Category: USFA e-Letter

The issue of excessive workload assignments has been raised by members in at least one unit who feel the burden of the institution’s financial concerns are being shifted onto the backs of members.

More than a decade ago, USFA negotiated an article entitled Guidelines for Assignment of Duties (article 11.5 in the Collective Agreement). The article allowed academic units to determine their own workloads, recognizing widely varying methods of instruction and missions of our many units.

Some units that have not taken the opportunity to write such guidelines have found themselves in difficult straits when teaching assignments or research expectations have been unilaterally increased by their unit leader because there is no workload standard to serve as a reference point. Additionally, arbitrators are not overly sympathetic to tenured academics arguing they did not define workload standards because they were fearful of rocking the boat.

Whether or not you are facing the problem of a unilaterally increased workload, if you do not have workload standards in place, this would be a good time to write some up.

Those reading Academica’s Top Ten, especially in combination with local messaging, may have noticed mixed messages as regards attitudes towards faculty compensation.

Recently, Academica’s Top Ten cited a Star-Phoenix report that “Despite its recent fiscal challenges and what a recent report described as the erosion of Canada’s research competitiveness, the University of Saskatchewan is ‘punching above its weight,’ according to the country’s parliamentary secretary for science.”

This discussion coincides with discussions of rollbacks, and tough negotiating environments across the country.

Not long ago, U of S employees looked enviously at the compensation packages at Brandon and Lethbridge. During much of the decade preceding 2014, USFA and the University negotiated a series of agreements that significantly improved the package, making the University of Saskatchewan a strong competitor in the recruitment and retention market, where competition is international. Though the U of S has special challenges in this respect, it is the intention of USFA to ensure our faculty compensation package maintains its competitivity.

The USFA Scholarship Program is open to students who are immediate family members of USFA members. Immediate family includes spouse/partner, sons, daughters or children whom USFA members have served as legal guardians.

The application form for the 2016-2017 USFA Scholarship Fund Program is now available exclusively online at: paws.usask.ca/go/awards. Students can apply online through their PAWS account as follows:

1) Log into the Scholarships and Bursaries channel in PAWS (paws.usask.ca/go/awards

2) Click on the green “Apply for awards” button

3) Click on the “Select Application Form” scroll-down menu

4) Select the “2016-2017 USFA Tuition Scholarship Fund Application”; click “Apply”

Once the student has completed the application, an automated email will be sent to the Faculty member’s University of Saskatchewan email address. On receipt of that email, the Faculty member will need to log into PAWS as instructed by the email to confirm the Faculty member/ student relationship. Both the student and the faculty member will get a confirmation email that the application has been made. If you do not get the confirmation email please contact student awards immediately.

Each year $250,000 is contributed to the USFA Scholarship Fund. The $250,000 is divided by the number of credit units eligible applicants have successfully completed for credit courses taken in the 2016-2017 academic year (May 1, 2016-April 30, 2017). Recipients will be emailed in late July 2017 with the results of their application.

Scholarship money will be applied directly to the recipient’s student account. Any balance of account, after outstanding tuition and fees are paid, will be refunded by cheque and will be mailed to the student’s address listed on PAWS.

For further information contact Awards and Financial Aid at awards@usask.ca or the Faculty Association Office at usfa@usaskfaculty.ca or 966-5611.

We are delighted to welcome newly elected members to the USFA Executive Committee: Erika Dyck (History), Mark Meyers (History), Anne Springer (Nursing), and Jesse Stewart (Linguistics). We welcome back for another term Doug Chivers (Biology), and Eric Neufeld (Computer Science).

We thank our outgoing members, Patricia Farnese (Law), Len Findlay (English), and John Moraros (Public Health). Without the commitment of those members who dedicate their time and energy to the work of the Executive and its standing committees, the USFA would not be able to function.

With regret we announce as well the departure of Carol Henry, Assistant Dean of Nutrition and Dietetics. Carol gave notice in April that she is unable to serve on the Executive for the remaining year of her term due to many administrative and research responsibilities. Carol will be missed: her voice and judgment and ethical probity constituted a valuable contribution to our committee. She has served the USFA well, and we thank her most sincerely for her contributions.

In advance of this year’s elections to the Executive, our membership approved changes to restructure the Executive Committee Categories. Carol was elected to Category B under the old Constitution. Currently in that Category are Richard Julien (Linguistics), with one year left in his term, and Mark Meyers, just elected to the same category. Under the new Constitution, there are just two positions in Category B and six in Category D. As a result, we are left with an opening in Category D (Members at Large).

