O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4

Fair Employment Week

The TRUFA Monthly Special Edition

Please join us at the Contract Academic Staff Social: Thursday

Oct.30th from 1:00--2:30 in OM 2533

Thursday, October 30th 4:00 in TRUSU Lecture Hall (Independent Centre)

Seeing the Invisible Academic:

(Panel Discussion)

Finding herself a day away from a research trip to Mexico, with no job, is just one of the many strange and stressful issues Saskia Stinson, a continuing sessional in University &Employment Preparation, has faced while at TRU. “I had received verbal confirmation in June that there was work for me in the fall, but when I called the day before leaving for my research trip, on August 22, I found out that I had no offer of employment. What a shock.” In fact, it wasn’t until the end of September that Stinson received her contract, and mid-October that she received her first paycheque, despite being on the job since the beginning of the semester, a situation that, after twelve years at TRU, she says no longer surprises her.

(continued on page 2)

The

TRU’s Invisible Professors

BY Martha Solomon

In this issue . . .

p. 2 TRU’s Invisible Academics

Faculty Profiles: Seeing the Invisible Academics

p. 4

Dr Meredith Burles Department of Sociology

Faculty Profiles

Dr Ariane Magny Department of Philosophy, History & Politics Limited-term contract, ends June 2015

Dr Kelvin Booth Department of Philosophy, History and Politics Sessional Faculty

Dr Monica Sanchez-Flores Department of Sociology Limited term contract, ends 2015

TRUFA SPECIAL EDITION

OCTOBER 2014

the “invisible’ professor. With slogans such as ‘A Professor Is a Professor’ and ‘Every Professor Should Have a Fair Wage’, CAUT hopes to shed some light on the deplorable working conditions faced by contract faculty across the country. What exactly is an ‘invisible’ professor? With universities and colleges increasingly hiring contract faculty rather than creating tenure track positions, a new underclass of university professor has been forged. This extraordinarily vulnerable class of highly qualified faculty live vicariously from paycheque to paycheque, semester to semester, often commuting from campus to campus in search of work. Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak with many

This extraordinarily vulnerable class of

highly qualified faculty live vicariously from

paycheque to paycheque, semester to

semester…

Contract Academics: The Arbitrary Underclass of

Invisible Professors

TRU’s Invisible Professors

(continued from page 1) Across Canada, the issues faced by contingent faculty, who by some estimate comprise up to half of faculty, have only become more and more pressing. John Hart, the co-chair of the TRUFA Sessional/Limited Term Faculty Committee says, “This is a critical moment. The time is now to change things.” Indeed many are sounding the alarm. An early 2014 edition of the CBC’s The Current examined issues facing contract faculty, as did The Sunday Edition, by airing ‘Class Struggle’, a radio documentary by Ira Basen. Locally, CBC coverage has also highlighted issues for contingent faculty at TRU, including calls for drastic cuts of contract faculty numbers. This year, CAUT is marking Fair Employment Week, which runs from October 27-31st, by focusing on what they call

Investigation and Report for Fair Employment Week

contract faculty members at TRU. Some were straightforward and open in their discussions of their position within the university, some were very concerned about repercussions and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. All of them were deeply concerned about the plight of contract faculty at TRU and its effects on their own lives, their students’ education and the sustainability of the university as a whole. The issues they highlighted were ones that are echoed by contract faculty across Canada and the United States: arbitrary treatment; unpredictable work assignments; low wages and benefits; lack of recognition of workplace accomplishments, qualifications, awards and research; and feelings of isolation. Dr Monica Sanchez-Flores, a limited term faculty member in Sociology, says of her time as a sessional, “It was so hard, sometimes I had to go to get payday loans just to make ends meet. That’s the reality of the poverty that sessionals face. Trying to teach enough to.” (continued on page 3)

BY MARTHA SOLOMON

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Contract Academics: The Arbitrary Underclass of

