AASUA agreement ratification vote

This is a busy time of year for many members of our academic community. I would like to take this opportunity to draw the attention of all AASUA members to a significant event in the life of our institution: the ratification vote underway for a new compensation agreement package.

Several weeks ago, representatives of AASUA and the university administration began exploring the possibility of a compensation agreement for 2013-15. There was a mutual recognition of the need to create a stable compensation framework to permit the exploration of other initiatives critical to the future of our institution. These discussions led to an agreement on the terms of a compensation agreement for 2013-15. At the same time, a second agreement was reached to establish the “Renaissance Committee.” This committee, comprising members jointly appointed by AASUA and the university, will undertake a comprehensive exploration of possibilities and opportunities for our institution. The two agreements and a video message from AASUA President Ian MacLaren can be found on AASUA’s website. The two agreements form a single package: one will not proceed without the other.

The two agreements have been endorsed by AASUA’s Executive Committee and Council, and by the Board of Governors’ Human Resources and Compensation Committee (BHRCC). The ratification vote is currently underway and closes at 4 p.m. Monday, June 4.

It is no secret that the University of Alberta is facing continuing pressures relating to funding and academic compensation. These pressures served as the catalyst for discussions between AASUA and administration representatives. However, the two agreements go beyond financial considerations–for example, the development of a permanent teaching-intensive stream. This is one of several initiatives of long-standing interest to academic staff members and university administration. The compensation agreement for 2013-15 will provide a stable framework for the Renaissance Committee to examine what is best for our community, and to bring forward constructive recommendations for consideration by AASUA, its members and administration.

A significant number of students and staff have participated in the work of the Umbrella Committee (TUC), offering suggestions to reduce costs and improve flexibility for our staff. The work of TUC and its subcommittees continues. The Renaissance Committee will build upon the important work of the Umbrella Committee, moving forward suggestions that fall under AASUA's purview to more detailed exploration and implementation.

I, as the institution’s chief academic officer, urge all academic staff members to read the two agreements carefully and to vote in favour of them.

Sincerely,
Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

"Rethink" website open again, summary of ideas posted

The response has been excellent to the Umbrella Committee initiative to solicit ideas to rethink and re-imagine the university in ways that will make better use of our resources and talent. In the month that the website was open for suggestions, we received 345 submissions. These came from across our community: students, faculty, post-docs, and the many categories of support, contract and academic staff. The committees for the three main areas (relieving time pressure for faculty, streamlining processes, and pension and benefits) are poring through the submission to their respective areas.

Some immediate steps can be taken. For example, you may have seen a memo from VP Finance & Administration Phyllis Clark last week announcing online signing authority and travel expense claims. We will also move forward with a suggestion to the website that most desktop printers be eliminated from campus in favour of more cost-effective, multi-function printing stations within areas or departments (fractions of a penny per page vs pennies per page printed). These are three small steps that should translate into significant cost savings (printers) and the simplification of processes, saving valuable staff time. Other ideas will take longer to evaluate and implement.

As noted on Colloquy (the blog) and in Folio, in the interest of openness and to encourage more good ideas, the Umbrella Committee has asked its technical team to share the suggestions that have been submitted to the website. This is no small task. Due to the volume of suggestions, the full reporting will happen in two phases.

Here are the steps:
Phase 1
The website is open again until July 31 for additional suggestions.
The totals are broken down by category of submission and by type of submitter.
Summaries are written that group suggestions into several categories and that are illustrated by one or more representative comments submitted. Every person who submitted an entry has been asked for permission to share his/her idea with all identifying information removed (this is well underway; permissions are still coming in). The entries have been edited only to protect the confidentiality of the submitter.

Phase 2
All suggestions for which we’ve received permission to share anonymously will be added as soon as they can be edited to ensure confidentiality.

To read the high-level summaries, see the statistics on the submissions, or submit an idea, the site has been reactivated. Since this is a conversation for the university community, the site does again require CCID authentication.

