The Faculty Association's audited financial statements for 2021-22 were approved by the Board of Directors on December 20, 2022. The audit was executed as required by the Association's bylaws. The auditors found that there was excellent cooperation between management and…
As you prepare your taxes, remember that your Faculty Association dues (which include your CAUT dues) are tax deductible. Find dues on your pay stub and in box 44 of your 2022 University of Calgary T4 form.
As part of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Week, the Faculty Association is sponsoring a presentation on the Duty to Accommodate. In this presentation, you will learn about the employer's duty to accommodate employees' individual needs on all grounds of…
The Faculty Association has become aware of instances where the Collective Agreement articles related to "Sick Time" may not have been applied appropriately. This is general information intended to provide an overview of these Articles; however, if academic staff have questions specific…
The Faculty Association is now accepting applications for the sessional travel fund for the 2022-23 academic year. Sessionals can apply for funding to help with expenses, including travel expenses related to the applicant's academic work or attending conferences, whether or…
Included in the settlement for the Collective Agreement (2022-2024) were three Letters of Understanding (LOUs) establishing joint committees tasked with reviewing the merit process, workload, and benefits. In preparation for the committee meetings, Department Representatives provided feedback during the November meeting for…
Dear Colleagues, As we near the end of the first month of 2023, we are engaged in the process of developing a new strategic plan for the University of Calgary. To that end, you have been invited to participate in…
The Faculty Association office will be closing at noon on Thursday, December 22, 2022, and reopening on Monday, January 9, 2023 - resuming regular office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We will check our emails daily from January…
The University will be closed on December 23, 2022, until January 2, 2023. In announcing these closures, the Administration extended thanks to those who are required to work on December 23rd. We want to clarify that academic staff members are not required…
As you prepare your taxes, remember that your Faculty Association dues (which include your CAUT dues) are tax deductible. Find dues on your pay stub and in box 44 of your 2022 University of Calgary T4 form.
For the past number of years, in lieu of holiday gifts, the Faculty Association has donated to food banks in recognition of those in need at this time of year. The Calgary Food Bank and the University of Calgary Students'…
Nomination due date extended The due date for the Community Service Award Nominations is extended to Monday, January 9, 2023. Award background The Community Service Award recognizes a member (or group of members) of the Faculty Association of the University…
We want to update you on the current Department Reps for the 2022-23 Academic year. Art & Art HistoryDenis GadboisBiochemical & Molecular BiologyQuan LongChemical & Petroleum EngineeringSean McCoyChemistryGreg WelchCivil EngineeringFarnaz SadeghpourClassics & ReligionElizabeth RohlmanCommunication, Media & FilmRyan PiersonCommunity Health SciencesLindsay…
It has come to our attention that when our members are formally "disciplined," some Deans are NOT advising our members that discipline is grievable under the Collective Agreement. We do not think it is good human resources practice not to…
The Faculty Association is now accepting applications for the sessional travel fund for the 2022-23 academic year. The deadline for applications in the current round is February 13, 2023. Sessionals can apply for funding to help with expenses, including travel expenses…
The Faculty Association is accepting nominations for Board of Directors positions whose terms end in 2023. Positions open for nominations: Five (5) director positions are open for nomination. The term is three years for each position. Nominees for director positions must…
Research and Scholarship Leaves (RSL; "sabbaticals") are essential for the functioning of the University, giving academic staff members opportunities to do work they otherwise wouldn't be able to do given normal workloads. Under Article 16 of the Collective Agreement, continuing, contingent…
It has been another busy and challenging semester serving as President of the Faculty Association, and I expect this will continue into the New Year. While our work is challenging, it is also a privilege to serve you and advocate…
A personal financial crisis can strike quickly and with little warning. Fortunately, the Faculty Association provides emergency funding to help individual members in emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. In addition to…
Fair Employment Week (FEW) is taking place from October 17 to 21, 2022. Fair Employment Week is CAUT's annual campaign to raise awareness about precarious employment on campuses and support local organizing to improve the working conditions of contract academic…
All sessional instructors are members of the Faculty Association. The Association has consistently used grievances and bargaining to negotiate representation rights and protections for sessionals. We believe one strong reason for gains we have made has been due to the…
Fair Employment Week (FEW) takes place this year from October 17 to 21, 2022. Each year the Faculty Association participates in this national event that raises awareness of the difficulties inherent in being a member of the sessional academic staff.…
The Faculty Association reminds members about the right to representation under the Collective Agreement. One of the key functions of the Faculty Association is to protect academic staff interests through its work to resolve conflicts between members and the Administration. From…
A personal financial crisis can strike quickly and with little warning. Fortunately, the Faculty Association provides emergency funding to help individual members in emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. In addition to…
