Welcome to the CFC Information and Events page. The UBCFA Contract Faculty Committee organizes a number of events throughout the academic year for sessionals and lecturers. In this section on our site, we hope to keep you updated on all of them. If you’re a sessional or lecturer, you’ll also receive email notices advising you of what’s coming up (and if you aren’t receiving our notices, please get in touch).
Listing:
- CTLT Professional Development Programs and Events
- Contract Faculty Pub Socials
- 2023 Contract Faculty Colloquium
- Fair Employment Week
- Sessional Travel Grant Info
Hybrid Community of Practice Sessions – UBCV/UBCO
Join your contract faculty colleagues for the Contract Faculty Community of Practice presented by the UBC Faculty Association in partnership with the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT). Our sessions will be held both in person and online so contract faculty on both campuses can participate. Schedule below.
Marking Party: Monday, April 17th 10:30PM-3:30PM (HYBRID)
The Contract Faculty Community of Practice invites you to a Marking Party. Come and join your fellow contract faculty members in a quiet room where we can all concentrate on our grading as we prepare to return term papers and final assignments to our students. Although this will be a quiet room, we will be doing our work in a collegial atmosphere.
LOCATION: Seminar Room 2.22, Irving K Barber Building and Zoom.
Pub Socials (UBCV Campus)
Friday, April 14th 3:30PM-5:30PM at Gallery 2.0.
2023 Contract Faculty Colloquium – Tuesday, May 4
Wednesday, May 4, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Register for this event
The Contract Faculty Colloquium brings together Contract Faculty from across campuses to showcase and share their intellectual work with other colleagues. This year’s 8th Annual Colloquium will feature papers by Contract Faculty colleagues from a range of disciplines. We will examine various pedagogical processes and share pedagogical strategies throughout the day-long event at the UBC Vancouver campus, which will be presented in hybrid form so that we can include as many colleagues as we can from both campuses. A link will be available to see the day’s agenda and brief bios of our speakers soon.
This event is co-sponsored by the UBC Faculty Association and CTLT and organized jointly by the UBCFA Contract Faculty Committee and CTLT staff. We will be serving coffee and a light lunch for those who attend in person, so please let us know when you register if you plan to stay for lunch. Registration is free, but we would ask that you honour your registration or cancel well ahead of time so we can have accurate numbers for catering and avoid food waste.
We hope to see you there!
Please register for this event on the CTLT Registration website.
Present at the Contract Faculty Colloquium!
Thursday, May 4th 10:30AM-3:30PM (HYBRID)
Would you like to present at our upcoming Contract Faculty Colloquium? Use this opportunity to rehearse for an upcoming conference, recap something you recently presented, share an innovative idea and perhaps find a collaborator or research partner. We want to open the floor to some of our astounding Contract Faculty. Can’t make it to the whole event but still wish to present? No problem! Complete your submission and we’ll do what we can to create an Agenda for the event that works with everyone’s schedule.
Submissions and participation from both campuses are encouraged.
Presentation Submission Criteria
Submit your proposal (3 points, 100 words max.) for a brief (10 minute) presentation on your field-specific research, pedagogical research, or practice to Dr. Sarika Bose, Chair, UBCFA Contract Faculty Committee. We’d appreciate receiving your submission by Friday, Mar. 24th. Team proposals are welcome!
Sessional Travel Grant
The UBC Faculty Association and UBC are pleased to announce travel grants for sessional faculty who will be presenting papers at academic conferences in 2023.
Depending on demand, this year’s grant will have a maximum value of up to $1500.00 and may be used for travel, accommodation, conference fees and meals (UBC per diem). You may claim expenses for presenting at a conference you attend in 2023 while you are on contract at UBC, or for a conference while you are on leave so long as you return to UBC later in 2023. (For example, you may claim expenses for a conference you present at during the summer when you return to teaching at UBC again during the 2023 winter term.)
If you would like to apply for one of these grants, please complete the Application Form available on the UBCFA website or on the Faculty Relations website and forward it to the UBC Faculty Association at [email protected] by May 15, 2023. Successful applicants will be notified.
Although not guaranteed every year, this grant is available to sessional lecturers who present papers at conferences within the calendar year. Applications are only accepted after a call has been made (usually in January) and MUST be submitted by February 28th for conferences in that calendar year in order to qualify (unless otherwise specified). Applications made after this date are not accepted. For additional information, visit the Sessional Conference Fund page.
Fair Employment Week
Every fall, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and its member associations including the UBC Faculty Association, organize and host a week-long celebration of contract faculty. Our celebration in 2021 as in 2020 was more subdued due to the pandemic, but together with our colleagues across Canada we still marked the event. Here’s a rundown of the events during FEW October 2021:
- MONDAY, Oct. 17: Joint Letter to UBC President
CAUT and the UBCFA remind the President, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal about the precarious employment status of contract faculty at both UBC campuses including the additional problems of working through a pandemic. A link to our correspondence will be posted on the website. - TUESDAY, Oct. 18: Tabling in the NEST 11:00-1:00PM
Visit us at the NEST at our Fair Employment Booth to learn about and help raise awareness of Contract Faculty concerns. - WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 3:30-4:30PM
Round Table: Teaching and Academic Freedom (hybrid)
This Roundtable will examine the issue of academic freedom in the context of contract academic positions. How does academic freedom differ from freedom of speech? What academic freedom policies exist at this university? What choices do we make about our texts and our pedagogy because of our contract status?
Please RSVP here.
Coffee and snacks will be provided.
LOCATION: Room CTLT 2.22, IKBLC Building and Zoom. -
THURSDAY, Oct. 20th, 12:30-2:30PM
Members Lunch at UBCO – RSVP Required
As part of our campaign to raise awareness and celebrate the accomplishments of contract faculty, we’re inviting you to join us for a special lunch. This event is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate your contributions to the academy.LOCATION: Room ADM 101.
Space is Limited so please RSVP to the Faculty Association by Monday, October 17th to reserve your seat. - FRIDAY, Oct. 21: Pub Social 4:00-6:00PM
Join your colleagues for a pub social at Gallery 2.0. -
TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 12:00-2:30PM
Members Lunch at UBCV – RSVP Required
As part of our campaign to raise awareness and celebrate the accomplishments of contract faculty, we’re inviting you to join us for a special lunch. This event is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate your contributions to the academy.LOCATION: Room 176 by the garden at Sage Bistro, 6331 Crescent Road.
Space is Limited so please RSVP to the Faculty Association by Monday, October 17th to reserve your seat.
Reminisce about Fair Employment Week 2019 when we weren’t social distancing – here’s a quick summary of 2019’s events.