MUFA General Meeting

The General Meeting of the McMaster University Faculty Association will be
held on:

Monday, December 11th, 2017

10:00 a.m.
Council Chambers
(Gilmour Hall, Room 111)

You can obtain the meeting package by clicking here.

Two MUFA Members Win OCUFA Teaching Awards

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has announced the winners of its prestigious Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards.

Please join us in congratulating Kimberly Dej (Associate Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences), and Milena Head (Professor of Information Systems) for winning this prestigious award.

“Professors and academic librarians are at the heart of our universities. They challenge and encourage their students to embrace new ideas and build a brighter future,” said OCUFA President Gyllian Phillips. “This year’s distinguished winners are all dedicated to and passionate about their work, and OCUFA is honoured to recognize them with teaching and librarianship awards.”

Check out the 2016-2017 Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards for more information. Or visit MacPherson’s OCUFA Awards page to see a list of past winners from McMaster University.

Teaching Staff Members of Board of Governors, Senate
and University Planning Committee

Teaching Staff Members of Board of Governors, 2017-2018

Rafael Kleiman, Faculty of Engineering, kleiman
Deborah Sloboda, Faculty of Health Sciences, sloboda
Delsworth Harnish, Faculty of Health Sciences, harnishd
Herbert Schellhorn, Faculty of Science, schell

Teaching Staff Members of Senate, 2017-2018

Faculty of Business
Vishwanath Baba, baba (2018)
Narat Charupat, charupat, (2019)
Aaron Schat, schata (2020)

Faculty of Health Sciences
Pamela Baxter, baxterp, (2018)
Sheila Harms, harmssh (2018)
Brenda Vrkljan, vrkljan (2019)
Jonathan Schertzer, schertze (2019)
Alison Holloway, hollow (2020)
Anne Niec, niece (2020)

Faculty of Humanities
David Clark, dclark (2018)
Judy Major-Girardin, girardin (2018)
Diane Enns, ennsd (2019)
Catherine Anderson, canders (2019)
Martin Beckmann, beckmam (2020)
Nancy Doubleday, doublen (2020)

Faculty of Science
David Earn, earn (2018)
Graeme Luke, luke (2018)
Sigal Balshine, sigal (2019)
Ana Campos, camposa (2019)
Ian Dworkin, dworkin (2020)
Erik Sorensen, Sorensen (2020)

Faculty of Engineering
Carlos Filipe, filipec (2018)
Spencer Smith, smiths (2019)
Kiruba Kirubarajan, kiruba (2020)

Faculty of Social Sciences
James Gillett, gillett (2018)
Stephanie Ross, stephross (2018)
Philippa Carter, carterph (2019)
Meridith Griffin, griffmb (2019)
Robert O’Brien, obrienr (2020)
Victor Satzewich (2020)

Elected MUFA Members on the University Planning Committee, 2017-2018

Juliet Daniel, Faculty of Science, danielj (2018)
Steven Hanna, Faculty of Health Sciences, hannas (2019)
Alison McQueen, Faculty of Humanities, ajmcq (2019)
Gillian Goward, Faculty of Science, goward (2020)
Julie Richardson, Faculty of Health Sciences, jrichard (2020)

The domain name for all e-mail addresses is mcmaster.ca

Remuneration Agreement – July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2019

The voting results for the Remuneration Agreement question are as follows:

I hereby approve the Remuneration Agreement for the period of July 1^st, 2017 to June 30^th, 2019 reached in the Joint Administration/Faculty Association Committee on March 13^th, 2017.

Option:                 Votes:
YES                       443
NO                        34

VOTER SUMMARY

TOTAL:                477

For those interested, you may review the certified results from Simply Voting.

The details of the agreement can be found in the Joint Committee Agreement.

MUFA Annual General Meeting

Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
3:00 p.m.
Great Hall
The University Club

The Annual General Meeting of the McMaster University Faculty Association will be
held on Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 in the Great Hall of the University Club.

You can obtain the meeting package by clicking on the link below:

http://macfaculty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/AGM-25-April-2017-Meeting-Package.pdf

We look forward to seeing you there!

MUFA Award for Outstanding Service – Call for Nominations

PURPOSE

The purpose of the MUFA Award for Outstanding Service is to provide annual recognition¹ for faculty and professional librarians who have made an outstanding contribution to the mission of the University through the provision of exceptional service to faculty, librarians, staff and/or students.

THE AWARD

Each year there will be a maximum of three awards in the amount of $1,500.

ELIGIBILITY

The Awards are open to all Full Members of the McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA)².

PROCEDURES

1. The MUFA Executive will appoint a selection committee to be drawn from amongst the categories of faculty, librarians, staff and students (undergraduate and graduate).

