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!

Revisions to Research Leave Policies SPS C1 and SPS C2

On October 12 and 20, 2016 both McMaster’s Senate and Board of Governors approved the revisions to policies governing research leave for both tenure/CAWAR faculty and permanent faculty.   The new versions of the policies can be found here:

http://www.mcmaster.ca/policy/faculty/Appointments/SPS_C1-Research-Leave-Policy-Tenured-and-CAWAR.pdf and
http://www.mcmaster.ca/policy/faculty/Appointments/SPS_C2-Research-Leave-Policy-Permanent-Faculty.pdf

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

Board of Governors Members Elected by Teaching Staff 2016-2017

Rafael Kleiman, Faculty of Engineering, kleiman
Robert Pelton, Faculty of Engineering, petlonrh
Del Harnish, Faculty of Health Sciences, harnishd
Herb Schellhorn, Faculty of Science, schell

Teaching Staff Members of Senate, 2016-2017

Faculty of Business
Patricia Wakefield, wakefie, (2017)
Vishwanath Baba, baba (2018)
Carat Charupat, charupat, (2019)

Faculty of Health Sciences
Alison Holloway, hollow (2017)
Lehana Thabane, thabanl (2017)
Colleen McKey, mckeyc (2018)
Sheila Harms, harmssh (2018)
Brenda Vrkljan, vrkljan (2019)
Jonathan Schertzer, schertze (2019)

Faculty of Humanities
Janice Hladki, hladkij (2017)
Christine Quail, quailc (2017)
David Clark, dclark (2018)
Violettta Igneski, igneski (2018)
Catherine Anderson, canders (2019)
Michele George, georgem (2019)

Faculty of Science
Matthew Valeriote, valeriot, (2017)
Jianping Xu, jpxuc (2017)
David Earn, earn (2018)
Graeme Luke, luke (2018)
Sigal Balshine, sigal  (2019)
Ana Campos (2019)

Faculty of Engineering
Ravi Selvaganapathy, selvaga (2017)
Carlos Filipe, filipec (2018)
Spencer Smith, smiths (2019)

Faculty of Social Sciences
Bridget O’Shaughnessy, oshaubr (2017)
Dorothy Pawluch, pawluch (2017)
Shafiqul Huque, huqueas (2018)
Petra Rethamann, rethman (2018)
Philippa Carter, carterph (2019)
Meridith Griffin, griffmb (2019)

Elected MUFA Members on the University Planning Committee, 2016-2017

Tina Moffat, Faculty of Social Sciences, moffatcs (2017)
Wendy Schobilgen, Faculty of Humanities, schrobw (2017)
Juliet Daniel, Faculty of Science, danielj (2018)
Steven Hanna, Faculty of Health Sciences, hannas (2019)
Alison McQueen, Faculty of Humanities, ajmcq (2019)

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

CAUT Dedicated Service Award Winners

The MUFA Executive is pleased to announce that our nominees

Trevor Chamberlain
(Finance and Business Economics)

Sherman Cheung
(Finance and Business Economics)

Graeme Luke
(Physics and Astronomy)

Marc-Andre Letendre
(Economics)

have received the CAUT Dedicated Service Award in recognition of their exceptional service to the Faculty Association.
They deserve the thanks of the MUFA membership for their efforts on your behalf.

MUFA Service Award Winners

Following the Annual General Meeting, a special reception was held in honour of the recipients of the MUFA Award for Outstanding Service. The awards were presented to Jane Aronson, Rick Monture, and Sheila Sammon in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the University. The selection committee, chaired by the Past President Rafael Kleiman, included Martin Dooley (Economics), Brandon Johnston (TMG), Olga Perkovic (Library), Alex Wilson (Undergraduate Student) and Emily Heikoop (Unifor) Dr. Kleiman read the following citations on behalf of the selection committee.

Jane Aronson joined the School of Social Work in 1989. Jane’s dedication and service to the University and the Hamilton community have been significant and sustained since that time. Her service has at its core a concern with equity and the promotion of inclusive programs, policies and spaces for the University and local community.
Her formal positions within the University have included serving as the Director of the School of Social Work, in the Senate, on the Senate Executive, Senate Committee on Appointments, Board of Governors, Graduate Council, Arts Research Board, Faculty Grievance Review Panel, and various Selection Committees.
She also served as an advisor for Women’s Studies, as a member of the MUFA Status of Women Committee, on the Safer Space Committee, the McMaster Committee Against Homophobia and Heterosexism, and on the Gender Equity Implementation Committee. Most recently, Jane co-Chaired the Anti-Discrimination/Sexual Harassment Policies and Procedures Review Panel and is currently Chairing the Sexual Assault Policy Committee and Sexual Violence Response Protocol Committee. Jane has also been a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community (PACBIC) for over ten years, serving as its Chair for the last five years. This work has truly transformed the University and institutionalized those positive changes.
Jane was pivotal in the creation of the McMaster Community Poverty Initiative, has served as a member of the Hamilton Community Diversity Committee and since 2010 as a member of its Board. Through such external service Jane has been “an excellent ambassador for the University within the City of Hamilton”, according to President Patrick Deane.
Her accomplishments in this service undoubtedly come from her approach to the work and others involved. As noted by one of her colleagues, “Jane brings deep knowledge of the area, humour, warmth and a remarkable set of skills that allow her to keep committee members motivated, to ask challenging questions and to produce results in a timely manner.”

