January 7, 2011

I hope you all had an enjoyable and restful holiday and are ready for the new semester.

Process for establishing Part-time Appointment and Reappointment Criteria

The current collective agreement replaces a single part-time appointment article with separate articles on Initial Part-time Appointment, Reappointment of Part-time Faculty, and Allocation of Workload for Part-time Faculty (Articles 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9). Article 4.7.1 contains a provision that “the Chair of the academic unit shall convene a meeting to which all MRFA members in the academic unit or discipline are invited to establish the selection criteria for part-time appointment ...“ and Article 4.8.2 contains a parallel provision on establishing reappointment criteria. There was considerable discussion during the fall semester as to the implications of these requirements.

I met with the Association’s legal counsel on December 6 and he provided the following opinions:

1.      This wording does not require a vote but any member present could request one and, if that happened, then all full-time and part-time members present would have a vote.

2.      There might be occasions in which part-time faculty voting on part-time reappointment criteria could constitute a conflict of interest, but that would have to be allowed because it is explicitly built into the process.

MRFA Executive Assistant

Our former Executive Assistant, Ellen Burdett, went on long term disability two years ago and has recently been approved for continuing LTD. We thank Ellen for her eight years of service to the Association and wish her all the best in the future.

By LTD regulations, Ellen had a right to return to her position for two years and, therefore, her replacement, Chantelle Anderson, was a temporary employee. Chantelle has now accepted a permanent appointment as Executive Assistant, effective December 1, 2010. Please join the Executive in welcoming Chantelle as a continuing employee of the Association.

Dean Searches

As you know, Chad London has been appointed Dean of Health and Community Studies. Interviews for the Associate Vice-President, Enrolment Management will be conducted in January. All members of the university community are invited to public presentations held from 1:30 to 2:30 on the interview days. Candidates will speak on the topic: describe your vision for enrolment management at Mount Royal University and tell us how you would go about developing, communicating and implementing this vision in the first years of your term. All comments sent to Robin Fisher by e-mail will be shared in summary form with the selection committee to assist them in making a decision.

Two new deans will be appointed in the winter semester. Rod Corbett is the MRFA representative on the selection committee for the Dean of Business and I am the MRFA representative on the committee for the Dean of Science and Technology.

CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers)

As External Vice-President of ACIFA, I am the ACIFA delegate to CAUT and attended the Senior Grievance Officers Workshop in Ottawa December 10-12. It was a valuable experience, both because of workshops on topics such as member-to-member grievances and denial of tenure grievances and because it was an opportunity to share experiences with colleagues from other universities. I will be presenting what I learned to our Executive, the ACIFA Negotiating Advisory Committee, and the ACIFA Presidents’ Council.

Department Visits

The MRFA Executive met with all departments during the last half of the fall semester. We had many worthwhile conversations about Tenure System II during these meetings. Some of the other issues raised are reported separately.

Gerry

Dr. Gerry Cross

President,

Mount Royal Faculty Association

Ph.  (403) 440-6191