Inaugural Blog Post… + Samosas!-David Porreca, FAUW President (Department of Classical Studies)

First: A hearty (and heart-felt) thank-you to Mary Hardy for shepherding FAUW through the difficult past few months, stepping into the breach and supporting the association when the help was sorely needed.

Second: Another note of thanks for the support the membership has shown in entrusting me with the FAUW presidency in these fraught times. I intend to do my level best to honour that trust.

But how?

My focus is on FAUW’s core duties: defending and enhancing the term and conditions of employment of faculty members at the University of Waterloo (that’s YOU). My first task is to assist in the formation of a strong negotiating team for the upcoming round of negotiations toward a salary settlement that should take effect on 1 May 2024. Stay tuned for announcements on that front.

FAUW’s core duties also include the defence of the following three basic principles – a well-balanced tripod, so to speak: collegial governance, academic freedom, and equity. Over-emphasizing any one of them at the expense of the others leads to an imbalance that risks toppling the whole.

Of these three, I feel that the first is the one that has become the most precarious within our institution over the past few years, and where my own capacities for bridge-building have the best chance of bearing fruit. Disruptions relating to the pandemic have not always brought out the best in people, leading to what I perceive to have been quite a bit of friction between FAUW and the university’s administrators. My first task is to attempt to restore a less adversarial relationship between these parties, and I invite my counterparts/colleagues in Needles Hall and elsewhere to join in meeting me halfway in this effort, to everyone’s benefit. I witnessed what a reasonably good working relationship looked like the last time I was in this position (2012-2015). One of my yardsticks for success will be how swiftly (and effectively, as far as you, the membership, is concerned) all the university Policies that have been open and under discussion for far too long (e.g., Policy 1, 12, 33, 57, 76/77) will be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

Academic freedom is also at risk as a result of external forces. UW has been in the news quite a bit lately relating to our substantial reliance on corporate sponsorships (or, “partnerships”), which had been heartily encouraged and welcomed until very recently. To me, this is a perfect example of how you can never do only one thing (i.e., there are always unintended consequences to anything we choose to do). In my view, corporate sponsorships are a necessary evil that hold the clear potential for jeopardizing the academic freedom of the researchers they involve. This is because the research that corporate entities sponsor tends (overwhelmingly?) to be goal-directed rather than curiosity-driven. If anyone out there feels that their academic freedom is being compromised, you are very much invited to approach FAUW representatives for assistance – we have an active Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee whose primary purpose is precisely to assist colleagues (especially those in precarious pre-tenure positions) in such matters.

In terms of equity, I feel that FAUW has a very strong and active Equity Committee, and the university has also established an EDI office. Both bodies are made up of colleagues (for the former) and staff members (for the latter) who are champions for the principal of equity. Their combined work ensures that any concerns over matters of equity are being addressed with all due zeal and vigour.

Broadly speaking, my approach to the new task of being president will be to listen carefully to anyone willing to share their perspectives on work-related problems (e.g., have any of you had trouble with our new insurer, Green Shield?). Consequently, I encourage anyone inclined to do so to attend my FAUW Open Office Hours (duration: ~90 mins, or until we’re done chatting) that I will hold twice monthly, every second Tuesday at 16:00 beginning on 23 May. I plan to alternate between hosting these office hours at my office itself (ML 231) and at the Grad House (for a more convivial, less formal atmosphere). The first such open session will be held at my office. Feel free to drop by for a chat – I look forward to meeting you!

Finally, at our recent Spring General Meeting, I took a screen cap of the word cloud generated by the question: “What would you like FAUW to work on in 2023-24?”, and here’s what we got

In light of this, I plan to bring our General Meetings back to being in-person, and I will see if we can still find the supplier of the famous samosas that so many seem to want – hopefully that business wasn’t one of the COVID casualties. I’ve always found that virtual meetings in 2D lack depth (in every possible sense), and I miss seeing everyone’s real faces rather than computer-rendered simulacra that often have trouble keeping up in real time. Again, I look forward to seeing everyone in 3D!

Board meeting report: March 2, 2023

Here’s what we talked about at the last meeting of the FAUW Board of Directors:

New Equity Committee Terms of Reference were adopted. Changes include more detail about voting/decision making procedures, a new section on removal of committee members, the new role of equity advocate and facilitator, more detail regarding election of the chair, and further constraints around committee recruitment and selection to prioritize equity in selection.

