Acting board chair named

Gordon J. Clanachan, vice-chair and a public member of the Board of Governors, will serve as acting chair of the board, effective Nov. 1.  As you know, chair Brian Heidecker is stepping down and today is his last day in that role. 

Gordon will serve as acting chair until the minister of Advanced Education and Technology appoints a new chair through an order-in-council.  We do not know when this will take place.  University business will continue as usual with oversight in Gordon’s able hands.

Gordon is a long-time governor with extensive committee service on the board.  This includes: 

• External Member of Board Audit Committee, 2001 – 2006
• External Member of Board Finance and Property Committee, 2001– 2006
• Member of the Board of Governors, 2006-2009, reappointed (second term) 2009
• Chair Board Finance and Property Committee, 2006 – present
• Member of the Board Audit Committee, 2007 – present; vice- chair since 2010
• Member of the Board Investment Committee, 2007 – present

Gordon is the owner of Clanachan Enterprises, a consulting firm established in 1999 that provides business advisory services.  He served as president and CEO of RaiLink Ltd., a TSX-listed public company and Canada’s largest regional railway from 1994 to 1999.  Prior to his career with RaiLink, Gordon spent 15 years with Price Waterhouse in Canada and the United States, specializing in the areas of management consulting and financial audit. 

He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (2009), Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (1983), and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (1979).  Gordon is a graduate of Glasgow University (1976) in Scotland.

Gordon also serves on a number of boards.  He chairs the Edmonton Regional Airports Authority and is a director of Alberta Blue Cross, Bridgewater Bank, and Melcor Developments Ltd.  He is actively involved in the community as a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton, and, in 2009, he was awarded the Fellow of Chartered Accountants (FCA) designation by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta. He was also named "Alberta Chamber of Resources – Person of the Year" in 1998.

Yours sincerely,

Indira V. Samarasekera, OC

President and Vice-Chancellor

Change to fund-raising structure

As I noted in an e-mail last week, Canadian universities have, over the last several decades, begun increasing our focus on philanthropic support for learning, discovery, and citizenship.  To that end, the University of Alberta has made several changes in its fund-raising structures and initiatives over the last year, including the merging of our alumni affairs efforts with those of our fund-raising efforts in an integrated Office of Advancement headed by our Chief Advancement Officer.


On Friday, I announced that the next step in enhancing and re-envisioning our programs to foster philanthropic support of the U of A was the establishment of a Vice President (Advancement) position, creating a structure here that closely matches the effective fund-raising teams in place at peer universities such as the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, and McGill University.


Many of us in the campus community are involved, at various points in the work that we do, with fund-raising and development work.  Our efforts and successes have grown over time, and I firmly believe that we have reached a point at which our fund-raising programs can, and must, take the next step.  The Vice-President (Advancement) will be charged with envisioning and implementing the next steps, replacing the current position of Chief Advancement Officer, and becoming a key member of the institutional leadership team.


We will be consulting broadly across campus as we move forward on this new leadership position and the new initiatives that will grow from it.  I welcome your thoughts.


Thank you,
Indira Samarasekera, OC
President and Vice-Chancellor

Augustana students' research showcased in liberal arts journal

Faculty at Augustana Campus have a long track record of actively fostering research by their students, and now they have new forum to showcase that work. 


Two student projects will be showcased in Metamorphosis, the online academic journal of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges or COPLAC. (Augustana is the only non-U.S. member of this elite network of liberal arts post-secondary institutions.) One is a paper by Dylan Breitkreutz and Lane Olson supervised by Ian Blokland. The other is a video of Jonathan Nesbitt's rare piano and narration performance of "Peter and the Wolf" and is featured on the COPLAC homepage. According to the site: "The combination of musical and acting abilities displayed is rare in pianists. Only a handful of audio recordings exist where pianists attempt to perform both roles, and there are none available by undergraduate-level pianists." Jonathan was supervised by Milton Schlosser.  


The Fall 2011 issue of Metamorphosis is not yet online, but should be here soon. Faculty committees at each member institution select undergraduate work for publication in the journal. Congratulations to Dylan, Lane and Jonathan; nice work.

'Spotlight': awards deadlines and profiles of award recipients

The Office of the Registrar administers a number of academic awards for the U of A community. One of the ways that the university showcases the recipients of some of those awards is through Spotlight, an electronic newsletter produced three times a year by the registrar's office. Go here to access a PDF of the current issue, featuring 3M Teaching Fellow Billy Strean, professor in the Faculty of Physical Education & Recreation. You will also find upcoming deadlines for a number of teaching awards and a database with more information on most institutional academic awards.


If you have questions or know of an award that needs to be added to the database, call 492-2644 or email the academic awards office through the Contact Our Office link.

Service levels on Nov. 10 NASA day off

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, is a ratified paid day off for support staff; however, for AASUA staff it is a regularly scheduled day of work. While the university will be open that day, it will be operating at reduced levels of service.

Administrators are urged to consider how your Faculty or unit plans to communicate the service levels available to students and clients.

This is a non-teaching day for most Faculties; however, Faculties with classes running should ensure they consider logistics for building access and security.

Service at Augustana Campus differs:  Augustana will not observe the support staff day off on Nov. 10 and will be open with full service.  Support staff at Augustana will observe their day off on Oct. 28 and will operate at reduced levels of service on that day.

