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 […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations is excited to announce the fourth annual Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism. Valued at $10,000, the Fellowship is intended to help address the lack of informed investigative reporting on Canadian higher education issues. It provides financial support to those wishing to pursue in-depth journalism in this […]
Members of the X/Ryerson Faculty Association (XRFA) have just ratified a three-year collective agreement that represents significant gains on equity, Indigenous complement, librarian rights, and benefits. The university has allocated $500,000 dollars for salary anomalies, with $200,000 of that specifically for gender anomalies. A Joint Committee on Equity in Salary will be created to make […]
TORONTO, February 15, 2022 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) extends a message of solidarity to the striking faculty at the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) in Alberta. Members of the ULFA are currently walking the picket lines as they push to have the University of Lethbridge administration address their concerns […]
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 […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) extends its solidarity and support to faculty at Ontario Tech University, who are on strike for the first time in their union’s history. Members of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Faculty Association (UOITFA) have been working hard to negotiate a fair collective agreement. To end […]
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 […]
The Ford government’s obsession with austerity and privatization was a major driver of Laurentian University’s insolvency and collapse. This was the message OCUFA Board Chair Gyllian Phillips delivered to participants in “Our Movement, Our Fight, Our Future,” a webinar series focused on reclaiming power through labour organizing in Northern Ontario. “Universities, especially northern universities, have […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) stands in solidarity with the members of the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) on strike for greater stability for precarious academic staff, increased hiring of Indigenous academics, stronger equity and diversity initiatives, and improved wages and working conditions to help recruit and retrain academics at their university. […]
The Ontario University and Colleges Coalition echoes the concerns of students and workers across the province about unsafe and rushed plans to return to campus. With notice of returning back to in-person learning for some institutions as soon as January 31, students are nervous about inadequate safety plans, the accessibility of continuing with online learning […]
Universities are designed as spaces where minds are nurtured—where expertise develops and new knowledge is generated. However, under academic, financial, and social pressures, faculty and students are more frequently reporting poor mental health—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest issue of Academic Matters explores the mental health dilemma in the academy. In a space that […]
In ongoing efforts to put more pressure on the Ontario Tech administration to avoid a strike, the UOITFA organized an impressive social media day of action on January 18, which saw faculty members and labour allies from across the province take to Twitter to voice their support for faculty at Ontario Tech. The UOITFA is […]
OCUFA has joined with the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and unions across Ontario to call on the Ford government to take action to address the crisis caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A joint statement endorsed by over 30 organizations, including OCUFA, outlines six demands that frontline workers in health care, long-term care, […]
TORONTO, January 24, 2022 – 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 […]
TORONTO, January, 13, 2022 – OCUFA is disappointed that the Superior Court of Justice has denied the Ontario Auditor General’s request for documents that Laurentian University claims are privileged. Laurentian’s sudden insolvency and unprecedented implosion as a result of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) process has devastated the Greater Sudbury community, raised concerns at […]
