 |
SEPTEMBER 2004 Volume 31.1 Tony Petric, EDITOR |
President's Report General Information Committees 2004/05 New & Retiring Member PDA - Faculty Smile Housing |
|
|
SEPTEMBER 2004 Volume 31.1 Tony Petric, EDITOR |
President's Report General Information Committees 2004/05 New & Retiring Member PDA - Faculty Smile Housing |
Dear colleagues. While it is almost four months since I became MUFA President, this is my first opportunity to report to you through the Newsletter. As is customary in the first report, I would like to welcome back old members (though many were here and active throughout the summer), and, also, welcome those who have just become MUFA members for the first time.
The first report also serves as an opportunity to report on developments over the course of the summer and to reflect on the year ahead, though the advice of one of my predecessors is that this is a task that should be approached with caution. I expect that 2004/05 will be a busy year at McMaster on many fronts, and MUFA will participate actively in the life of the University. In particular, the present remuneration agreement expires on June 30, 2005, and a new agreement will be negotiated over the next few months. MUFA members will be asked for guidance in formulating our remuneration brief. We are very fortunate this year in having a strong Remuneration Committee, chaired by Mike Veall.
Presidential Reappointment
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Peter George on his appointment for a third term as University President. MUFA will continue to support President George in his efforts to maintain and strengthen McMaster’s tradition of academic excellence. I am hopeful that efforts to recruit and retain a strong faculty complement will be a central part of that building process.
Contractually Limited Appointments (Faculty)
As Ken Cruikshank reported in the April/May 2004 issue of the Newsletter, an agreement was reached last spring on a number of issues relating to “short-term” contractually limited appointments (CLAs). The Committee reviewing issues relating to CLAs then began to examine concerns raised about long-term appointments. The MUFA representatives on the Committee (Les Robb, Donald Goellnicht and Marilyn Parson) met with the MUFA Executive in June to outline some preliminary proposals. The discussion focused on the Committee’s mandate to consider the continuation of CLAs beyond the current six-year limit. The tenure document requires circumstances to be exceptional for individuals to be reappointed beyond six years. However, the Executive was told that exceptional circumstances are not unusual in some Faculties. The Committee is expected to resume meeting in the fall.
Contractually Limited Appointments (Librarians)
The Librarians Negotiating Committee, comprising Nora Gaskin, Barbara McDonald and Mike Veall, has developed a draft set of principles governing contractually limited appointments for librarians. These principles are to be discussed by the Executive early in the fall.
Spousal Hiring
The MUFA Executive will also be studying the joint Senate/Faculty Association Committee on Spousal Hiring early in the fall. The Committee’s mandate is to examine conditions and circumstances under which faculty hiring could depart from normal procedures and guidelines in order to accommodate a desired spousal appointment. MUFA has been represented on the Committee by Christine Wilson and Lorraine York.
Faculty Association Council
MUFA endeavours to ensure that members of all departments have a voice in the Faculty Association. At the moment there are a number of departmental vacancies on Council. If you would be interested in representing your department (it’s not an onerous task!), please check the Council membership list in this Newsletter at p. 5 to see if your department is represented. If not, and you would like to volunteer your service, please contact the MUFA office (ext. 24682 or mufa@mcmaster.ca).
Campus Parking
Parking on campus continues to be a frustrating experience for a number of our members. Over the summer I received several expressions of concern about the inadequacy and inconvenience of parking on campus, echoing comments MUFA has received from its members in previous years. In the past the issues of accessible and convenient parking have been discussed both within MUFA and with the University Administration. It will be on the MUFA agenda this fall.
Health Care Changes
The provincial government announced in May that there would be a number of major changes in the funding and delivery of health care in the province. Perhaps the most prominent change is the new Ontario Health Premium, which is essentially an additional tax on individual income. This is in addition to the Employer Health Tax paid by employers. However, there have been a number of other changes affecting services and prescription drug coverage under OHIP. With limited exceptions, coverage had been removed for routine optometry exams and chiropractic and physiotherapy services. MUFA members are entitled to extended health benefits for certain of these services (chiropractic and physiotherapy). Specific benefit information is on the MUFA website (click on Faculty Handbook or Librarian Handbook).
