News

Following receipt of the report of the policy development committee on September 23, the Faculty Relations Committee (FRC) has spent the majority of its meeting time identifying and discussing the major terms of importance in reshaping the policies. This has been a collegial, collaborative, and productive discussion which has resulted in agreement on several major areas.

At the latest Faculty Relations Committee meeting, we and the administration representatives shared our respective visions for teaching-intensive faculty, to see if they are close enough to continue discussions. Based on these statements, the Board has supported continuing discussions at FRC.

We are expanding the mandate of what is currently the Elections Committee so that it also finds FAUW members to serve on University and joint committees.

Su-Yin Tan and Kate Lawson, the FAUW appointees to the P76/77 drafting committee, have issued a report to the membership on the FAUW blog. Below is an excerpt from that report; you can read the rest at fauw.blog. FAUW strongly believes that our lecturer members deserve a better outcome and the Board is making every effort to find a more effective way forward.

Update: On August 24, the University of Waterloo announced that proof of vaccination will be mandatory this fall, with accommodations available for medical or human rights grounds.

The Lecturers Committee wishes to congratulate its recipients of the 2021 Lecturers Appreciation Award, Aimée Morrison and Jay Dolmage of the FAUW Equity Committee. About the award, the Lecturers Committee says:

FAUW is pleased to announce that Lori Curtis will serve as FAUW president for a two-year term beginning July 1. Lori is the chair of the Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee. We will announce the new AF&T chair soon.

Mario Ioannidis, currently an at-large director and member of the Executive Committee, will take the Engineering seat on the board for one year as of July 1.

The FAUW Board has adopted a position on fall 2021 decision making relating to teaching and on-campus activity. As we prepare to return to campus and in-person teaching, we need – and are asking – to have more of a say in decisions about our members' working conditions.

The FAUW Appreciation Award recognizes people from across the University who have gone above and beyond to improve the lives of faculty members. Monica Vesely is the recipient of the 2021 award.

Monica is an educational developer in the Centre for Teaching Excellence and has been a driving force behind new faculty orientation for some time, putting exceptional, thoughtful work into programming new faculty events, particularly recruiting and liaising with speakers, and inviting and gathering valuable feedback from attendees.

Dan Brown has decided to resign as FAUW president, effective the end of June 2021, citing personal reasons.

The FAUW Board has approved a plan for a special election for a new president for the term July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023. Nomination forms will be available on Monday, May 17, and due at noon on Monday, May 31. If there is more than one candidate, voting will take place for one week in June.

We will also be holding an election for a director from the Faculty of Engineering at the same time, to fill a one-year vacancy starting July 1.