Teaching@Ryerson

Communications and Memos

Dear colleagues:

In the last round of collective bargaining, the University and the Ryerson Faculty Association agreed to a number of procedural changes that impact hiring, transfer to tenure and promotions. I thought it would be helpful for you to receive a high level overview of these changes as their implementation impacts probationary faculty coming up for their tenure review and faculty considering applying for promotion.

Committee Changes
The Department Appointments Committee (DAC) has been replaced by two new committees: a Department Hiring Committee (DHC) and Departmental Evaluation Committee (DEC). The DHC is tasked with carrying out faculty recruitment and recommendations for hiring. The DEC is tasked with evaluating probationary faculty and LTFs, including carrying out year-end assessments and tenure reviews of probationers.

In addition, a new Faculty Tenure Committee (FTC) has been created, as a second level review of tenure recommendations has been implemented. The Dean of the Faculty chairs the FTC. The DEC makes its recommendation for tenure, which is reviewed by the FTC who in turn recommends to the Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs, who is the decision maker on tenure.

Joint Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor
A significant change in the process is that the granting of tenure also results in the automatic promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor. As has been made clear earlier this year this joint tenure and promotion process should not result in an automatic raising of the bar for tenure (see links: http://www.ryerson.ca/teaching/communications/probationary_evaluation.html and http://www.ryerson.ca/teaching/communications/memo_on_tenure.html)

Probationary faculty coming up for their tenure review this fall should remember that their tenure dossier is due to their DEC by November 30 and they should consult with their Chair/Director (or designate) by November 15 to ensure the content of their dossier is complete as possible.

Promotion to Professor
As a result of the above, going forward the only promotion applications are promotions from Associate Professor to Professor, or Mode I Professors applying for a Salary Transfer (that is, to be transferred to the Professor pay scale). The date for application submission is September 30, and the promotion dossier is due by November 30.

A standing Faculty Promotion Committee (FPC) will review all applicants in each Faculty. Applicants have the option of naming one person (at the rank of Professor) to sit on the FPC reviewing their application. The Promotion Application forms can be found at the following link: http://www.ryerson.ca/teaching/forms/chairs_faculty/index.html#promo

The University is developing training workshops for the DEC, FTC and FPC committees so they understand their role and responsibilities. Workshops are already scheduled this October for DHC members in Schools/Departments with approved positions for hiring this academic year. We ask that DHC members complete the e-learning module before they attend the workshops.

The Administration and the RFA believe that these procedural changes in recruitment and career advancement will help spread out the service obligations of tenured faculty within Schools/Departments and will further Ryerson's progression, as they align the university with commonly accepted hiring and evaluation processes in the university sector.

We look forward to working with the RFA in a smooth transition to these new processes and I encourage candidates for tenure and promotion to ask questions of their Chairs/Directors, Dean's Offices or their Human Resources Management Consultants supporting their Faculty should they need clarification on any steps in the tenure or promotion processes.

Sincerely,
Avner Levin
Interim Vice Provost Faculty Affairs

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