University Funding
As noted earlier, the Faculty Association’s current contract with the University ends on June 30, 2005. Mike Veall, as Chair of the Remuneration Committee, will lead the MUFA team in its negotiations to secure a new remuneration agreement. Expected government funding of universities will doubtless have an impact on negotiations. The provincial government announced a two-year freeze on tuition fees in April, but also appointed a committee chaired by former premier Bob Rae to examine tuition fees and access to post-secondary education. The committee is expected to release a discussion paper this month and a final report in January. In its most recent issue, Maclean’s magazine quotes a member of the committee as saying that it will “unambiguously argue that the system does need more money”. This, in part, may come from increased tuition, but the committee is expected to recommend that the government invest more in universities and colleges as well (Maclean’s, September 06, 2004, p.59).
Mandatory Retirement
The current provincial government has indicated that it intends to pursue its predecessor’s plan to end mandatory retirement. Although it has been argued that eliminating mandatory retirement would pose an additional cost on universities, OCUFA (“Issue Notes”, September 2004) reports that the age of retirement is not significantly different at universities in jurisdictions without mandatory retirement than at those where forced retirement policies exist. It also reports on a study of the elimination of mandatory retirement for faculty in the United States, which found that most professors continued to retire prior to the age of sixty five even when retirement was no longer forced..
Pension Funding
At the Executive meeting in May, Lilian Scime, (Assistant Vice-President, Administration) gave a presentation on the McMaster Pension Plan and its current funding status. Among other things she outlined the expected requirements for future University contributions and how those requirements are determined. She told the Executive that the Pension Trust Committee was in the process of examining whether McMaster had the best match of assets and liabilities, while the Finance Committee of the Board of Governors felt that the University should be more proactive in the funding of the Pension Plan. I expect we will hear much more about how the University proposes to fund its pension liabilities over the course of this year.
Welcoming New Members
As a means of introducing new faculty and librarians to MUFA and learning about their needs and concerns, it has been the custom in the past two years for members of the Executive to take new members of the Association to lunch at the University Club. This is a “tradition” we intend to continue this year.
Consultation and Collegiality
Over the course of a year, MUFA becomes involved in a wide variety of issues: some are resolved easily; others require considerable effort and dedication. As Ken Cruikshank noted in his first President’s Report last year, MUFA endeavours to work with the University Administration “in a spirit of collegiality”. The president of MUFA meets once a month with the University President and twice a month with the Provost, and I am looking forward to working with both of them. Issues of concern to MUFA members are also addressed through the Joint Committee, whose members, I expect, will work together in a cooperative and collegial way. The other MUFA representatives on the Joint Committee this year are Betty Ann Levy (Vice-President) and Mike Veall (Remuneration Chair). The Administration will be represented by Ken Norrie (Provost), Karen Belaire (Vice-President, Administration) and Peter Sutherland (Dean of Science). Phyllis DeRosa-Koetting, Executive Director of MUFA, will continue to provide the valuable support and advice that she has given as secretary to successive Joint Committees. I expect the coming year to be an interesting one for all of us on the Executive, and encourage all MUFA members to make their voices heard both within the Faculty Association and the University at large.Trevor Chamberlain
Commitee Structure
2004/2005Observers Needed
Required: faculty and librarians who are members of the Faculty Association — yes, RETIREES also qualify — to serve as observers for appeal and grievance hearings. The role of the Observer is to report on the adequacy of the procedures, with a view to making recommendations to improve relevant policies, not to comment on the conduct or the judgement of the tribunal. Hearings usually take place over one or two days. For more information, send us an e-mail (mufa@mcmaster.ca), give us a call (24682), or drop us a line (HH 103A).