Invisible Professors (continued from page 2) make ends meet, to qualify for benefits, while still trying to research, attend conferences and be a scholar is exhausting.” Saskia Stinson who has been a sessional and continuing sessional at TRU since 2002, explains that part of the dilemma is the constant vigilance required to stay on top of issues such as contracts and pay. In her twelve years at TRU, she only had one year where her contracts came to her without errors. “Constantly having to wait to be paid, to wait to get a contract, is awful.” Since 2008, Dr Kelly Booth has been teaching Philosophy courses at TRU in both Lillooet and Kamloops. However, as he has not been offered any courses for next semester, he thinks he may be gone “after all these years.” Booth is concerned about the effects of cuts in the number of contract faculty at TRU. Fewer course offerings and larger class sizes risk making TRU a less attractive place for both students and faculty. With an impressive publication and conference record during his time at TRU, Booth has always enjoyed his rapport with the students here. In the end, he explained, all of the aggravations of being a sessional are not as annoying as the lack of respect from tenured faculty and the administration at TRU. “That’s what really eats me,” Booth explains, “I had more respect and teaching opportunities as a grad student than here at TRU.” Why does this matter? Aside from the glaringly basic issues of fairness, a university prides itself on either the caliber of its teaching or its research, and in many cases both. So, having some of the best qualified and educated members of the workforce, those who would raise the caliber of both the teaching and research at TRU, relegated to what the Vice President of Advancement, Christopher Seguin has referred to as “surplus labour” seems counterintuitive. But, the fact is that contract faculty are not ‘surplus’ labour at all. They are an integral part of a new model of post-secondary education—

one that values the bottom line above all else. Seguin noted, during his interview on CBC radio, that sessionals are hired in times of need and then let go when that need is gone. But when up to half of the professors in Canadian undergraduate classrooms are contract workers, the idea of surplus labour just doesn’t add up. “It’s a part of a corporate business model designed to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility,” Noam Chomsky explains, “It’s the same as hiring temps in industry or what they call “associates” at Wal-Mart, employees that aren’t owed benefits.” Contract faculty, though, are becoming increasingly vocal about their concerns. Says Stinson, “We are people, students are people. We aren’t parcels or products.” This week (October 27-31, 2014) is Fair Employment Week. CAUT is running a pan-Canadian event to highlight the plight of contract faculty. TRUFA’s Sessional/Limited Term Faculty Committee has organized a panel discussion, “Seeing the Invisible Academic,” to which all faculty are invited. It will be held at the TRUSU Lecture Hall in the Independent Centre starting at 4 pm on Thursday, October 30th. Panelists will discuss the state of contingent faculty at TRU and around B.C. The committee, is also hosting a social event, designed to be a ‘contract faculty-only’ event for sessional, continuing sessional and limited term faculty will take place October 30th from 1-2:30 pm in OM 2533. For more information on this issue and examples of contract faculty achievements, please see the TRUFA website. For further information: CAUT’s Fair Employement Week FPSE Fair Employment Week Noam Chomsky “On Academic Labour” CBC The Current episode on the income gap between contract and tenured faculty CBC The Sunday Edition, “Class Struggle”

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Dr Ariane Magny recently published her first book, Porphyry in Fragments: Reception of an Anti-Christian Text in Late Antiquity (London: Ashgate, 2014), while teaching a full load of history courses. In 20012, she also received a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship. “I moved to Kamloops from the UK to take an 18-month contract, after that I took a 2 year limited term contract. My husband moved with me, and we have settled in Kamloops. We have made many friends here and our daughter was born in Kamloops.” As with so many contract faculty who are beginning their careers, Dr Magny’s future is uncertain after the end of this contract. An accomplished researcher and teacher, Dr Magny has a hard time imagining another profession for herself but worries that the current post-secondary model won’t allow her to find he work she loves. “Being a historian is such an important part of my identity. It’s hard to think of doing anything else.” The constant threat of long distance moves for jobs with no security, no benefits and low pay means planning for the future can be next to impossible. “I am stressed about what will happen to me and my family next”. Education 2010 PhD, Classics and Ancient History, University of Bristol 2004 M.A. in History, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Recent Publications Monograph Magny, A. Porphyry in Fragments: Reception of an Anti-Christian Text in Late Antiquity. London: Ashgate, 2014. Articles Magny, A. “Méthodologie et collecte des fragments de Porphyre sur le Nouveau Testament chez

