All and Hide All options (top right).
- The Profile area has a combination of editable and non-editable information. Sections which cannot be edited contain a lock symbol. The following sections display data which is imported from Workday, so cannot be edited in Interfolio:
- Personal Information: First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name, Suffix
- Contact Information: Office Number, Office Building, Email Address
Current Appointment: Current Academic Rank(s); Position Title(s)
✓ When incorrect data displays in an uneditable field, this information must be corrected in Workday. For assistance, please contact your area’s HR team.
✓ To leave an uneditable section and return to the Profile page, click the Cancel button in the lower right.
Activities
The Activities area is where faculty will input most of their information. Instructions are provided at the top of all pages, throughout the Activities area.
- General Activities instructions appear at the top of the overall Activities page.
- Activity-specific instructions are provided at the top of each activity section.
Vitas and Biosketches
To access the OSU Standard Faculty CV report, which aligns with the OAA core dossier outline (opens PDF):
Click Vitas & Biosketches, then click Legacy Vitas to access the Vitas & Biosketches page
To open the CV report, click on the eye icon at the far right of the OSU Standard Faculty CV, under the Vita Admin heading near the top
FAR Workflow Tips
Here are some organizational and time-saving tips to help faculty input their information in Interfolio’s Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR) tool. Much of this information is displayed in the OSU Standard Faculty CV report, which is designed to generate a summary of a faculty member’s research, service, and teaching activities, and configured to align with the OAA core dossier outline (PDF).
Please note
This resource complements FAR Faculty Quickstart Guide , a separate resource that provides an overview of the main areas that most faculty will use in FAR.
This guide does not provide guidance on appointment, promotion and tenure, or review requirements, which may vary by college or TIU. For guidance on where activities should appear, or what citation format to use, please contact the Interfolio Coordinators in your college or TIU.
Managing your activities data is an ongoing process. The more often you update your information, the less “heavy lifting” you will have to do when you are required to submit documentation for a review, promotion or tenure process.
Assemble your materials and tools
To make the most of your time, it is helpful to have the following available as you work:
- Strong and persistent Internet connection: if your connection is weak or sporadic, you may not be saving your work
- Laptop or PC with up-to-date software (one or two browsers and Microsoft Word)
- Electronic copy of your current CV (e.g., in Microsoft Word or a PDF)
- Electronic copy of OAA’s current core dossier outline (PDF)
- At least one monitor or screen; two are helpful but not essential
Getting started
The first few times you access Interfolio, try to set aside at least 30 minutes for each visit, and set yourself the following goals:
- Learn how to log in
- Understand where you need to go to input your activities information
- Know how to pull up your CV report and refresh it, to confirm it displays newly added data
✓ To see where to input your activities information and for guidance accessing your CV report: VIEW: FAR faculty login and activity tips
Managing your data entry
Use multiple separate browser windows and/or tabs to help you move from place to place. Keep your electronic CV open (Word window 1) to help you input an activity in FAR (browser window/tab 1), then move to Interfolio’s CV report (browser window/tab 2) to refresh your view and confirm your new entry appears on the report.
Other tips
Many faculty report that the following approaches have helped maximize their productivity:
- Try to schedule small blocks of time when you can anticipate fewer distractions
- Divide your work into bite-sized pieces you can complete in 15-20 minutes
- Try to get a little bit done each day to help yourself learn faster and sustain momentum
- To sustain momentum, stop when you still have a bit to do, and know how to do it
- Use a “parking lot” (such as a notebook or separate Word file) for ideas and notes you need to capture but which aren’t on point
- Take notes as you go and save them for future reference (e.g., things you wish you’d known ahead of time; methods for streamlining your work)
Above all, give yourself plenty of time. Many people find it helpful to allocate time to work on different sections from day to day, to limit data entry fatigue. You may also need to consult at least once with faculty affairs experts in your college or TIU.