• The Committee shall be comprised of no less than four, and no more than seven members, including the Chair.
• The MUFA Past President normally serves as Chair and is not counted as the faculty representative.
• The Secretary to the Committee will be the MUFA Executive Director.
• A quorum for a Committee meeting shall be four members in attendance, including the Chair

2.  Nominations

• There will be a call for nominations through the University and MUFA electronic distribution lists, in the MUFA Newsletter, and on the MUFA webpage.
• Nominations must be emailed to MUFA (Hamilton Hall, Room 103A or emailed (mufa@mcmaster.ca) no later than February 24th, 2017.
• The nomination must include a summary of not more than 750 words highlighting the candidate’s accomplishments.
• Each nomination must be supported by a minimum of two and not more than four reference letters.  The reference letters must be e-mailed or mailed to MUFA, either through the nominator or directly from the reference. Reference letters should not exceed 500 words.
• The position and contact information for the nominator and all references must be clearly indicated.

3. The Committee will review the nominations and will make the final decision regarding the selection of the award recipients. Some of the factors considered by the Committee will include:

• Enhancement of the reputation of McMaster University
• Provision of excellent service
• Demonstrated innovation
• Breadth and depth of impact
• The enhancement of student success
• The ability to establish and maintain effective and harmonious working relationships
• Evident acceptance of diversity and inclusivity at McMaster
• Strength and diversity of supporting references

4. The faculty/librarians selected to receive the awards will be invited to attend a special reception normally held in conjunction with the MUFA Annual General Meeting and will be presented with their awards at that time. Pictures of the individual recipients and a brief summary of the rationale for their awards will be published in the MUFA Newsletter and on the MUFA webpage.

5. Each eligible faculty/librarian who was nominated for an award will receive a letter of commendation from the MUFA President.

_____________________________________________

¹MUFA faculty/librarians are not eligible for the President’s Awards for Outstanding Service, awarded by he President of McMaster University

²Those holding academic administrative appointments with the rank of Assistant Dean or higher in the current academic year are not eligible for the Award.

44th Annual OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Award
Call for Nominations

The internal deadline has been extended to March 31, 2017

Each year, OCUFA recognizes outstanding teachers and academic librarians in Ontario universities through its Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards. The recipients are selected by the OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards Committee.

Categories

• Teaching, in the context of the OCUFA awards, embraces virtually all levels of instruction – graduate and undergraduate teaching, continuing education and faculty development. Similarly, proficiency in teaching may extend well beyond the classroom, the laboratory or the faculty member’s office. Activities such as course design, curriculum development, organization of teaching programs and other significant forms of leadership are often important contributions to the instructional process. Those who excel in any of these are eligible for the OCUFA Teaching Awards.
• Academic librarianship, in the context of the OCUFA Awards, embraces all aspects of librarianship that contribute to the scholarly achievement of all members of the university community. Activities such as development and delivery of services, provision of educational materials, collection development and management and other contributions to academic librarianship are important to the intellectual functioning of the university. Those who excel in any of these are eligible for an OCUFA Academic Librarianship Award.

Recipients of OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards are guests of OCUFA at a special awards ceremony, where they are presented with a citation and gift to commemorate their achievement. OCUFA pays accommodation and travel costs from the home university for each recipient and a guest to attend the awards ceremony.

Eligibility

The OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards recognize individuals with exceptional contributions to the higher education community. Group nominations are not accepted.

A candidate must meet both of the following prerequisites to be considered:

1. Candidate is a member of an OCUFA affiliated faculty association
2. Candidate was not previously nominated or Candidate was nominated in a previous year, but did not win or Candidate was nominated twice consecutively, but did not win. At least two years have passed since the last nomination.

Posthumous nominations can be made for those who passed away in the award year. For example, if the award year is 2015-2016, nominations can only be made for those who passed away between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.

The Nomination Process

1. A 1-2 page statement of support is completed by a nominator (or a group of nominators) who can attest to the nominee’s exceptional commitment to the higher education community. Nominations can be submitted by members of faculty (including Chairs and Deans), librarians, students or alumni.
2. Nominators submit the nomination statement and a copy of the nominee’s CV to mufa@mcmaster.ca and mi@mcmaster.ca by March 31, 2017.
3. The MUFA Executive Committee will review the nominations for approval.
4. The MacPherson Institute will contact the nominees in early March and encourage them to develop and submit a nomination brief by May 26, 2017 according to the OCUFA award’s guidelines available at http://ocufa.on.ca/assets/OCUFA-Teaching-Award-Guidelines-Feb-2016.pdf and http://ocufa.on.ca/assets/OCUFA-Librarianship-Award-Guidelines-Feb-2016_final.pdf.