The Faculty Association has analyzed its expenditures in accordance with the Bill 32, the Restoring Balance in Alberta's Workplaces Act. We have concluded that all of our expenses from funds collected through dues fit under the definition of "core" activities per…
(Note: this article focuses on notable changes in the new Collective Agreement for ongoing academic staff. We will post an article about how the new agreement affects sessional academic staff in the Fair Employment Week edition of Academic Views, which will focus…
Dear Colleagues, The 2022-23 academic year is now well underway, and I want to extend my wishes for a productive and safe year. This will be my final year as your President and I want to thank you for the…
We thought it might be interesting to see where growth or decline in academic staff numbers has occurred over the last decade. This table shows the change in ongoing academic staff (i.e., not including sessional instructors) by Faculty at the…
The Faculty Association normally offers workshops related to the tenure, renewal of tenure track, promotion, or transfer between the streams for academic staff members who are considering applying through these processes. As the COVID situation improves, we hope to return…
The Faculty Association of the University of Calgary, in accordance with its policy concerning the Assessment of Deans and equivalents, has completed a survey of the academic staff members in Faculties where the Dean or Dean-equivalent is approaching the end…
Strikes at university faculty associations across Canada surged beginning late last year and continuing into 2022, although labour peace has been restored on all campuses. The wave of strike actions started last November when the University of Manitoba Faculty Association…
When inflation is on the rise, it's a relief if some costs actually fall. Fortunately, this relief has arrived for Faculty Association members whose University Academic Pension Plan (UAPP) contributions have declined by nearly one percent effective July 1, 2022.…
Dear Colleagues, As we begin the 2022-23 academic year, I want to express my gratitude that you have endorsed the Collective Agreement with the Board of Governors and I appreciate the faith and confidence in our recommendation and bargaining team that this…
Dear Colleagues, The Fall 2021 term will be remembered for a long time. It has been a period fraught with uncertainty, beginning with what is now recognized as a premature provincial decision to declare the pandemic over, the resulting opportunity…
A Faculty Association program that offers travel grants for sessionals has been paused until early in the new year due to the pandemic. Each year, the Sessional Travel Fund Committee makes $30,000 available to reimburse certain travel expenses for up…
Academic staff at the University of Manitoba have dropped their placards and headed back to the classrooms. After five weeks on the picket lines, University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) members voted 91 percent in favour of ratifying a deal…
The year was 2004 and Paul Martin was prime minister, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Oscar for Best Picture, and the Calgary Flames made their last Stanley Cup run. That year also marked…
The Faculty Association office will close for the holidays, with the last day of work being December 23 and the first day back January 10. However, we will monitor the Association's voicemail and email regularly on days that the university…
As you prepare your taxes, remember that your Faculty Association dues (which include your CAUT dues) are tax deductible. You can find these dues on your pay stub and in box 44 of your 2021 University of Calgary T4 form.…
The Faculty Association is accepting nominations for Board of Directors as well as for President and Chair of the Board of the Board of Directors. The Association is accepting nominations for six (6) directors; five (5) with up to three-year…
As the summer term begins, most of us have turned our thoughts towards the fall and the challenges that term will bring. The government assures us that everything will be open, and the university is acting on that assumption and…
The pandemic has brought many new and unprecedented challenges as we work remotely, including staying connected, teaching, and collaborating on research. We have been introduced to many new communications tools which went from obscurity to ubiquity in a matter of…
As we and the Provost have reported previously, the Faculty Association and the Governors agreed to suspend the merit assessment process for the July 2019 to June 30, 2021 assessment period. Unfortunately, the Faculty Association has been hearing from members…
We would like to acknowledge and thank the members of the Faculty Association who served as Department Representatives for the 2020-2021 Academic Year. This year has been a particularly challenging and uncertain time, and we appreciate the valuable insights that…
The past 16 months have been stressful for many academic staff members. Many members will view the prospect of returning to campus and in-person instruction with excitement and relief, while others will be more cautious and may experience additional stress.…
As with most of our members, the Faculty Association staff continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to do our best to help members navigate through issues as they arise despite the pandemic. When an academic staff…
The Faculty Association of the University of Calgary, in accordance with its policy concerning the Assessment of Deans and equivalents, has completed a survey of the academic staff members in Faculties where the Dean or Dean-equivalent is at the end…
During the last round of negotiations, the Faculty Association raised concerns with the Administration around access to campus resources leading up to and following sessional appointments. It has been clarified that sessional instructors should have access to email, the bookstore,…
