usfa@usaskfaculty.ca

President interferes in collegial process

The Faculty Association has been in a three year battle, investing considerable time and expense fighting an attack on the integrity of the collegial process at our University. A few years ago, the tenure case of a faculty member received mixed reviews as it went through the collegial process at the departmental, college, and university […]

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Merit is not punitive

Is a faculty member who publishes six peer-reviewed articles more or less meritorious than a faculty member who publishes one peer-reviewed article, but also has large teaching and administrative responsibilities? It depends. Six top quality publications in outstanding venues could represent a career achievement, even given teaching and administrative offloads. However, six papers published in […]

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A Faculty Association on Strike is a Faculty Association Striking for all of us!

Brandon University Faculty Association (BUFA) has been on strike since October 12th, 2011. BUFA represents both tenured faculty and non-tenured sessional instructors and is dealing with four main issues. Quality of learning – BUFA’s position is that there should be guaranteed replacements when members go on sabbatical to ensure continuity of program delivery. They are […]

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Spend your merit!

The merit pool for this and next year is quite large – 785 CDIs for each year. After that, it will likely go back to 600 CDIs per annum, subject to the outcome of collective bargaining. At the last round of bargaining, the parties agreed that the merit system at the U of S was […]

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The new merit pool

The total merit pool for 2011-2012 is 785 CDIs. The current agreement states that at least two-thirds of these must be full merits, making it possible to award a maximum of about 1050 awards (525 full and 525 halves). The new merit system is intended to be transparent. Decisions must be made by a committee […]

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Get Active: You can make a difference!

The Saskatchewan provincial election is an opportunity for you to support and elect candidates who you believe will best represent you. Here’s what you can do: Talk to family, friends and co-workers. Urge them to get out and vote. Go to candidate forums and ask questions. Where do candidates stand on issues that are important […]

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Copyright

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 […]

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Promotion/tenure: 8th in a series

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 […]

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When to go for tenure or promotion: 7th in a series

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 […]

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