The central units listed below will offer the following service levels on Nov. 10.   Facilities & Operations will provide their levels of service in a separate communication. 

Open with Full Services

Dean of Students (University Student Services)

Libraries

Mental Health Centre

Protective Services

Open with Reduced Services
Academic Information & Communication Technologies
Environmental Health & Safety

Human Resource Services

Research Services Office

University Health Centre & Pharmacy

Closed
Financial Services

Help Desk - Academic Information & Communication Technologies

Office of the Registrar

Sexual Assault Centre

Supply Management Services

For additional information regarding service levels, please contact the appropriate Faculty, department or service unit office. 

Information for administrators on managing the support staff days off can be found on the Human Resource Services website.

Thank you,

Chris Cheeseman

Vice-Provost & Associate Vice-President (Human Resource Services)

How do you involve undergrads in research?

"...Equally important, an outstanding student experience is at the heart of a great university. As a research and teaching intensive university the University of Alberta is well positioned to offer outstanding learning opportunities to all of its undergraduate and graduate students, opportunities equal to those of the best public universities in the world. We reaffirm the importance of providing all students with the opportunity to participate in research and creative activities as part of their learning experiences."

—Dare to Deliver, 2011-15 academic plan

The recent launch of the Undergraduate Research Initiative is the latest step in enhancing the academic opportunities available to our students. If you missed it earlier, here is inaugural director Connie Varnhagen’s request for faculty members to provide information for the database of undergrad research opportunities. She reports that the response has been fantastic.

So to our academic staff members: How do you actively involve undergrads in research and why? And if not yet, how are you thinking of involving them?

NASA agreement ratified

The Non-Academic Staff Association membership has voted overwhelmingly in favour of the 2011–12 wage and benefits re-opener package reached between university administration and NASA representatives. 

According to NASA, of the 58 per cent of members who returned a ballot, 93 per cent voted in favour of the package. 

The new agreement comprises:

• a salary increase of 1.75 per cent retroactive to April 1,
• a 2.49 per cent increase to benefits funding that will maintain the current program (equivalent to .5 per cent of salary), and
• one-time-only three additional support staff days off. 

The days off will apply to regular, auxiliary and casual employees and, for the majority of NASA members, are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10; Friday, Dec. 23; and Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. Support staff at Augustana will observe their day off on Oct. 28 rather than Nov. 10 and will operate at reduced levels of service on that day.

The NASA executive and Human Resource Services also remind everyone that the Winter Closure provisions will apply again this year as outlined in the collective agreement; the winter closure dates are Dec. 27–30. In other words, you will again be paid for those days as you had in the past except for last year.

I want to thank all the members of the negotiating teams for their hard work and for the co-operative and collegial approach in bringing this agreement to fruition. This contributed toward moving quickly to a fair and equitable agreement.

For staff requiring more information, go to www.nasa.ualberta.ca or email your questions to nasa@ualberta.ca.

For administrators and trustholders requiring more information, go to www.hrs.ualberta.ca or contact your HR consultant.

Some specific operational details relating to the three additional days off for NASA members will follow in another day or two.

Thank you,

Phyllis Clark

Vice-President (Finance & Administration)

Update on USRI data access

Please be advised that Chairs now have online access to USRI scores for courses taught in their department or unit, and Deans have access to all courses taught in their Faculty. Online access for Directors who make recommendations to FECs is now being worked on. There was a period in which only current students could access the website.

You will recall that restrictions were imposed as a result of concerns raised by the AASUA about access to online posting of USRIs by every individual with a CCID, and their request that such access be limited to all but students in accordance with GFC Policy 111.3.H, a request supported by FOIPP Act Section 40.3. Access to hard copy USRI data by instructors, and by chairs, directors or deans and for the purpose of FEC, as noted in Policy 111.3.H, remained unchanged; however, access was no longer available to these individuals through the online site.

On March 7, GFC Executive requested that AICT provide individual instructors access to online USRI data for their own courses. AICT undertook changes necessary to do so and such access was opened on March 31. Data is limited to the years since 2005/06, however, as AICT did not record employee ID numbers with USRIs prior to that time.

GFC Executive also determined that chairs, directors, and deans should have online access to USRI data for instructors whose work they are responsible for evaluating, in alignment with GFC Policy as well as the FOIPP Act. Changes to PeopleSoft that were underway were expected to make this possible, and AICT expected to accomplish this access by early September 2011. Difficulties ensued and access was delayed. Your patience with this delay is appreciated. One nuance of which you should be aware is that because of software limitations at present, online access for chairs, directors, and deans is not available for courses taught by instructors outside of their home department or unit. Those scores must be obtained through the print copies sent out by AICT.

Finally, GFC Executive also asked that the GFC Committee on the Learning Environment (CLE) undertake a review of GFC Policy 111.3.H. A CLE sub-committee subsequently undertook consultations, and on October 5 reported to CLE with proposed changes to the wording of the policy. CLE recommended that the proposed changes be forwarded to GFC Executive, which will consider the proposal on November 7. 

Should you have any questions or comments, or encounter any difficulties accessing your department or Faculty’s USRIs, please contact Colleen Skidmore, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Academic).

Thank you,

Carl Amrhein

Provost and Vice-President (Academic)