OCUFA Policy Exchange 2017: Developing a compelling policy vision for Ontario universities

May 11-12, 2017

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The OCUFA Policy Exchange 2017 helped set the groundwork for OCUFA’s policy platform in the lead-up to the 2018 Ontario provincial election.

During the interactive conference, participants identified the policy issues and priorities most important to the 17,000 university faculty and academic librarians that OCUFA represents. Attendees worked together to draft a set of policy recommendations focused around three timely and highly relevant themes:

  1. The future of provincial funding for universities
  2. Precarious academic employment and the evolving role of contract faculty
  3. Reshaping university governance and accountability

To guide their deliberations, participants heard from a range of experts and stakeholders during panel discussions. Attendees were then guided through a series of facilitated deliberation sessions to generate policy priorities and recommendations to inform OCUFA’s platform.

 

Program

Thursday, May 11

8:00 Breakfast
Continental breakfast available at the conference venue

9:00 Welcome and Orientation

9:15 Introductory Remarks

  • Dr. Judy Bates, President, OCUFA

9:30 Advanced Education Perspectives Panel

  • Dr. Gyllian Phillips, Vice President, OCUFA Board of Directors
  • Marc Gurrisi, Research & Policy Analyst, Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
  • Dr. Peter Gooch, Senior Director, Policy and Analysis, Council of Ontario Universities
  • Ryan Culpepper, Vice-Chair, Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, CUPE; Chair, CUPE 3902
  • Rajean Hoilett, Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario


10:30 Break

10:45 Small group dialogue: Issues facing advanced education

12:00 Lunch – Discussion Panel

  • Sean Conway, Chair, Premier’s Highly Skilled Workforce Expert Panel
  • Vass Bednar, Chair, Federal Advisory Panel on Youth Employment


1:00 Contract Faculty Perspectives Panel

  • Dr. Fran Cachon, Chair, Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee
  • Dr. Grace Karram Stephenson, Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE, University of Toronto


1:45 University Funding Perspectives Panel

  • Glenn Craney, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Programs Division, Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development
  • Hugh Mackenzie, Principal, Hugh Mackenzie and Associates; Research Associate, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives


2:30 Break

2:45 Governance and Accountability Perspectives Panel

  • Dr. Glen Jones, Dean, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
  • Dr. Alison Hearn, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies, Western University
  • Dr. Alastair Summerlee, former President of the University of Guelph


3:45 Break

4:00 Priority Setting
Small group dialogue

5:00 Reception (Enoch Turner Schoolhouse)

7:00 Dialogue Dinner: Higher Education in the Truth and Reconciliation Era

  • Dr. Suzanne Stewart, Associate Professor of Indigenous healing in Counseling Psychology, Special Advisor to the Dean on Aboriginal Education, and Coordinator of the Indigenous Education Initiative, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
  • Dr. Ruth Koleszar-Green, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Research, Guest and Host relationships, York University


Friday, May 12

8:00 Early Morning with…

  • Scott Jaschik, CEO and Editor, Inside Higher Ed
    (Continental breakfast provided)


9:00 Welcome and recap

9:15 Concurrent working groups

10:30 Break

10:45 Concurrent working groups

11:45 Report back

12:00 Lunch – Ministry Perspectives

  • Sheldon Levy, Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, Province of Ontario


1:00 Concurrent working groups

2:30 Break

2:45 Report back

3:15 Rapporteur’s Panel

3:30 Closing remarks

  • Dr. Judy Bates, President, OCUFA