OCUFA is pleased to announce that we are now accepting nominations for the Teaching and Academic Librarians Awards and Equity and Social Justice Committee Award of Distinction. We are also accepting applications for the Henry Mandelbaum Graduate Fellowship and Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism. At OCUFA, we believe it is important to recognize […]
OCUFA has set out its priorities for the 2022 Ontario Budget in a written submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and in a presentation to the committee on January 20, 2022. OCUFA’s budget recommendations aim to preserve the quality and sustainability of postsecondary education in Ontario through stable, consistent, and adequate […]
Congratulations to the Brescia Faculty Association (BFA) for ratifying a new collective agreement. The BFA made a number of notable gains in the areas of faculty hiring, workload, contract faculty security, and professional expense reimbursements. New language will place a greater emphasis on internal hiring, making it easier for contract faculty or faculty in limited […]
In April, OCUFA’s Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee held its sixth annual Social Media Day of Action in support of fairness for contract faculty. On April 21, members of the committee, faculty associations, and allies drew attention to “the elephant in the room”: the provincial government’s underfunding of postsecondary education, which is the underlying […]
Members of the Ontario Universities and Colleges Coalition (OUCC), of which OCUFA is a member, have put out a statement supporting the Decent Work and Health Network’s call for seven permanent, paid sick days for all workers and an additional fourteen paid sick days during public health outbreaks. The postsecondary education sector, like other parts […]
Each year, OCUFA is proud to celebrate outstanding achievement in teaching and academic librarianship at Ontario universities. Through the Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards, we recognize those individuals whose pedagogical leadership and support have made a positive and enduring difference to their students and colleagues. Anyone within the university community can nominate a faculty member […]
From November 9-13, faculty from across the province held virtual meetings with their elected Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to advocate for stronger public funding for postsecondary education, fairness for contract faculty, faculty renewal, and against the threats to academic freedom and human rights in Bill 213 and the Order in Council on the definition […]
On October 31, OCUFA held its first Board of Directors Meeting of the 2020-21 academic year. The virtual meeting focused on the numerous challenges faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying priorities for 2020-21 With most academic staff and students still working and learning from […]
TORONTO, Nov 24, 2020 — University students, faculty, and academic librarians are struggling with social isolation, stress, and a lack of institutional support according to the results of a new poll which finds that those working and studying at Ontario’s universities believe the shift to online education has negatively impacted quality. Without immediate action from universities and the Ontario government to […]
The 2020 Worldviews Lecture brought together over 180 academics, students, higher education leaders, communications professionals, and journalists from around the globe for a virtual discussion on the lecture’s theme: The myth of meritocracy . Jo Littler from City, University of London, opened the event with a historical and contemporary analysis of the ways by which meritocracy permeates social institutions, including the academy. […]
Every October the Canadian Association of University Teachers organizes a week where faculty across Canada take action on campus and social media to recognize the important contributions contract faculty make to postsecondary education and raise awareness about the challenges they face. Contract faculty have been some of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many […]
The faculty association at Brescia University College in London, Ontario, has negotiated a new one-year collective agreement that contains two significant wins. First, the faculty association, which represents both tenure-stream and contract faculty at the institution, has secured language guaranteeing that all teaching at Brescia will be done by faculty association members. Second, contract faculty […]
All workers deserve paid sick days. On August 29, join OCUFA and the Fight for $15 and Fairness to call for at least 7 days of paid sick leave for all workers, plus an additional 14 days of paid sick leave during public health outbreaks. Sign up now to receive more details on how you can raise your voice for paid sick days for all on August 29!
There is more to Academic Matters than just the print issue. New articles are being added to the Academic Matters website every week. Here are some recent articles you might find interesting: The academy’s neoliberal response to COVID-19: Why faculty should be wary and how we can push back By Honor Brabazon, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo “The emergency shift to remote teaching that universities have made in response […]
In response to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities seeking input on the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on different sectors of Ontario society, OCUFA has submitted a detailed overview of the pandemic’s implications for faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals at the province’s universities. The policy brief is designed to provide context […]