Online Course Outline Repository. The Board discussed benefits and concerns about online course outline repositories. Look for a message from us about this soon, including examples of what actually needs to be submitted and examples from each faculty.

Vacation poll results. It became clear from the poll results that many faculty members are struggling to take the vacation time to which we are entitled (particularly faculty teaching in all three terms). We will be raising this at FRC, asking what they are doing to ensure our right to take our allocated vacation time, especially as a signatory to the Okanagan Charter.

Equity Data Advisory Group. This group has stopped meeting, yet work on the Equity Survey is incomplete and it is unclear what is happening with the data, when and how it will be shared with the University community, and how often the survey will re-open. Initial data collection was summer-fall 2021, with a brief re-opening in WorkDay in May 2022 to reach the 2/3 faculty response rate but nothing has come of the survey yet and the information online about results is out of date. The Board passed a motion to propose to the FRC that the Equity Data Advisory Group be restarted.

Governance review. The Board reviewed a project outline from CAUT and discussed the composition of the steering committee for the review. CAUT representatives will be invited to a future Board meeting to discuss further.

Graduate TA/RA certification. OrganizeUW, the grassroots campaign to form a union among TAs and RAs, is hoping to address graduate classes. In order to facilitate this, TAs and RAs will be contacting faculty members who teach grad classes with a request to address each class for 3-4 minutes. This is not a request for individual endorsements of OrganizeUW but simply a request to speak with grad students and we encourage you to consider the request.

Reopening the 2021 salary settlement. The administration has agreed to review our last 2021 salary settlement in light of Bill 124 being defeated in court (Bill 124 was the one that limited compensation increases to 1% annually across the Ontario public sector). A recent arbitration decision made it clear that organizations should not wait for the outcome of an appeal before re-opening the negotiations that were constrained by Bill 124.

Policy 33 – Ethical Behaviour. There has been no movement on this very important policy since August 2021. A joint meeting of the Faculty Relations Committee and the Staff Relations Committee was held recently to discuss the 2021 draft, to consider outstanding issues, and to press for implementation of the revised policy as soon as possible.

Policy 12 – Compassionate Care & Bereavement Leave. The Faculty Relations Committee discussed a draft version of this new policy. We want to ensure that (a) there are no unnecessarily burdensome documentation requirements, (b) the definitions of family include all those that we might consider close family, even if the connections may not be conventional, and (c) applications to extend a period of compassionate leave beyond the minimum are consistently and fairly resolved. The Staff Relations Committee is also discussing this draft, and we believe we are close to agreement on all sides.

Policy 57 – Employee Accommodations. The key features of this new policy that we are advocating for are (a) the establishment of a Central Office for processing accommodation requests, and (b) the costs of accommodations should be met from central funding, not from department or faculty budgets. We think it’s essential that the central office, not the individual’s dean, determines the appropriate accommodations for each individual, and works with the individual’s department to avoid any negative impact on their colleagues.

Governance review. The Board reviewed a project proposal from CAUT and will be issuing a call for members for an ad hoc committee soon.

Continue reading “Board meeting report: March 2, 2023” →

Board meeting report: February 16, 2023

Here’s what we talked about at the last meeting of the FAUW Board of Directors:

Reopening the 2021 salary settlement. The administration has agreed to review our last 2021 salary settlement in light of Bill 124 being defeated in court (Bill 124 was the one that limited compensation increases to 1% annually across the Ontario public sector). A recent arbitration decision made it clear that organizations should not wait for the outcome of an appeal before re-opening the negotiations that were constrained by Bill 124.

Policy 33 – Ethical Behaviour. There has been no movement on this very important policy since August 2021. A joint meeting of the Faculty Relations Committee and the Staff Relations Committee was held recently to discuss the 2021 draft, to consider outstanding issues, and to press for implementation of the revised policy as soon as possible.

Policy 12 – Compassionate Care & Bereavement Leave. The Faculty Relations Committee discussed a draft version of this new policy. We want to ensure that (a) there are no unnecessarily burdensome documentation requirements, (b) the definitions of family include all those that we might consider close family, even if the connections may not be conventional, and (c) applications to extend a period of compassionate leave beyond the minimum are consistently and fairly resolved. The Staff Relations Committee is also discussing this draft, and we believe we are close to agreement on all sides.