Again, thank you for sharing your passion and creativity,
Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

President's medical leave

As many of you already have heard, President Samarasekera will be on medical leave for the next four to six weeks beginning tomorrow. Plans are in place to handle her duties while she is recuperating from surgery. Provost Carl Amrhein will serve as acting president through the month of June, which can be extended if necessary. The vice-presidents will handle convocation duties and deliver the institutional address traditionally delivered by the president.

I am confident that Indira will make a full and speedy recovery; we all wish her well in her recuperation. The business of the university will continue on uninterrupted. The U of A has a strong leadership team and will be in good hands during her absence. I know Indira is looking forward to being back in July.

Sincerely,

Doug Goss, QC
Chair, Board of Governors

Centennial Professorship for literacy researcher

By all measures, Linda Phillips has achieved outstanding distinction in her area of research and scholarship, teaching, and has earned favourable regard from the community.

That description of Phillips' renowned career as a professor in the Department of Elementary Education and director of the Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy also happens to be the exact list of qualifications for perhaps the most prestigious of her titles, University of Alberta Centennial Professor.

Read the full story in Folio.

MOU signed with S Campus neighbours

For the past several months, the university and the South Campus Neighborhood Coalition have been working together to enhance community consultation on development of South Campus. I am pleased to say that the outcome of these discussions is the renewal and revitalization of the university’s relationship with its South Campus neighbours. We have a common, long-term understanding of how to clarify and improve the consultation process.

These discussions underscore our commitment to genuine community engagement that goes beyond physical development. It is critical that we keep the lines of communication open.

A memorandum of understanding was reached after several meetings with the coalition and several of us from the university: primarily VP Facilities & Operations Don Hickey, Provost Carl Amrhein and me, with support from members of our respective teams.

The MOU will guide consultation as we move forward with the development of South Campus and will include the creation of the South Campus Consultation Group. The principles in the memorandum are consistent with the existing consultation requirements of the Post Secondary Learning Act, the provincial legislation that guides the university.

As parties to the newly formed South Campus Consultation Group, we will use this document to guide us as we move forward. The MOU reinforces the university’s long-standing principles of consultation:

· Openness, trust and mutual respect

· Timely disclosure of information

· Public consultation early on in the decision-making process

· Sufficient time allotted for consultation

· Verification of accuracy of information when possible

· Opportunities for creative solutions to identified issues

What was particularly gratifying is that it became clear during our discussions that we had so much common ground. We all envision a South Campus that is environmentally and economically sustainable, a campus that serves the University of Alberta’s teaching and research mission while being a point of pride for our neighbours, friends, faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Indeed, even as the discussions have allowed us to renew our relationship with our neighbours, they have reminded us that–while we have relationships with communities around the world– the communities that are our closest neighbors are touched by our activities in ways that those that are further afield are not. They are affected by the rhythm of the U of A – the coming and going of students, our ceremonies such as convocation, the accessibility to events on campus, and of course the ways that we grow or change. We understand that our communities want more contact with the university.

It is important to recognize that this MOU and the new South Campus Consultation Group are additions to—not replacements for—our many other community relations and engagement activities, including work with the University of Alberta Community Committee, which is in the midst of its own revitalization process begun some months ago.

Here are details of the MOU.

Sincerely,
Debra Pozega Osburn
Vice-President (University Relations)

Schaeffer Named New Dean of Faculty of Science

I am delighted to announce that the Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer as Dean, Faculty of Science, for a five-year term of office effective July 1, 2012. Dr. Schaeffer is currently Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Information Technology). He has been a member of the University of Alberta for 28 years, becoming a full professor in 1994 and named Distinguished University Professor in 2008. He entered the administrative realm in 2005 by serving as Chair of Computing Science (until 2008).
 
Jonathan is a successful researcher in the area of artificial intelligence and is well known for having founded and led the GAMES research group at the U of A, a group internationally recognized in its field. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the iCORE Chair for High-Performance Artificial Intelligence Systems, and a former CRC, his Science paper, “Checkers is Solved” was a runner-up of Science’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” for 2007, was named by Nature’s readers as the 9th Most Important Achievement of the Year, and was one of the New York Times’ “Ideas of the Year.” He has had many successes including creating Chinook, the first computer to win a human world championship in any game (checkers), Phoenix, a program that tied for 1st place in the 1986 World Computer Chess Championship, and Polaris, the first program to become competitive with world-class poker players.
 