Rick Monture joined the Department of English & Cultural Studies and the Indigenous Studies Program in 2010. However, his affiliation with the McMaster community significantly predates that, with his undergraduate and graduate work conducted at McMaster University.
Rick was instrumental in making the case for the creation of the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster in 1992, as well as the development of partnership agreements between McMaster University and the Six Nations Polytechnic in 1993. He is currently the Academic Director of the Indigenous Studies Program and was recently successful in securing MTCU approval for McMaster’s Honours BA in Indigenous Studies.
His ongoing work to develop the Indigenous Studies Program has created safe Indigenous spaces, fostered a sense of Indigenous pride and agency at the University and enhanced McMaster’s reputation as a place of Indigenous knowledge and as an innovative centre for Indigenous scholarship and education. Rick has helped to increase diversity on campus in many ways, including the successful recruitment of new tenure-track Indigenous faculty members, which in turn has significantly increased enrollment of Indigenous graduate students. He has also served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community (PACBIC) since 2008 and the President’s Committee on Indigenous Issues since 1993.
Rick has built bridges between communities and institutions and is noted for his ‘inter-institutional diplomacy’. His colleagues remarked on his ‘ability to establish and maintain effective and harmonious working relationships’. They also described his “tireless diplomacy, and capacity for creating and maintaining peaceful working relationships” and “his creative, diplomatic and wise work”. ‘Tireless’ is a common thread regarding Rick, since he is pulled in so many directions through the many intertwined communities he serves.

Sheila Sammon joined the School of Social Work in 1985. Sheila’s exceptional teaching has been twice recognized by receiving the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the OCUFA Teaching Award and most recently the MSU Lifetime Achievement Award. OCUFA’s Awards Committee was impressed with Sheila’s commitment to student engagement through field practice, class exercise, and by pushing the boundaries of teaching and learning. Throughout her teaching career, she has focused on integrating theory and practice with an emphasis on field placements.
Integrated with her teaching and research, a constant theme in her contributions has been engagement of the academy with the entirety of the University community and fostering engagement of the University with the City of Hamilton. She is one of the founding co-chairs of the McMaster Community Poverty Initiative and a member of the original steering committee for the McMaster Discovery Project. She was a member of the Community Engagement Task Force, one of the four working groups created to realize the vision within the President’s Forward with Integrity document. One of the key recommendations of the Task Force was the formation of the Network for Community Campus Partnerships, Chaired by Sheila, whose purpose is to provide a shared framework for McMaster to support its goals related to community engagement. Sheila was a natural appointment as the inaugural Director of Community Engagement in 2014. Sheila has championed the greater recognition of community-engaged research activities by our faculty members and the broad impact of that work.
As described by one of her colleagues, “she has developed a rich and innovative web of relationships across campus and in the community and, in setting the broad direction of the University’s activities, always poses crucial, principled questions about the purposes, benefits and ethical conduct of community engagement.” Another indicated that there is “no single person who has over the course of decades served as a more conscientious ambassador of the University to the many communities within which it is embedded”.

Judicial Review of McMaster University Tribunal

In September 2013, a McMaster University Board-Senate Hearing Panel issued a public report regarding its findings on complaints filed under McMaster University Anti-Discrimination Policy.  Individuals in the DeGroote School of Business had filed the complaints. The Tribunal found there were breaches of the University’s Anti-Discrimination Policy and recommended several remedies, including both individual sanctions for breaches of the Policy as well as remedies for University breaches of the Policy. The University shortly thereafter began implementing the recommended remedies. MUFA issued a statement on the Tribunal report in October 2013.

In response to some of the individual sanctions, seven faculty members applied for a judicial review of the Tribunal proceedings and recommended remedies in August 2014. In February 2015, MUFA stated its position on this review.

The judicial review process has been underway, the applicants and respondents have now filed their initial briefs, and the Divisional Court will hear the matter on April 26-28, 2016. Below are links to the primary documents filed in the review.

• Amended Applicant Factum (171 pages)
• Amended Respondent (McMaster University, the Senior Administrator at McMaster University, and Certain Unnamed Individuals at McMaster University) Factum (159 pages)
• Respondent (Board-Senate Hearing Panel for Sexual Harassment/Anti-Discrimination McMaster University Anti-Discrimination Policy) Factum (27 pages)

In addition to the primary judicial review documents linked to above, MUFA also has copies of the supporting documents (several GBs), which can be provided to our members upon request.