The following message is being sent on behalf of Alan Richardson (FA President), Ananya Mukherjee Reed (Provost, UBCO) and Andrew Szeri (Provost, Vancouver):
The University and the UBC Faculty Association recognize the significant contributions all faculty members have made during the COVID-19 pandemic. This past year has been challenging on many fronts and we wish to acknowledge your hard work, and thank you for your very significant contributions in providing our students with an outstanding learning experience.
We are pleased to report that UBC and the UBC Faculty Association have agreed upon the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) regarding a change to the Merit and Performance Salary Adjustments (PSA) awards for 2021. For the 2020/2021 review cycle, the parties have agreed to create a one-time “teaching merit“ award for faculty members in the Educational Leadership Stream and Lecturers, in recognition of those who have undertaken a significant amount of teaching and who have shown meritorious teaching performance during the transition to and delivery of online instruction during COVID-19. This award is in addition to, and has no impact on, the usual merit award pool that is available to recognize all eligible, meritorious faculty members.
The creation of this award in no way diminishes the significant contributions of all faculty members during these difficult times. Indeed, as we undertake the review process for this year’s Merit and PSA, some units may identify research-stream faculty members who have also undertaken a significant amount of teaching and may elect, within the framework for Merit and PSA established within the Collective Agreement and in the context of the unit’s policy, to recognize these efforts in the usual way.
The introduction of “teaching merit” for the 2020/2021 review cycle and the use of the PSA funds for it allow a unit to proceed as normal for their regular merit review. However, as the Collective Agreement allows units to regularly alter their merit policies through a consultative process, units might choose to introduce additional changes to their own merit processes this year in light of the pandemic. Annual reports allow individual members to include “an indication of the nature and significance of the[ir] activities.” While it would be inappropriate to require individual members to detail any personal information or to request special pleadings under this rubric, we expect there are a number of faculty members who have found their employment activities shifted and whose annual reports might be out of the ordinary this year, and from whom additional information may help better inform merit decisions.
Deans and Heads will partner to implement the MOA in the upcoming review process for faculty, and can contact their Faculty Relations Senior Manager with questions. Faculty members who have questions regarding the process should contact their Head and/or the Faculty Association.
Thank you.
