Weekly Update – January 28, 2022
January 28, 2022
Weekly Update – January 28, 2022
CUASA Winter 2022 GMM
CUASA’s Winter 2022 General Membership Meeting will be held this coming Tuesday, February 1, from 2:00-4:00pm. The agenda can be found here.
The GMM will take place online over Zoom. The connection details will be sent on Monday.
2021-2024 Collective Agreement Signed
The 2021-2024 collective agreement was signed by CUASA and Carleton University this past week. The three-year collective agreement covers the period of May 1, 2021, to April 30, 2024.
A tentative agreement was reached on July 5, 2021, and was ratified by Carleton University’s Board of Governors and CUASA members in August 2021.
The agreement has been posted to the CUASA website.
Final Reminder: SEQ Choice Selection
As previously mentioned, under the new process for the administration of student experience questionnaires, members have until January 31, to select their preference for paper or online questionnaires (SEQ).
Courses determined to be “fully online” will have to be administered using electronic questionnaires. The administration of all other courses will be at the discretion of our members.
Members can make their selections through Carleton Central under “Faculty Services” by accessing “Student Experience Questionnaire Method Preference”. If no selection is made by January 31, the SEQ will be administered online.
Be advised that under the new system, once members make a selection and save it, the choice will be saved for every subsequent term and academic year thereafter and will not change until it is changed by the member.
The Association continues to strongly recommend the paper format, when safe to do so, since the issues of discriminatory effects and bias for the electronic format remain outstanding.
ARTE Survey
CUASA and Carleton University have developed a new tool that will allow Faculty and Instructors an annual opportunity to reflect on their teaching effectiveness. The new tool is called the Annual Report on Teaching Effectiveness (the “ARTE”) and was designed by the Joint Subcommittee on Teaching Evaluations (JSTE) following collective agreement negotiations between the University and CUASA in 2017. This ARTE will include a series of questions for Faculty, Instructors, Chairs and Directors to answer, creating a reflective teaching document that would coexist with the Student Experience Questionnaire (SEQ).
Before the JSTE implements the ARTE, it has been soliciting feedback on the ARTE questions from faculty, instructors, and Chairs/Directors. Invitees were randomly selected by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (OIRP) and were contacted directly about participating in the survey.
If you were one of the invitees, we ask that you please take a few moments to provide us through your feedback by completing the questionnaire.
The deadline to complete the questionnaire is Monday, January 31. The JSTE would like to thank you in advance for your participation.
Nominations for Steering Positions
We are accepting nominations for the following Steering Committee positions for terms beginning on July 1, 2022 (click on the position title to view the description):
- President
- Treasurer
- External Relations Officer
- Chair, Grievance Policy and Administration
- Instructor Representative
- Librarian Representative
Nominations for President are due to the virtual CUASA Office by Thursday, March 31, 2022. Nominations for all other positions are due by Friday, April 29, 2022. All nominations must be made using the form found here (PDF) or here (Word).
Information on the nominations process can be found on our How to Volunteer page. Remember that our Association is only as strong as its membership, so we count on the time and commitment of our members to achieve our goals. Some of these positions come with a course release subject to the availability of funds (please ask if interested).
If you have any questions about the positions or the process, please contact CUASA’s Chair, Nominations and Elections, Marylynn Steckley, at [email protected].
Academic Community Updates
UOITFA Strike Deadline
The University of Ontario Institute of Technology Faculty Association (UOITFA) has declared a strike deadline of Monday, January 31.
But it’s not too late. A strike can still be avoided. Send an email and show your support: https://uoitfa.ca/take-action/
Faculty and academic librarian voices ignored as universities rush return to in-person learning
The voices of Ontario university faculty and academic librarians continue to be ignored by university administrations as postsecondary institutions rush back to in-person learning—even as COVID-19 cases across the province remain high. Outbreaks at universities and in university communities are inevitable if university administrations withhold information about campus health and safety and refuse to work collaboratively with faculty to make decisions about the return to in-person learning.
To keep reading, click here.
January News Wire: #UnionStrong historic victory in Alberta, Potential UOITFA strike, Feb 1 AUFA strike deadline, Make Laurentian accountable, Omicron
Every month CAUT sends a newsletter with the latest CAUT and post-secondary education sector news. In the January issue:
- #UnionStrong: historic victory in Alberta
- UOITFA moves closer to a potential strike
- Feb 1st strike deadline for AUFA
- CAUT: make Laurentian accountable
- Unions take action to protect members against Omicron
- Upcoming events
Click here to read the NewsWire and to subscribe.