Policy 57 – Employee Accommodations. The key features of this new policy that we are advocating for are (a) the establishment of a Central Office for processing accommodation requests, and (b) the costs of accommodations should be met from central funding, not from department or faculty budgets. We think it’s essential that the central office, not the individual’s dean, determines the appropriate accommodations for each individual, and works with the individual’s department to avoid any negative impact on their colleagues.

Governance review. The Board reviewed a project proposal from CAUT and will be issuing a call for members for an ad hoc committee soon.

Continue reading “Board meeting report: February 16, 2023” →

Retirement advice from your (former) colleagues

In March 2020, right before everything moved online, we invited a few recently retired or soon-to-be-retired faculty members to talk about their experience of the retirement process and share some advice. Here’s what we learned.

Coming to the decision

You have to do it sometime, and it’s going to be an adjustment no matter when. Some panelists decided rather quickly, while one described it as a “gradual series of decisions.”

Some factors in the decision and signs that might suggest you’re about ready to retire include

  • an approaching birthday (that seems obvious, but maybe this birthday feels different from previous years),
  • grants coming to an end,
  • having other things to look forward to,
  • feeling the need to slow down,
  • pressure from your spouse, and
  • wanting to travel—as one panelist warned, don’t put retirement off too long if you want to travel!
Continue reading “Retirement advice from your (former) colleagues” →

15 highlights from our annual tenure and promotion workshops

Every year, FAUW offers a series of workshops to help members prepare for career transitions and milestones.

  1. FAUW’s Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee (AF&T) can provide a range of support, from reviewing your application, to attending meetings with you, or helping you appeal a negative decision, if it comes to that. You’re entitled to have an “academic colleague” with you at all meetings, and faculty members often bring an AF&T member. You should definitely contact AF&T if you receive a letter expressing reservations or any other negative signs or decisions. We’ve seen a lot of those and can help you figure out how to respond.
  2. You can apply for tenure either one or two years after you’re reappointed, so you’re going through the tenure process during your fifth or sixth year. (Of course, your timeline will be affected by any leaves and extensions you take.) Both options are normal; neither is “early” or “late.”
    • “Applying early” refers to applying before either of those options, and requires agreement from your dean and departmental tenure & promotion committee (and is usually arranged when you’re hired and documented in your appointment letter).
  3. Make sure you address any concerns raised in performance reviews or your reappointment letter, and that you document signs of improvement in any areas where you’re struggling.
  4. We recommend that you take your pre-tenure sabbatical. It’s likely the only time you’ll get a six-month sabbatical at full pay, and it can give you essential time to work on preparing for tenure. It will impact the length and/or timing of your sabbaticals after tenure by using up the sabbatical credits you’ve accrued so far, but your primary goal at this time is making sure you get tenure. Those credits won’t do you any good later if you’re not here!
  5. When applying for tenure, you will be assessed on what you’ve accomplished since arriving at Waterloo. External referees will look at your whole careers, but the UW committees will focus on your work at UW. Your previous work is what got you hired; now you need to show what you’ve done since and where you’re going.
  6. The emphasis for promotion is usually on scholarship, but you can get promoted based on an outstanding teaching record, with long-standing, satisfactory scholarship.
Continue reading “15 highlights from our annual tenure and promotion workshops” →

Applying for promotion to full professor: Advice for women

Every year, FAUW offers an information session about applying for promotion to full professor. In 2020, we offered a session specifically for women. Here are some of the highlights.

Applying for promotion to full professor: Advice for women
  1. It’s understandable if it’s not clear to you why you should bother applying. Some reasons to consider applying include being a role model to other women professors, more access to administrative positions where you can change how things are done, and increased status and recognition.
  2. It takes about a week to prepare your application—less time if you keep your CV up to date and file positive reviews and citations along the way.
  3. You don’t have to be invited to apply by your chair (though you do want their support).
  4. FAUW can review your application and provide an “academic colleague” to accompany you through the process. You can also find your own academic colleague—this role is established in university policy.
  5. If you’re debating whether to apply, you’re probably ready; women tend to be less sure about their readiness than men. Put another way: Men will generally promote themselves. You need to, too.
  6. A lot of expectations are discipline-specific, but since your application will be reviewed by people outside of your discipline and department, be sure to supply all the necessary context. If impact factor isn’t applicable in your discipline, note that (if it is applicable, academic librarians can help you sort it out). If your department has few PhD students, note that. In general, explain anything that might be different from the norm.
Continue reading “Applying for promotion to full professor: Advice for women” →

Board meeting report: February 2, 2023

This was a packed meeting! Here’s what we covered:

Black and Indigenous faculty mentorship. The Equity Committee is creating an informal mentorship program to support faculty hired through the Black and Indigenous Excellence initiatives. FAUW is funding one-on-one meetings to support this.

