RFA Collective Agreement Timelines Affected by COVID-19

Activity

Timeline/Deadline (if applicable)

Instructions

Workload Data

Annual Workload Statement

Faculty members are to receive their annual Workload Statement summarizing their teaching assignment for the prior academic year by March 31.

If Schools/Departments are not able to meet this timeline due to workload challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they should write to the faculty members in advance to confirm that the Statements will be delayed and that they will be distributed when possible with the goal of delivery by April 30.

Annual Report

Faculty Annual Reports

Faculty members are to submit their annual report by May 15.

The annual report submission deadline will be May 17, 2021 as May 15th falls on Saturday.

Librarian Annual Report

Librarians are to submit their annual report by May 31.

Professional counsellors are to submit their annual report by May 31.

The annual report submission deadline will not be changed.

Extension of Acting Assistant Professor timeline

Acting Assistant Professor

When a faculty member is appointed with the requirement of completing a terminal degree he or she will be appointed to the rank of Acting Assistant Professor for a maximum period of two years.

The University and the Ryerson Faculty Association (RFA) acknowledge that the current COVID-19 pandemic may have caused a negative impact on your ability to obtain your terminal degree within the required timeline. In response to this, the University and the RFA have agreed to provide you, on a without prejudice basis, an extension to your timeline to obtain your terminal degree of an additional year.

This extension to your timeline matches that which was provided to all Acting Assistant Professors who already held Acting Assistant Professor appointments on March 15, 2020.

The terms of  (PDF file) Article 4.5, Acting Assistant Professors, shall continue to apply except for the amendment to the timeline from two years to three years.

The adjustments to your timeline will be confirmed in a letter to you, from your Dean, providing the new dates.

Please note that the agreement to provide this extension to Acting Assistant Professors has been reached without prejudice between the RFA and the University, and it is limited to only those faculty members holding an Acting Assistant Professor appointment on April 1, 2021 or earlier.

Extension of Probationary Period in Light of COVID-19 Pandemic

In the year you are scheduled to be reviewed for tenure, you will be asked to select whether or not you wish to extend your probationary period by one-year.

Normal Tenure Review under the ‘New Tenure Review Process’ commences May 17. If you are scheduled to begin your tenure review in May 2021, you must choose whether or not you wish to extend your probationary period by May 17, 2021. Please make your selection through Extension of Probationary Period form. (external link) 

If your tenure review begins in subsequent years, we will provide you with time to consider how COVID-19 may impact your SRC and potentially your tenure review. You will be asked to choose whether or not you would like to request a one-year extension of your probationary period by March 31 of the year you are scheduled to submit your application for tenure. You will be asked to submit your selection closer to this deadline.

Should you elect an extension, your election will automatically be accepted. The University and the Ryerson Faculty Association (RFA) have confirmed that this is an optional election that does not require you to provide a rationale as to why you are electing to extend your probationary period. Following your election, a confirmation will be sent to you from your Dean’s Office.

The deadline for requesting an extension  is March 31 of the year you are scheduled to submit your tenure application.

In carrying out your Year-End Assessments and Intermediate Reviews, Departmental Evaluation Committees will be advised to take into consideration any potential impact that COVID-19 may have on your Teaching, SRC, and Service responsibilities. As always, you have the option of submitting additional information with your Annual Report, and you may choose to provide an explanation of how COVID-19 has affected your duties and responsibilities.

Should you choose to defer your tenure review please be assured that there will be no negative inference by the evaluation committees, or the Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs. Further, the criteria to be applied for tenure review will be unchanged as a result of this extension, and what is expected of the candidate will be as if the extension had not occurred.

Agreement to provide this extension opportunity to pre-tenure faculty members has been reached without prejudice by the RFA and the University, and it is limited to only those faculty members who held a pre-tenure appointment on March 15, 2020.

Any questions about this process can be sent to vpfa@torontomu.ca.

Faculty/Course Survey

Paper-based in-class and online Faculty/Course Survey

• For all tenure-stream (probationary and tenured) and Limited Term Faculty, FCS will continue to be administered online.
• Information collected through FCS will be available to individual faculty members through the FCS portal for formative purposes and shall not be included in annual reports.
• FCS results for Fall 2020, Winter 2021, and Fall 2021 will not be automatically uploaded to faculty annual reports. Any FCS previously automatically added to the annual report system from Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 will be removed.
• Faculty members may choose to include FCS results in their teaching dossiers for the purposes of tenure and promotion but in no case shall be required to submit FCS results arising out of courses taught during this period of remote instruction. No negative inference will be drawn as a result of their absence.

In reviewing FCS results for the Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and Fall 2021 terms, committees (DECs or FTCs) are strongly encouraged to give consideration to any challenges that may have been imposed by teaching during the pandemic.

Department Hiring Committee (DHC)

Composition Report

The DHC for the upcoming academic year is to be established by May 15 and the composition is to be communicated to the Dean, the VPFA, and the RFA by June 15.

At this time these deadlines remain in effect. 