Amin Amershi
Daniel Azoulay
Paula Banks
R. Bray
Peter Cockett
E. Connelly
Sean Corner
K. Culver
L. DeBarros
E. Enns
M. E. Erskine
Terry FlynnJohn Ford
B. Garrett
Henry Giroux
Susan Giroux
Ron Goeree
G. Hall
Martin Hering
G. O. Holmes
Aleksandar Jeremic
Nancy Johnston
Jacques Khalip
Joan KrepinskyRay LaPierre
David Leeson
John Luxat
K. L. Madsen
Thomas Maibaum
Tracy McDonald
Emad Mohd
Gabriele Mueller
H. V. Nelles
Peter Nyers
A. W. RichardsonMike Rokoss
J. Salfi
Romyar Sharif
Diana Spokiene
Joye St. Onge
Michael Tait
C. Thomas
Elena Valenzuela
Muriel Walker
Allison Williams
Rong ZhuWe wish to extend best wishes to those faculty and librarians who have retired during the 2003/04 academic year. We look forward to seeing them at the annual luncheon in their honour (this year on November 1) hosted jointly by the Presidents of the University and the Faculty Association. Best Wishes to Retiring MUFA Members
Vettai Ananthanaraya
Min Basadur
Lee Brooks
Patricia Chang
Tom Davison
Ray Findlay
Tafila Gordon-Smith
Phyllis Granoff
Frederick HargreaveBiochemistry
Hum Res & Mgmt
Psychology
Pediatrics
Math & Statistics
Elec & Computer Eng
Mills Library
Religious Studies
MedicineKenneth Morgane
Les Robb
Larry Roberts
Carolyn Rosenthal
Saroj Saigal
Koichi Shinohara
David Taylor
Eva WerstiukDivinity College
Economics
Psychology
Gerontology
Pediatrics
Religious Studies
Physics & Astronomy
Medicine
Faculty Handbook Updates Revised pages for the Faculty Handbook, which was first distributed in October 1999, have recently been mailed out to MUFA members and administrative departments. If you did not receive your package, contact the MUFA Office (ext. 24682, mufa@mcmaster.ca). If you require another hard copy of the complete Handbook, contact the Bookstore’s Custom CourseWare Department at ext. 23356.The Faculty Handbook is also available on the MUFA web page (www.mcmaster.ca/mufa).
Are you Considering Early Retirement? In the past, some faculty members have signed individual agreements with the University concerning the conditions of their retirement. These agreements have covered special (non-standard) access to office space, laboratory facilities and other matters. At present, there is no established procedure, other than the civil courts, for resolving subsequent disputes concerning the interpretation of such agreements. The Faculty General Grievance Procedure applies only to those who “hold the academic rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor or lecturer”. Professors emeriti are not covered even in the case of disputes concerning an agreement signed prior to retirement. Hence, it is especially important that clear, specific wording be used in such agreements. It is strongly recommended that our colleagues seek the advice of MUFA and of their own lawyers before signing any such agreements.
Are You Being Considered for Tenure and/or Promotion? If you are a faculty member who is being considered for tenure and promotion to associate professor or for promotion to professor, you may find it helpful to have a faculty colleague act as an advisor during this process. This colleague can assist in the preparation of your research résumé, teaching dossier and other material. An advisor can also accompany you to interviews at various stages of the process should this prove necessary.This practice has been informally sanctioned in the past. The Tenure and Promotion Policy explicitly states that a faculty member may be accompanied by a faculty colleague acting as an advisor when appearing before a Departmental, Faculty or Senate committee.Please feel free to contact the Chair of the MUFA Committee on Special Enquiries and Grievances should you desire further information concerning this policy or assistance in seeking out an appropriate advisor.
McMaster Family Practice Unit to Offer Primary Care Services to New Appointees A number of years ago, the Director of the McMaster Family Practice Unit agreed to provide primary care services for faculty members and their families who are new to the Hamilton area. If you require a family doctor, call the Family Practice Unit at 905-521-5016 or 905-521-5015 and identify yourself as a new faculty member at McMaster.
For Your Information
Profesional Development Allowance
(PDA) for FacultyThe Internal Auditor has asked us to remind faculty of the terms of the policy regulating the Professional Development Allowance for Faculty. Inappropriate use of these funds could jeopardize their tax-exempt status. The Policy is reproduced below. For Procedures and Processing of the PDA, see The Faculty Handbook (page D7) or on the web, go to www.mcmaster.ca/mufa/handbook/pda.htm
McMaster University is committed to promoting the professional development activities of its faculty members. In support of these activities, an annual professional development allowance is provided to each eligible faculty member. Effective May 1, 1998, for paid research leaves beyond the first awarded to them, faculty members will be provided with a supplement to the annual allowance. This plan and its implementation will conform to Revenue Canada's regulations pertaining to taxable benefits to individuals.
1. ELIGIBILITY:
- Faculty member must participate in the University's Career Progress/Merit Plan. In the case of the Faculty of Health Sciences, a similar professional development allowance will be provided to Clinical Faculty (by the Faculty of Health Sciences) without the prerequisite of participation in the University's Career Progress/Merit Plan and will be administered under the provisions of the “perquisite” policy of the Faculty of Health Sciences.
- Continuing faculty on reduced workload will receive a pro-rated PDA.
- New faculty appointed on July 1 will receive the full PDA for the fiscal year. Deans may pro-rate the PDA for faculty appointed after July 1.