Jonathan has an administrative record that demonstrates a leadership characterized by a high standard of ethics, accountability, and transparency. His approach to decision-making is to listen to understand others first, to analyze, and then to act based on facts, while seeking outcomes that are a win for all. He has significant experience in the areas of financial responsibility, outreach and fund development as well as the ability to attract high-quality talent and to bring people and resources together. Recognizing and supporting the ideas of others and encouraging ventures in innovation are important to him.
 
Moreover, Jonathan showed far-sighted leadership in the area of high performance computing (HPC) with his work on creating a long-range plan for Canadian HPC, WestGrid (Western Canada partnership), and Compute Canada (national organization). Provincially, he led the piloting of innovative programs that revitalized provincial high school education in computing science.
 
Jonathan is passionate about teaching and committed to teaching excellence. He considers the University environment to be all about students and wants to see their experience at the U of A become a turning point in their lives. He considers the teaching arena to be ripe for new perspectives that will drive the next innovations in pedagogy.

Jonathan considers the Faculty of Science to be “a superb Faculty to be in.” He plans to consult widely to create a vision that will position the Faculty to be a modern global leader.

For more go to the online story.
 

I hope you will join me in congratulating Dr. Schaeffer on his appointment.
 

At this time, I would like to thank Dr. Gregory Taylor for his excellent service as Dean of the Faculty of Science since 2003. Under his leadership, the Faculty hired more than 100 new professors; increased the number of research chairs and fellowships; established a host of research centres and institutes, as well as the Science Cohorts Program and the Science 100 Program; and completed the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science. We wish Dr. Taylor all the best as he returns to teaching and research.


Sincerely,

Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

Dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine Reappointed

It gives me great pleasure to announce the reappointment of Dr. Martin Ferguson-Pell as Dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. A duly constituted Dean Review Committee concluded its deliberations, and the Board of Governors approved the committee’s recommendation that Dr. Ferguson-Pell be reappointed for a second five-year term of office, to be effective on July 1, 2013, following his one-year term as Acting Provost (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013).

Dean Ferguson-Pell is an exemplary leader. He has been successful in supporting and promoting the research and clinical activities within the Faculty, in chairing the University Health Sciences Council, and in positively influencing initiatives throughout the University. He secured funding to establish two endowed chairs: the Military and Veterans Chair in Clinical Rehabilitation – a first in Canada – and the Chair in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation.
 
Additionally, it was through the Dean’s efforts that outstanding faculty were recruited. Importantly, Dean Ferguson-Pell guided the development of satellite programs in Camrose, and later this year in Calgary, that employ advanced real-time videoconferencing technologies. This "distributed learning" approach enables the Faculty to teach the whole University of Alberta physical therapy professional entry master's degree program simultaneously at three locations. Education and training for professional practice now occur closer to where rehabilitation professionals are needed across the province.
 
A charismatic speaker, Dr. Ferguson-Pell keenly articulates the vision of the Faculty and led the Faculty in raising its profile within the academy, with hospital and clinical partners, and with the community-at-large. He initiates and develops external relationships, some of which have become resources in support of research, teaching and service programs. As an expert in rehabilitation technical innovation, Dr. Ferguson-Pell has served as a key advisor to many of the Faculty’s partners, bringing the University’s expertise into its communities.

The University of Alberta is very fortunate to have a Dean of such remarkable degree. We wish Dean Ferguson-Pell every success in his next five years.

For more go to the online story.

I hope you will join me in congratulating Dr. Martin Ferguson-Pell on his reappointment.

Sincerely,
Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

University 101: Good people = good governance

As mentioned in a previous post, we will periodically post here "University 101" that previously ran in Folio, the staff/faculty newspaper, for those who have joined the university since or may not have seen them the first time around.

This piece, "Good people equals good governance," originally appeared in the Sept. 24, 2010, issue. This was the first in a series about governance to help demystify the process and bodies involved for our community.