August 18, 2009

President’s Message

18 August 2009

Dr David Hyttenrauch

 

Welcome to the new academic year. I hope the summer was restful, energizing and exactly as productive or unproductive as you hoped. This year will bring some significant changes to Mount Royal and the MRFA. In the fall we can expect an announcement on university designation, and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada will make its decision regarding our membership. 

 

Thanks to the extraordinary work of the negotiating teams over the last two rounds, we have another landmark collective agreement to implement. This year marks the official launch of the TS and TSS streams (and a formalized obligation to perform service) for full-time faculty after last year’s interim solution. The creation of an academic rank structure has implications for full-time hiring processes, as do specific changes to the Appointments article in the Collective Agreement. We will also see two tenure processes running in parallel, one for those appointed under the previous Agreement and one for newer faculty, and a potential change in the way departments manage the tenure process. There will be a need to educate and train faculty and admin on the new models, and there is much work ahead on specific criteria for tenure and promotion. This agreement also marks the beginning of a more formal post-tenure review process for all faculty including a contractual obligation to complete annual reports and a parallel obligation on the Deans to read and respond to them. These changes serve the evolution of the institution to degree-granting status, but they also signal a change in accountability for faculty work. And as with all new structures and processes, we need to be mindful of the workload and other professional implications. To that end, I’m very interested in hearing any feedback on implementation issues.

 

On other fronts, this is again a negotiations year, so there will of course be consultations on where we go next with collective bargaining. Having focused extensive energy on full-time issues in recent rounds (necessary for mandate change), I will be encouraging a review of part-time issues. Robin Fisher (Provost and VP Academic and I) will be co-chairing a new working group on part-time issues, with details forthcoming. I also expect this year to be the beginning of a period of administrative renewal, particularly among Deans, some of whom are reaching their term limits in the near future. A stronger support program for Chairs is being implemented this year. Mount Royal has hired a new Human Rights and Diversity advisor and separated the Ombuds role from Human Rights. And in its second year, General Faculties Council will continue to see extensive policy and curriculum development while finding more confidence in its institutional role. Our own MRFA Executive and MRFA committees will continue to have prominent roles in addressing faculty issues and our professional needs, so thanks to everyone who works in these or other ways to improve our association, our professional standing, or our instructionally-focused baccalaureate degree-granting institution (hoping not to have to write that phrase ever again).

 

Obviously there are stressors and complexities in institutional change of this magnitude, as well as personal and professional rewards for us and benefits to our students. I hope we continue to be the kind of faculty community where we treat each other well, professionally, and (in the best MRFA sense) collegially. Thanks for being part of this journey.