Get to know the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs

When the pandemic hit, obvious concerns on the minds of the university’s leaders were about how this dramatic shift in students’ lives would affect their learning, education, and mental health and well-being. Similarly – and just as importantly – the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs (OVPFA) was concerned about how faculty members would be affected by this significant disruption, and focused on how they could support them through the changes.  

The OVPFA supports academic employees (faculty members, contract lecturers, librarians and counselors) from hiring to promotion, tenure, sabbaticals, retirement, and everything in between. The office also develops programs and activities to support their work-life balance, professional development, teaching, and mental health and well-being.

At the helm of the OVPFA since July 2020 is Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano, vice-provost, faculty affairs, who, despite starting her new role remotely, was determined to hit the ground running with the support of her team. Her immediate aim? To ensure all academic staff had the tools, resources and information they needed to succeed in what would turn out to be an unprecedented two years and counting. 

Striving to create a new faculty culture

Building a sense of community and culture that fosters meaningful relationships has been the OVPFA’s priority, particularly as the pandemic forced everyone into their own virtual silos. To address the absence of community and to provide opportunities for learning and development, the office created the “Chairs and Directors Leadership Series.” Designed to connect chairs and directors across faculties, the online series facilitated networking, encouraged honest discussions about crucial core skills, and further developed long-term leadership competencies to better support colleagues and students. 

“Chairing a department is a privilege, yet a highly complex and dynamic task with many expected and unexpected dimensions,” said Dogan Tirtiroglu, chair of the Real Estate Management Department at the Ted Rogers School of Management. 

“This series, designed and delivered by the OVPFA under extraordinary times and circumstances for humanity, has offered a wealth of knowledge about the available resources and details of policies to manage effectively and efficiently these challenging dimensions.” 

Tirtiroglu noted that the content of every session was both useful and important, and appreciated the opportunity to meet colleagues from across the university, to hear their diverse thoughts, and to share perspectives in a collegial environment. “It has been an invaluable experience,” he continued. “In my view, the esprit de cour was fantastic." 

Professional development a top priority

In addition to the Chairs and Directors Leadership Series, the OVPFA launched “Let’s Talk…”, a different series designed to guide faculty at various stages of their careers. The line-up has included 25+ virtual workshops on academic integrity, grant writing, library resources, embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in scholarly, research and creative activities, experiential learning, knowledge mobilization and personal well-being. 

Uchechukwu Ngwaba, a professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law who attended a session on knowledge mobilization found it to be very stimulating and engaging. “I was able to develop my knowledge base in a very meaningful way,” he said.

To offer these sessions on a broad range of topics, the OVPFA teamed up with partners across the Ryerson network, including the University Library, the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, and the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation.

“With the inauguration of the faculty development portfolio, we were confident that one of our priorities had to be creating relevant learning and development opportunities for all of our academic staff,” said Zenab Pathan, director of faculty recruitment and development with the OVPFA. 

“Building a sense of community and allowing for shared learning was something that was also very important to us, and I believe that we have managed to achieve that with both ‘Let’s Talk…’ and our ‘Chairs and Directors Leadership Series’.”

As the university community returns to campus, the OVPFA continues to look for ways to support all academic staff. Ultimately, they want all academic colleagues to find the university a rewarding and satisfying place to build their careers and relationships with each other, students and staff. 

“I want to make a difference in my role as vice-provost, faculty affairs,” says Iannacito-Provenzano. “My hope is that my office can be a safe space for all academic employees to come for support, and a hub where they can become more engaged in the issues that matter most to them.”

To learn more and stay up-to-date with the OVPFA, visit ryerson.ca/faculty-affairs and follow them on Twitter, @RyersonVPFA (external link) .