With election results for Category D showing that the next highest number of votes after Jesse Stewart (257 total votes) is Linda McMullen (256 total votes), the Executive Committee passed a motion on May 5 to fill the vacancy created by Carol’s resignation with the appointment of Linda. We are delighted to announce that she will remain with us for a one-year term.

Professor in Psychology and our current Vice Chair, Linda has been an exemplary member of our Executive for the past two years: thoughtful, experienced, empathetic, and ethical, she has chaired JCMA with dignity, firmness and grace.

We are very much looking forward to working next year with such a fine balance of new and experienced members.

Your Executive Committee for 2017-18:

Doug Chivers (Biology)

Erika Dyck (History)

Susan Fowler Kerry (Nursing)

Richard Julien (Linguistics)

Linda McMullen (Psychology)

Mark Meyers (History)

Allison Muri (English)

Eric Neufeld (Computer Science)

Anne Springer (Nursing)

Vicki Squires (Educational Administration)

Jesse Stewart (Linguistics)

Larry Stewart (History)

The USFA Scholarship Program is open to students who are immediate family members of USFA members. Immediate family includes spouse/partner, sons, daughters or children whom USFA members have served as legal guardians.

The application form for the 2016-2017 USFA Scholarship Fund Program is now available exclusively online at: paws.usask.ca/go/awards. Students can apply online through their PAWS account as follows:

1) Log into the Scholarships and Bursaries channel in PAWS (paws.usask.ca/go/awards)

2) Click on the green “Apply for awards” button

3) Click on the “Select Application Form” scroll-down menu

4) Select the “2016-2017 USFA Tuition Scholarship Fund Application”; click “Apply”

Once the student has completed the application, an automated email will be sent to the Faculty member’s University of Saskatchewan email address. On receipt of that email, the Faculty member will need to log into PAWS as instructed by the email to confirm the Faculty member/ student relationship. Both the student and the faculty member will get a confirmation email that the application has been made. If you do not get the confirmation email please contact student awards immediately.

Each year $250,000 is contributed to the USFA Scholarship Fund. The $250,000 is divided by the number of credit units eligible applicants have successfully completed for credit courses taken in the 2016-2017 academic year (May 1, 2016-April 30, 2017). Recipients will be emailed in late July 2017 with the results of their application.

Scholarship money will be applied directly to the recipient’s student account. Any balance of account, after outstanding tuition and fees are paid, will be refunded by cheque and will be mailed to the student’s address listed on PAWS.

For further information contact Awards and Financial Aid at awards@usask.ca or the Faculty Association Office at usfa@usaskfaculty.ca or 966-5611.

In our previous e-letter we requested feedback, both to University Council and to the Board of Governors, about new policies and procedures proposed by the College of Medicine which would result in the academic ranks of Assistant, Associate, and full Professor being awarded to ca. 1500 clinicians who currently practice medicine in the province of Saskatchewan and have appointments with the College of Medicine.

Your feedback continues to be important.

Discussion in Council

Submitted to Council and on its agenda last Thursday (Item 9.1) was the draft Policy for the appointment and promotion of Medical Faculty, with linked Procedures Manual, as items for information only. Council members heard that the new Policy was necessary for accreditation, specifically to cultivate greater engagement of Saskatchewan clinicians in the program. The “town/gown split” is believed to be a significant impediment to the college’s success and the policy purportedly would satisfy accreditors by improving engagement of these so-called Medical faculty. The proposed model was inspired by Queens University among others, which addressed the problem of the town/gown split by making every physician a faculty member.

Discussion in Council, however, demonstrated significant disquiet among faculty concerning the implications of the policy and procedure documents. Not only is the role of University Council being sidestepped, but respect for our collegial processes, our faculty members, and other contributors to our academic programs is diminished by this proposal. Faculty members from the College of Nursing and Education observed that large numbers of nurses and teachers in the province also make extraordinary contributions to our programs and to the academic mission of the university without being conferred such ranks. Others noted that while there is respect for practitioners involved in our programs, there is a difference between them and academic faculty members, and subsuming ranks will confuse and obfuscate their respective roles in the university. A differential designation for these medical faculty must be implemented.