EDI Report

In making their appointments to the DHC the Chair/Director prepares a report explaining how appointments to the committee serve the University’s EDI goals. This report is due June 15.

At this time this deadline remains in effect.

Hiring Meetings and Recommendations

As scheduled.

Minimize in person meetings. If possible, carry out interviews virtually and ensure all candidates are treated in the same manner. Committee meetings should be done virtually (if possible) and drafting of the recommendation can be done electronically.

Evaluation Committee (DEC, FTC, FPC)

In-class Teaching Assessments

RFA In-Class Teaching Assessments for Fall 2021

The normal process regarding communications to pre-tenure faculty members as to the number of assessments and the scheduling of these will continue as per the Collective Agreement.

1. In the Fall 2021 term, the pre-tenure faculty member may elect whether or not they wish to have their normally scheduled teaching assessments take place.

• For the Fall 2021 term, pre-tenure faculty members shall confirm in writing by September 17, 2021, whether or not they wish to have teaching assessments by writing to the Chair of the pre-tenure faculty member’s DEC, who will inform the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs.
• If no election is made by September 17, 2021, the default will be that a teaching assessment(s) shall not be completed for the Fall 2021 term.

2. Pre-tenure faculty members who elect to have their scheduled teaching assessments conducted will also be given the opportunity to elect if they wish to have this teaching assessment(s) as an official assessment that will be included in their Performance and Conduct File.

To facilitate this, when an assessment is completed, the assessor must provide it only to the pre-tenure faculty member within three weeks of the class visit and advise the Chair/Director that the assessment has been completed.

By May 1, 2022 the pre-tenure faculty member must elect in writing to the Chair/Director if they wish one or more of their Fall 2021 assessments to form part of their Performance and Conduct File (PCF). If the pre-tenure faculty member so elects, they will provide the assessments(s) to the Chair/Director who will forward it to the Dean, the RFA and for filing in the PCF.

3. Pre-tenure faculty members who have elected either to waive the normally scheduled assessments under paragraph 1 above will be required to have additional teaching assessment(s) as set out below:

a. Additional teaching assessments to be taken following the resumption of in-person teaching;

b. Additional teaching assessments will occur at least one every term after the resumption of in-person teaching until they reach a minimum of eight assessments; recognizing that there ought to be a minimum of eight teaching assessments over a standard six year probationary period and this number may be adjusted for a shorter probation.

c. Notwithstanding paragraph 3(b), in the exceptional circumstance where a pre-tenure faculty member is being reviewed for tenure in 2021/2022 and is unable to complete the minimum number of 8 teaching assessments, the faculty member shall nevertheless be reviewed for tenure and no adverse inference shall be drawn based on the fact that have fewer than 8 teaching assessments.

4. For the Fall 2021, the pre-tenure faculty and a prospective assessor are strongly encouraged to have a discussion to determine the most appropriate manner to carry out the assessment taking into consideration the mode of delivery.

5. The unavailability of an assessor will not negatively affect the pre-tenure member.

6. Assessors and those reading assessments shall be informed that, while not devaluing excellence in innovation and technology, they ought to be cautious in placing undue weight on technology management where a course has been converted to virtual or remote delivery.

7. In those cases where the assessment was not in an in-person classroom the following statement will be appended to the pre-tenure faculty member’s Fall 2021 Teaching Assessments that are included in their PCF: “This Teaching Assessment is of virtual teaching during the challenging conditions caused by the pandemic and should be viewed in that light. It is understood that the pre-tenure faculty member may not have had the opportunity to demonstrate the normal range of in-person teaching skills.”

Requests for an extension to provide the written assessment beyond three weeks of the class visit can be forwarded to vpfa@torontomu.ca.

If an assessment is elected by a pre-tenure member and is not completed (e.g. an assessor was not available), the Chair of the DEC must write a letter indicating the assessment was not done and the reason why. The letter must be copied to the Chair of Department/Director of the School, the member’s PCF, the Dean, and the RFA.

Absence of this teaching assessment may not be used as grounds for an extension of the probationary period or denial of tenure. No assessments can be conducted in subsequent terms to compensate for this missed assessment; however, the pre-tenure faculty member has the right to request one additional teaching assessment in any given semester.

Communication re LTF In-Class Teaching Assessments for Fall 2021

Promotion Recommendations

See the new Promotion Process Timeline in light of revisions to the Collective Agreement.

TA/GA Supervision

TA/GA performance evaluations

Faculty members who are Supervising Instructors for TAs/GAs are required to complete a performance evaluation of the TA/GA prior to the end of the semester.

For the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 terms, faculty members and contract lecturers who are Supervising Instructors for TAs/GAs are required to complete a performance evaluation of the TA/GA prior to the end of the semester.

Supervising Instructors are encouraged to communicate with their TA/GA to advise them when they can expect the evaluation. 

An electronic copy of the performance evaluation form that is required to be completed can be found at on the CUPE Local 3904, Unit 3 Collective Agreement web page.