Each academic year, a Sessional Travel Fund Committee distributes a Sessional Travel Fund of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) amongst eligible Sessional appointees to reimburse certain travel expenses to a maximum of $1,500 per sessional appointee as agreed in Schedule B…
The Faculty Association Board of Directors Members for the 2021-2022 academic year are as follows: David Stewart (President) John Baker (Grievance Advisor) Marie-Andrée Bergeron Tavis Campbell (non-voting, Board of Governors Nominee) Nigel Caulkett (Officer at Large) Kent Donlevy (Grievance Advisor)…
Fair Employment Week (October 22 to 26, 2018) The working conditions of contract academic staff (sessionals) are of both local and national concern, which is why the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) annually promotes and plays a coordinating role…
A recent arbitration award on the use of student questionnaires for teaching evaluations of Ryerson Faculty Association members may have impacts on how these instruments are handled at other institutions for measuring teaching effectiveness. More information is available in an…
Academic staff members meet from time to time with their Department Head or Dean (or equivalent) on a variety of matters. Most such conversations are regarding such things as planning or assessment and are collegial. There are, however, times when…
From time to time University of Calgary Payroll may make errors whereby an academic staff member is over-paid by the institution. The Faculty Association has had concerns with how repayment may have been handled by Payroll in the past. Payroll…
University of Calgary Associate Professor Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt (pictured centre) has been awarded the 2018 CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award. Also pictured are Hon. Marlin Schmidt, Minister of Advanced Education and Dr. Mary-Ellen Tyler, CAFA President, U of…
– By Sandra Hoenle, Faculty Association President – Yesterday the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) released a report “Into the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability At the University of Calgary”. It is now available at https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut-ahic-report-calgary-enbridge-centre-for-corporate-sustainability_2017-10.pdf. The Faculty Association welcomes…
- By Sandra Hoenle, Faculty Association President - The provincial government is consulting academic staff across the province regarding putting Faculty Associations under the Labour Act as traditional trade unions. We want to alert you to this exercise, but also…
Dear Colleagues, Fair Employment Week (October 18 to 22) is an opportunity to reflect on the essential role played by sessional instructors in the life of the University and, in our case, the Faculty Association. This term, there are 550…
Schedule B of the Collective Agreement has provisions for paid sick time for sessional staff. However, these provisions are limited and may not be sufficient to accommodate illness due to COVID-19. The Faculty Association and the Governors of the University…
An ongoing pandemic, provincial budget cuts, Alberta 2030 consultations, Growth Through Focus congresses, pressure to return to face to face teaching, and uncertainty about the university budget. To say that this has been a stressful term cannot adequately capture the…
In Search of Professor Precarious is a documentary feature in which the director, a long-time precarious contract instructor, travels Canada to lift the curtain on higher education's dirty little secret. The search takes viewers into the lives of precarious contract…
We want to remind all members in the pension plan that you have two years from the date of receiving a tenured contract to purchase prior service. If you do not purchase the prior service during that window, you cannot…
The winter term has now come to an end and we have met the challenge of fall and winter terms delivered predominantly in an online format. This was demanding and you should be proud of the work you have done.…
The Honourable Minister of Advanced Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, released the much-anticipated Alberta 2030 strategy on April 29th. The Faculty Association welcomed opportunities to participate in this engagement process and will continue to engage in this process. We have several concerns…
Normally, the Faculty Association offers workshops related to the tenure, renewal of tenure track, promotion, or transfer between the streams for academic staff members who are considering applying through these processes. Given the current situation, we are unable to provide…
You are likely aware that CAUT has censured the University of Toronto. Our Faculty Association has been supportive of this move by CAUT Council as the actions that have been taken by the leadership at the University of Toronto are…
As with most of our members, the Faculty Association staff continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to do our best to help members to navigate through issues as they arise despite the pandemic. When an academic…
The Faculty Association would like to remind its members about the right to representation in situations of conflict, discipline, or potential discipline. Many conflicts can be resolved informally at an early stage by the academic staff member alone (sometimes with…
The Faculty Association provides Member Emergency Funding to help individual members under emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. Member Emergency Funding is not intended to be used in cases where normal remuneration…
The Faculty Association has begun undertaking surveys to allow the academic staff members in various faculties and similar units to provide direct input to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and the review committee (if applicable) regarding the performance of the…
According to our records there are currently (as of March 17, 2021) 1861 ongoing academic staff working at the University of Calgary. Below is an overview of the Faculty Association membership numbers.
As you prepare your taxes, remember that your Faculty Association dues (which include your CAUT dues) are tax deductible. You can find these dues on your pay stub and in box 44 of your 2020 U of C T4.