Ranks for Clinical Faculty

Other universities across Canada use the ranks Clinical Instructor or Lecturer, Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, and Clinical Professor. See, for example:

• University of Alberta (see Clinical Faculty Promotion Guidelines)
• University of British Columbia (see Policy on Clinical Faculty Appointments)
• University of Calgary (see Criteria for Appointment, Promotion and Assessment of Clinical, Adjunct and Adjunct/Research Faculty “Section C, Promotion,” and Directory)
• McMaster University (Procedures for Other Appointments within the Faculty of Health Sciences, “2. Part-time Academic Appointments”)
• U Montreal (see Règles de Promotion à l’agrégation et à la Titularisation Pour les Professeurs de Clinique)
• Waterloo (see Policy 76 – Faculty Appointments)

Even Dalhousie University, which does not use the prefix “Clinical” for the titles of clinical professors, distinguishes between Clinical faculty and other faculty members in its appointment processes (see Regulations, p. 11) and guidelines for tenure and promotion, with separate documents outlining the appropriate criteria for promotion in each group (see website, Guidelines, Reviewer Worksheet – Promotion to Associate Professor (Clinical) and to Professor (Clinical)). There is a separate Clinical Tenure and Promotion Committee for clinical departments (see Faculty of Medicine Procedural Framework & Terms of Reference).

At the University of Saskatchewan, in contrast, the proposed Standards for Promotion and Tenure for faculty in the college largely blurs the distinctions between clinical and non-clinical faculty.

The draft Procedures manual states that “The overall aim of the new Policy for Medical Faculty is to ensure that all medical faculty appointments have equal legitimacy and academic recognition and equal opportunity for academic engagement, irrespective of payment modality. We hope that this move towards a unified medical faculty in the College of Medicine will contribute to improved ability to satisfy future accreditation requirements.”

The claim that appropriating the ranks of academic faculty members will confer legitimacy that is currently lacking and ensure accreditation is perplexing. Are we truly being asked to believe that clinical faculty will not engage with the teaching and research missions of the college if they are designated—say—“Clinical Professor” rather than “Professor”?

What can you do?

Council members are asked to convey comments to Dirk de Boer, Chair of the Planning and Priorities Committee, by April 30.

You can also write to the Board of Governors. Let them know that academic rank is valuable and the College of Medicine Policy and Procedures in their current form should not be approved.

The College of Medicine Standards must be approved by the University Review Committee, which is meeting this Friday and will be discussing the proposed Standards. If you have concerns about the Standards document, you might want to contact members of the committee:

• Nicholas Low, Food and Biproduct Sciences
• Nicholas Ovsenek, Anatomy & Cell Biology
• Marvin Painter, Management & Marketing
• Ramji Khandelwal, Biochemistry
• Wanda Wiegers, College of Law
• Erika Dyck, History
• Vicky Duncan, Leslie and Irene Dubé Health Sciences Library
• Alexandre (Sasha) Koustov, Physics & Engineering Physics
• Graham Scoles, Plant Sciences
• Jim Germida, Chair, Vice-Provost, Faculty Relations
• Maureen Fryett and Bettyann Cox USFA Observers

University Council and the Board of Governors need to hear from you and from your Council representatives. If new policies and procedures proposed by the College of Medicine are approved, the academic ranks of Assistant, Associate, and full Professor will no longer be awarded only to academic employees of the University of Saskatchewan.

Submitted to University Council and on tomorrow’s agenda (Item 9.1) is a draft Policy for the appointment and promotion of Medical Faculty, with linked Procedures Manual. Input from Council members is being sought.

The College of Medicine is proposing that approximately 1500 clinicians who currently practice medicine in the province of Saskatchewan and who make contributions to the college’s academic mission will no longer have their appointments designated as “Clinical.” The majority will be re-appointed permanently, assigned the rank of assistant professor and provided with the opportunity to promote to associate professor and professor but without the academic rigor currently applied through our collegial processes.

As well, the College of Medicine has submitted for approval by the URC revised Standards for Tenure and Promotion. The proposed Standards blur the distinction between physicians who contribute to but are not employees of the university, and academic faculty who are employees of the university. The proposed standards expand the types of academic appointment to even allow for a “Teacher” to be promoted to full Professor.

The proposed Policy, Procedures, and Standards raise a number of significant concerns, including:

• disregard for the teacher-scholar model of our University Standards
• erosion of the academic qualifications and rigor attached to promotion through the ranks
• diminishment of research expectations for faculty in the College of Medicine: for some “teachers,” “clinician teachers,” and “clinician administrators” in the medical faculty, the requirement for scholarly work or research is quite minimal
• trampling of the collegial processes set out in our Collective Agreement
• eventual elimination of the “Clinical” designation for ranks of those who are not employees of the University

What can you do?

• Contact your Council representative to provide your input
• Provide your input at tomorrow’s University Council meeting at 2:30pm in Room 241 Arts (Neatby-Timlin Theatre). You do not have to be a member of University Council to attend and participate in discussions at Council meetings.
• Write to the Board of Governors. Let them know that academic rank is valuable and the College of Medicine Policy and Procedures in their current form should not be approved.