Policy development. FRC has received new drafts of two policies: Compassionate Care & Bereavement Leave (12) and Employee Accommodations (57). The Board reviewed Policy 12 at this meeting and will discuss 57 at the next. What we negotiated for compassionate care and bereavement leave is documented in our last settlement, and Policy 12 will cover at least those provisions—which are already in place! You can find out what leaves and benefits you have in our Faculty Guide.

One open question is whether requests for extension might be handled by a central office (as is proposed for accommodations under the new Policy 57), rather than by deans or other supervisors/managers (as they currently are). FAUW’s position is that this central, arms-length office is absolutely necessary for fair, equitable, and compassionate treatment of employees. Another question is whether the policy will apply to post-doctoral fellows and research faculty (which we hope it will).

Compensation negotiations. We are starting to look for compensation negotiating team members. A detailed call for members is available on our website; please get in touch with Mary Hardy if you are interested or would like to recommend someone.

Research professors. The Board got caught up on the pre-pandemic progress on representing research professors. To recap: There are significant gaps in the working conditions of research professors compared to faculty and staff groups who have formal representation, and the FAUW membership voted at its 2019 fall general meeting to move forward with representing research professors. We were very close to formal agreement at Faculty Relations Committee about the next steps by March 2020, but discussions were disrupted by the pandemic, and then by work on policies 76 and 77. The Board has agreed to resume work on this now to support this particularly precarious group of faculty.

Pay frequency survey. The Board reviewed the results from our recent poll about bimonthly vs monthly pay frequency. As with the Staff Association’s similar results, this is likely not a strong enough argument to convince the administration to change the pay schedule, but we will keep a watching brief, alongside the Staff Association.

Sessional unionization. A member raised concerns about changes that could come about as a result of the unionization of sessional instructors. We will keep a watchful eye on this issue.

Bookkeeping. The Board endorsed a plan to hire professional bookkeepers, which will come with the ability to do electronic funds transfers and save on some other costs including the cost of our audit.

Board meeting report: January 19, 2023

Here’s what the Board talked about at its last meeting:

  • The Policy 76/77 update and panel discussion, and the policy drafting committee’s process so far. You can watch the P76/77 panel on Microsoft Stream here (UW login required) and read the PDC members’ report on this blog.
  • The CAUT Equity Conference is coming up on February 10. Two or three members of the Equity Committee will be attending, and registration is still open.
  • Policy 3 (Sabbatical and other leaves). The Board agreed to proposed changes to Policy 3 that would allow faculty to transition between sabbatical and sick leave in the event of extended illness. This should be approved at Faculty Relations Committee soon and then sent to the Board of Governors. These changes were prompted by recommendations based on past Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee cases.
  • FAUW leadership transition. As we announced earlier this month, Lori Curtis has stepped down and vice president Mary Hardy has now assumed the role of president. The Board voted to have president-elect David Porreca begin his term in May this year, instead of July, and to have David join the board in a non-voting capacity until his term as president begins, to facilitate a smoother transition. David is a past president of FAUW (2012–2015) and will bring experience and institutional memory that will be very useful at this time.
  • Salary Anomaly Working Group. The Board appointed Rashmee Singh, Kate Rybczynski, and Michael Wallace as the FAUW representatives on the working group.
  • The salary negotiation team. Salary negotiations begin late this year, and will be issuing a call for interested team members in the coming weeks. Please send us any recommendations you have! We need a strong leader for the team, and at least one accountant.
  • The University’s mask policy. We’ve heard from several members who do not feel safe in small, crowded classrooms without asking students to mask. FAUW is considering asking for the data on which the University is basing its masking decisions.
  • CUPE sessional unionization. President Mary Hardy met with CUPE representatives and expressed support for their organizing efforts. She notes that there’s no disagreement about who represents whom.
  • Mary also met with the Staff Association to discuss common issues, including snow days and pension & benefits.