The Election Committee reports the following results for the election of Association Board of Directors members. Ballots for the election were issued to 2477 electors using Simply Voting on February 25, 2021 and voting closed on March 18, 2021. There…
According to the list of academic staff members that the University Administration provides to the Faculty Association, there are currently 2,418 academic staff members at the University of Calgary (Datamart: September 21, 2021). Of these, 552 (23 per cent) are…
Fair Employment Week (FEW) is taking place from October 18 to 22, 2021. Fair Employment Week is CAUT's annual campaign to raise awareness about precarious employment on campuses and support local organizing to improve the working conditions of contract academic…
The Faculty Association provides Member Emergency Funding to help individual members under emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. Member Emergency Funding is not intended to be used in cases where normal remuneration…
Dear Colleagues, I know that the fall term is not beginning the way we hoped and that many remain anxious and uncertain about how it will unfold. I appreciate that many of you reached out to TUCFA over the summer…
There will be a federal election on Monday, September 20th. Decades of underfunding post-secondary education has led to higher tuition, higher workloads, and less job security, inevitably resulting in increased inequity on campuses. While these issues are not new, they…
The Faculty Association and the Governors of the University of Calgary have agreed to provide sick time to for sessional academic staff (with Fall 2021 appointments) who become ill with COVID-19. Sessional academic staff who become ill with COVID-19 will…
The University of Calgary has decided to close operations on September 30th, in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The Faculty Association office will also be closed for the day. There will be several activities on campus…
The Faculty Association provides Member Emergency Funding to help individual members under emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. Member Emergency Funding is not intended to be used in cases where normal remuneration…
The Faculty Association staff continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to do our best to help members navigate through issues as they arise despite the pandemic. When an academic staff member contacts the Faculty Association, their…
The Faculty Association would like to remind its members about the right to representation under the Collective Agreement. One of the key purposes of the Faculty Association is to protect academic staff interests through its work to resolve conflicts between members…
David Stewart, President Dear Colleagues, We are beginning a new fall term unlike anything any of us have experienced before and one which will bring challenges that none of us anticipated. The personal has become professional in ways that have…
You may recall that the Faculty Association filed a grievance regarding the use of USRI in tenure, promotion, merit assessment and hiring with the Provost last June. The grievance has moved through the grievance process of the Collective Agreement and the Faculty…
The Faculty Association provides Member Emergency Funding to help individual members under emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. Member Emergency Funding is not intended to be used in cases where normal remuneration…
The Faculty Association would like to remind its members about the right to representation under the Collective Agreement. One of the key purposes of the Faculty Association is to protect academic staff interests through its work to resolve conflicts between members…
As with most of our members, the Faculty Association Staff continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a strange and difficult time for new members to begin a career at the University of Calgary. We hope that…
The Faculty Association of the University of Calgary, in accordance with its policy concerning the Assessment of Deans and equivalents, has completed a survey of the academic staff members in Faculties where the Dean is at the end of their…
Dear Colleagues, As I’m sure you are aware, Fair Employment week (October 19 to 23) is an opportunity to note the significant role played by sessional instructors in the life of the university and, in our case, the Faculty Association.…
Fair Employment Week, taking place from October 19 to 23, is CAUT’s annual campaign to raise awareness about precarious employment on campuses and support local organizing to improve the working conditions of contract academic staff. In light of COVID-19, this…
As reported in the Academic Views in June, the Association filed two policy grievances on sessional issues. The first grievance is related to Winter 2020 Sessional instructors; the second is related to Spring/Summer 2020 sessional instructors. In both grievances, the…
According to the list of academic staff members that the University Administration provides to the Faculty Association, there are currently 2,343 academic staff members at the University of Calgary. Of these, 497 (21%) are sessional instructors. Based on the list…
The Faculty Association provides Member Emergency Funding to help individual members under emergency circumstances due to a sudden loss or decline in remuneration from the University. Member Emergency Funding is not intended to be used in cases where normal remuneration…
We are thankfully coming to the end of this challenging term with a large amount of marking confronting many of us. This term may well have been the most demanding teaching term you have experienced in your career and you…
The University’s Academic Crisis Management Task Force has been central to the University’s response to the pandemic. Representatives from the Faculty Association had been participating in the Task Force’s meetings but the Task Force was unfortunately disbanded in September.
The Faculty Association has been receiving inquiries from members as to whether Heads or Associate Deans can unilaterally change the grades of students. The University Calendar outlines a general appeal process and some Faculties have implemented their own appeal processes…
The Faculty Association would like to remind our members of the “Letter of Understanding: Recognition of Graduate Student Supervision” in the Collective Agreement. When graduate students are hired under Article 23.2 L) (to provide teaching experience for a registered graduate student…
Each academic year, a Sessional Travel Fund Committee will distribute a Sessional Travel Fund of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) amongst eligible Sessional appointees to reimburse certain travel expenses per the Collective Agreement. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, there are changes to the…
The Faculty Association raised concerns with the Administration around access to campus resources leading up to, and following sessional appointments. It has been clarified with the Administration that sessional instructiors should have access to email, the bookstore, the library, and…