- For paid research leaves beyond the first awarded, faculty members who take a full year leave will be provided with a supplement equal to 40% of the PDA in effect for the fiscal year in which the leave begins, and faculty members who take a half year leave will be provided with a supplement equal to 20% of the PDA in effect for the fiscal year in which the leave begins.
2. The funds are designated strictly for use by the individual faculty member.3. Expenses covered by this allowance will be related to the faculty member's professional development and will include:
- professional dues and membership fees for learned societies;
- manuscripts, subscriptions to professional and/or learned journals and other similar professional publications;
- computer software and supplies used or consumed in the performance of the faculty member's duties as a scholar and teacher;
- travel including transportation, food and accommodation for the member to attend scholarly conferences, field trips, research visits, or workshops;
- expenses incurred in the preparation and completion of scholarly manuscripts, and page or reprint charges;
- equipment, including computers.
All goods purchased under this plan are the property of McMaster University but are available for the use of the individual faculty member for professional development activities while the faculty member is associated with the University. Disposal of such goods is at the discretion of the dean upon recommendation of the department chair; the procedures of the federal funding councils serving as guidelines for such decisions.Ineligible expenses include interest charged on overdue charge accounts and other personal expenses that, under current tax legislation, would be considered a taxable benefit to the individual. These personal expenses include but are not restricted to gifts, social club (e.g., Faculty Club) membership fees and personal living expenses.
4. PDA accounts will be adjusted to budget at April 30. If a faculty member does not spend all of his/her PDA in a given fiscal year (May 1 to April 30), the unspent balance will be made available to that member in the following two years on the understanding that no more than two times the current level of PDA will be carried forward in any one year for a faculty member. In addition, faculty members are allowed to borrow against future PDAs for up to two years. Thus, in a given year, the carry-forward plus the borrowing provisions allow a faculty member to spend a maximum of five years’ PDA, plus any research leave supplement awarded. Deficits are to be the first charge against future PDAs and unspent balances in excess of the maximum carry-forward revert to the department chair to use for the purpose of professional development of faculty members in that department. Any unspent balance of a PDA for a faculty member whose position becomes vacant during the year will also revert to the department chair for similar purposes.
5. Overexpenditures require the approval of the department chair and must be recovered from the faculty member or be carried forward against that individual's next-year's PDA. Over-expenditure incurred by a faculty member who subsequently leaves the University must be recovered directly from the individual faculty member, through payroll adjustment, or be charged to an account identified by the department.
6. Any PDA funds budgeted for a position which remains unfilled during the year will accrue as savings to the department. A faculty member who retires during the academic year will be entitled to at least a pro-rated amount of Professional Development Allowance using the appointment year of July 1 to June 30.HEREThe University offers bursaries to the spouse and/or children of McMaster faculty and staff who have registered for degree credit courses at the University under the terms and conditions below.
The letter to the bank, shown below, is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by a 96 year-old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.
You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.
I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.
From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.
Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that
all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:
1. To make an appointment to see me.
2. To query a missing payment.
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be
communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.
8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry.The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?
Your Humble Client
MURA joins CURAC The McMaster University Retirees Association (MURA) has joined the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC). CURAC is a federation of college and university retiree associations which has as one of its purposes the facilitation of communication among college and university retirees in all parts of Canada. For more information about this organization, go to the website at www.curac.ca.OCUFA Group Home & Auto Insurance Plan MUFA members qualify for group plans endorsed by OCUFA through Stevenson & Hunt. For a home and auto insurance quotation, call 1-800-265-5956 or visit their web site at www.sthunt.com. Ask them about their Off Premises coverage for business tools and equipment.
For Rent
One bedroom, bright, newly re-decorated, furnished with essentials, quiet, private entry basement apartment in home of retired academic. Garage parking. Campus 15 minutes by car; 30 minutes by bicycle on adjacent trail. Suitable for single, non-smoking, nature lover keen on hiking and cycling. No pets. $650 monthly all inclusive. Minimum lease 6 months, renewal/extension negotiable. Available November 1. For more information, call 905-648-5675.For Rent
Large Fully furnished house on Oak Knoll Drive in Westdale. Four bedrooms plus study, ravine lot, quiet street close to conservation area and a short walk to McMaster. Available January 1, 2005 for up to six months (dates negotiable). $1200/month plus heat and utilities. Contact 905-528-2910.
September 27, 2004
pdk
Housing