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 […]

Practice of professional skills remains a troublesome category for members in many units, particularly the professional colleges.  Similar problems are arising with the new Academic Programming appointments. The intent behind these appointment categories was to relax research expectations as defined in Section 4 of the University Standards so as to allow certain kinds of colleagues […]

Interdisciplinarity: the agony and the ecstasy. The university encourages interdisciplinary research, and many colleagues enjoy the excitement of working with a team on a project with a great deal of potential. But there are also potential pitfalls to doing this early in your career. Interdisciplinary work really means building a new area of specialization that […]

The various University, College, and Department Standards contain language to the effect that your research must have made a “significant achievement”, that your contribution is “recognized as substantial” by authorities here and abroad, and there must be “evidence of leadership in the establishment and execution of a clearly defined program of research”. There is considerable […]

Read your standards carefully. Similarly, write your standards carefully. For example, “The candidate must hold a Tri-Council grant” means something very different from “There must be evidence that the candidate can obtain Tri-Council funding.” The first phrase narrowly ties a candidate to actually holding Tri- Council funding at the point of the tenure/promotion decision. This […]

The Collective Agreement is clear that you must meet the approved standards for tenure and promotion. Sometimes, candidates who have met the standard are advised to “wait until your case is stronger”. This may be well-intentioned, but can delay tenure or pay grades that you are entitled to. No one – not your Dean, Department […]

Today is the best day to start thinking about your promotion/tenure case. You have a lot of resources to help you with your case. By May 31, your Department Head or Dean should have met with you to discuss your progress with respect to the approved standards, with which you should be familiar. You don’t […]

The Collective Agreement is clear – you can elect to go for tenure or promotion in any year if you believe you have met your standards. The applicable standards may be less clear, and it may be difficult to gauge how strong your case should be. First, be sure you know which standards apply to […]