At the January 11, 2017 MUFA General Meeting changes to the MUFA By-Laws and MUFA Constitution were approved.  This means that MUFA will now conduct its voting via online balloting.

If you have any questions, please contact the MUFA office.

MUFA Proposes Expansion of the Teaching Stream

In 2007, after a lengthy period of discussion, consultation and policy development, the Teaching Stream was created at McMaster University.  This was in large part intended to replace the practice of annual renewals of long-term Contractually Limited Appointments (CLAs) with permanent positions, acknowledging the important role played by teaching-focused faculty.  At the time, there were 583 faculty in the Tenure Stream and 97 CLAs (14.3% of total faculty) in the five Faculties outside of the Faculty of Health Sciences¹.  By agreement between MUFA and the Administration, 51 Teaching Stream positions (8.75% of the Tenure Stream) were created across the five Faculties.  It was agreed and formalized in SPS A9 that future Teaching Stream allocations be made by mutual agreement between MUFA and the Administration.  Many CLAs were converted to the Teaching Stream and a limit of six years was placed on the total duration a CLA could be held by an individual.  Any new Teaching Stream hires would not be by conversion, but only by the usual process of open searches.

Since 2007, the Teaching Stream has expanded as anticipated.  The proportion in the Tenure Stream has modestly decreased and the proportion of CLAs has decreased and now stabilized at ~8% of total faculty, as illustrated below.  Despite the short term intent of the CLA position many appointments still run for a total of six years and some faculty and administrators mistakenly believe that these positions can be converted to Teaching Stream positions.  Over the last 10 years, disturbingly, the number of total faculty (and Tenure Stream faculty) has remained essentially unchanged despite the increase in overall student enrolment by 23%.  Varying growth and contraction amongst the five Faculties means that the initial allocation of Teaching Stream positions is no longer well matched to the Faculty demographics.

MUFA represents² Tenure Stream faculty, Teaching Stream faculty and CLAs and believes that the University and our members would be better served by a proportional approach to the distribution of faculty appointments.  We believe that it is essential to maintain a minimum proportion of Tenure Stream faculty to maintain the excellence of our research-focused student-centred university.  In this, we are guided by the Report of the Joint Committee Sub-Committee to Review Issues Relating to Contractually Limited Appointments, approved by the Senate and the Board of Governors in 2006, which states:

By recommending the introduction of Teaching Professors we are not recommending that the University gradually move away from regular tenure appointments. There should be some limit placed on the use of non-tenured appointments at the Faculty level. In particular, we recommend that the proportion of tenured and tenure stream faculty within the complement of full-time equivalent faculty should not shrink from current levels.

We strongly support an expansion of the proportion of Teaching Stream faculty from the levels set in 2007, acknowledging their important role in teaching and pedagogy at McMaster.  CLAs, on the other hand, are intended to fill short term teaching needs.  Their defining characteristic – precarity – runs counter to a university committed to the aspirational values of Forward with Integrity.  We proposed in 2012 and again recently in 2016 a proportional approach to the distribution of faculty appointments, allowing for the (hopeful) growth of the faculty complement.  This would provide the Deans greater flexibility to plan accordingly.

Our proposal would lead to a significant expansion of the Teaching Stream for all five Faculties and also help to stimulate a thoughtful discussion about the diverse roles of that stream in the University following the 2014 Report from the Committee To Review Policies And Procedures Surrounding The Appointment Category Of Teaching-Stream Faculty.  Though both of our proposals in 2012 and 2016 were rejected, MUFA will continue to advocate for an expansion of the Teaching Stream, along with a simple formulaic approach to allocate the proportions of Tenure Stream, Teaching Stream and CLA faculty.

Notes

¹The Teaching Stream in the Faculty of Health Sciences is not governed by SPS A9 and there is no limit to the number of Teaching Stream faculty.  MUFA has no role in Teaching Stream allocations in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

²Additional teaching is also provided by Sessional Faculty, who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3906, Unit 2, and as such are not under the purview of MUFA.

Data is from the IRA database, for October 1^st of the year shown.

MUFA General Meeting

Wednesday, January 11th, 2017
9:30 a.m.
Council Chambers
(Gilmour Hall, Room 111)

The General Meeting of the McMaster University Faculty Association will be
held on Wednesday, January 11th, 2017 in the Council Chambers,
Gilmour Hall, Room 111.

You can obtain the meeting package by clicking on the link below:

http://macfaculty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/GMMeetingPackage11Jan2017.pdf

We look forward to seeing you there!