President's Welcome - Chantal Dion, CUASA President

On behalf of CUASA I would like to wish all our members belated New Year greetings and best wishes for 2015.  We hope the coming year brings many successes for everyone. Looking to the months ahead, I have several announcements to share with you.

General Members Meeting

All CUASA members are welcome and encouraged to attend a General Members Meeting on Thursday, February 5, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. in 415 Southam Hall.  Following a brief report from the President of CUASA, members will be invited to participate in an open discussion about the increasing service and administrative demands on academic staff.

Scholars-at-Risk

As you may know, CUASA is coordinating Carleton’s support for the Scholars-at-Risk program, an international network of academic institutions advocating for human rights and academic freedom for scholars around the world. The Scholars-at-Risk network comprises more than 250 academic institutions in 30 countries. To date Carleton faculty and staff have contributed $12,854.50 toward our goal of $15,000, which would allow Carleton to welcome a scholar from the Scholars-at-Risk program to the university as early as next September 2015.

Collective Agreement

CUASA hopes to have a copy of the ratified collective agreement available for our members to peruse in our office in 2004 Dunton Tower by early February. 

Member Services Officer

We are in the process of hiring a new Member Services Officer who will specialize in handling grievances. We're looking forward to announcing the successful candidate soon. CUASA is also investigating ways to accommodate the new staff person within our current office space.

Revision of Constitution and Bylaws

Members of Council and the Steering Committee along with CUASA staff are currently working on proposed revisions to the association’s constitution and bylaws. More information will be forthcoming in the months ahead and any changes to the constitution are voted on by the entire CUASA membership.

Spring Conference

Unlike previous years, CUASA will not be sponsoring any members to attend this year’s Spring Conference. The reason for this decision is that the conference organizers have repeatedly refused to allow CUASA to organize a table for providing members attending the conference with information about the association’s activities.

Departmental Council Representatives  

At present CUASA is without Council representatives in 21 academic units.  We would urge members in these units to consider taking on the role of Council representative for their colleagues.

A list of current members of Council along with units requiring representation can be found on the CUASA website.