The USFA Executive Committee is once again hosting lunches for USFA members in the first few years of their appointment at the U of S. The purpose of these lunches is to put a face on the Association, to talk about the roles of the USFA and the importance of the Collective Agreement. It’s an […]
Read More »The 2011-12 academic year is well underway. The usual bumps are being negotiated and some new challenges, like the recent changes respecting copyright, are presenting themselves. As you’re maneuvering your way through these and other matters, know that the USFA is here to assist you. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns. […]
Read More »So you’re all set to teach your courses… course syllabus complete, lecture notes in place and posted on PAWS/Blackboard, reading lists done, and assignments prepared. But have you thought about copyright? Much information has been circulated recently about changes to copyright policy on campus. Out of concern for implications for our members, USFA is alerting […]
Read More »Sorry, no substitutions! Something to be aware of during your qualifying period for tenure or promotion is that no special arrangements can be made regarding meeting the standards. As a hypothetical example, suppose a Dean asks you to become a Department Head and offers to champion your promotion/tenure case if your research suffers as a […]
Read More »Practice of professional skills remains a troublesome category for members in many units, particularly the professional colleges. When the university standards for tenure and promotion were last revised, there was a wish to distinguish recognize practice of professional skills, but still require practitioners to show ability in research, consistent with the teacher/scholar model. Unfortunately, the […]
Read More »Discussing the teachers’ job action, a local columnist commented that the arguments of the teachers’ union for “sharing the wealth” is flawed. The author writes that “fair share” “implies someone has contributed directly to creating what is they want to share” and that such reasoning “smacks of an entitlement mentality”. (Star-Phoenix, “Sharing the wealth not […]
Read More »It is surprising how often we evaluate a colleague’s research career by metrics like publication counts, page counts, or order of authorship, which border on numerology, rather than considering the actual contribution. Although time is the true test of research, the reason we do this is that the practicalities of our processes force us to […]
Read More »Today is the best day to start thinking about your promotion/tenure case. You have a lot of resources to help you in the preparation of your case file. By May 31, your Department Head or Dean should have met with you to discuss your progress in meeting the approved standards, which you should make yourself […]
Read More »Article 17 of the 2010-13 Collective Agreement contains significant changes to Article 17 with respect to salary review procedures and the awarding of merit. In this issue we summarize these important changes and provide some guidance for their implementation. These changes are aimed at improving the process, the reasons for the award of special increases, […]
Read More »Apparently, not many members take advantage of the "Flexible Health and Wellness Spending Program". Slightly more than one quarter of USFA members per year have submitted claims for reimbursement since this program started in 2007. This round of negations has increased funds available in this program from $150 to $500 per year. These funds can […]
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