Some faculty members have already begun collegial discussions about assignment of duties in their units for the 2021-2022 academic year. Many members have contacted the Association about unfairness and inequitability in the workload assignment in recent years, and particularly during the lockdown. The major changes in teaching culture might be a good time to revisit […]
Read More »Members of the Research, Scholarly and Artistic Work Committee of University Council have voted to put forward the following motion to University Council. There is a notice of the motion in this month’s council meeting agenda: “It is recommended that University Council support in principle a) the rejection of the use of “active/inactive” designations for researchers […]
Read More »USFA Chair Allison Muri and Vice-Chair Doug Chivers, invite Indigenous USFA members to join them for open discussions on topics of members’ choosing. To allow members to participate when then can, these meetings will take place monthly at 10:00 a.m. on the first Wednesday of the month via Zoom, beginning with February 3, 2021. To […]
Read More »Welcome back and Happy New Year! The overwhelming response to our first e-Letter on this topic and the strong participation in the University’s administrative practices survey have highlighted an appetite among USFA members to discuss the nature of and impediments to our work. We know in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, workloads have been difficult to manage for many […]
Read More »Since the spring, the USFA has been seeking answers from the employer about its sudden move to deny APEF purchases of and reimbursements for items that were previously eligible. Faculty members seek to be reimbursed for the purchase of a printer for use while working remotely. Faculty seek to be reimbursed for purchases of commonly […]
Read More »The USFA Executive reconstituted the USFA Committee on University Administrative Practices during the 2019-2020 academic year, but the pandemic struck just as the Committee was about to begin its process. Unable to have discussions as hoped with faculty in small groups about the ways administrative practices at the U of S help and hinder faculty […]
Read More »It has been a number of years since U of S employees received a hard copy of details concerning their pay on every payday. At one time U of S employees received a cheque along with a write up of those details, including information about any salary changes and deductions from gross pay. With direct […]
Read More »The following invitation from Gary Brunet, Director, IT Support Services, is an opportunity for faculty to provide information and comments on improving the experience of purchasing computers and/or computer accessories through IT Acquisitions, including what services and/or products you would like to have offered. Dear USask Faculty, IT Acquisitions provides faculty, staff, and researchers with […]
Read More »We received a number of emails in response to our recent e-Letter: The Work of Faculty. Members told us it resonated with them powerfully. Faculty expressed that they continue to be frustrated with the Employer’s top-down, opaque process for responding to the pandemic that excludes them from decision making when it directly affects their work. Members are […]
Read More »You may have read about the faculty member at the University of Ottawa who was recently suspended after students complained that the Professor had used an anti-black, racial slur during a lecture. Her union, and echoed by many academics, immediately criticized the University’s “zero-tolerance” position citing academic freedom requires that the assessment of the appropriate […]
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