Jérôme,” in Le traité de Porphyre contre les chrétiens : un siècle de recherches, nouvelles questions, ed. Sébastien Morlet, Collection des Études Augustiniennes. Série Antiquité – EAA 190. Paris : 2012, p. 59-74.

-----. “How Important were Porphyry’s Anti-Christian Ideas to Augustine?” Studia Patristica 70.18 (2013): 55-62. -----. “Eusebius’ Porphyry.” Proceedings of the conference “Die Christen als Bedrohung? Text, Kontext und Wirkung von Porphyrios’ Contra Christianos” held in Tübingen (Germany) in July 2014. Eds. I. Männlein-Robert and M. Becker.

Recent Awards SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship, 2013, 24 months. Postponed

Seeing the Invisible Academic:

Faculty Profiles of a few TRU Contract Faculty

BY MARTHA SOLOMON

and social research methods, as well as the introductory courses. In addition to my full time teaching load, I have made considerable efforts to continue my program of research, which explores social aspects of illness, dying, and health care delivery. I continue to collaborate with colleagues from the University of Saskatchewan on two research projects, as well as carrying out an individual project and supporting undergraduate student research. Since being at TRU, I have enjoyed opportunities to engage with students in classes and through research activities. At the present, I am seeking a tenure track position at a Canadian university, largely due to the unpredictable nature of employment at TRU, as well as the lack of support here for my research endeavors. Education Postdoctoral Fellowship, College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, 2011-2012 PhD, Sociology University of Saskatchewan, 2010 MA, Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, 2006. Recent Awards and Grants Professional Development Award, Faculty of Arts Unspent PD Fund Award, Thompson Rivers University, Sept. 2014 ($750) Faculty Research Grant, Co-Investigator. Research Team: Holtslander, L. (PI), Petrinelj-Taylor, C., Burles, M.,

Duncan, V. Area of Focus: Palliative Care, Corrections, Nursing practice, Good

death. Funding Source: Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science & Justice Studies, University of Saskatchewan Dec. 2013 ($8,392). Arts Decanal Research Award, Primary Investigator Research Project: Exploring the Social Construction of Ovarian Cancer in Women’s Magazines in Canada. Funding Source: Thompson Rivers University Oct. 2013 ($2132) Professional Development Award. Funding Source: Faculty of Arts PD Fund Award, Thompson Rivers University, Sept. 2013 ($750) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Funding Source: Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, January 2011 – December 2012 ($100,000) Recent Publications Peer-reviewed Journal Articles Burles, M. & Thomas, R. (2014). "I just don’t think there’s any other image that tells the story like [this] picture does": Researcher and participant reflections on the use of participant-employed photography in social research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 13: 185-205.

Burles, M. & Holtslander, L. (2013). ‘Cautiously Optimistic That Today Will be Another day With my Disease Under Control’: Understanding Women’s Lived Experiences of Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Nursing, 36(6): 436-44.

Book Chapters Moss, A., Racher, F.E., Jeffery, B., Hamilton, C., Burles, M., Annis, R.C. (2012). “Transcending Boundaries: Collaborating to Improve Northern Access to Health Services in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.” In Health in Rural Canada, J. Kulig & A. Williams (Eds.). Vancouver: UBC Press.

Dr Meredith Burles Department of Sociology Limited-term contract, ends 2015

Dr Ariane Magny Department of Philosophy, History & Politics Limited-term contract, ends June 2015

I came to TRU in January 2013 to start a limited term position as a Lecturer in Sociology. I teach primarily in the areas of medical sociology

Visit the TRUFA Website to view more Profiles of TRU’s Invisible Academics: www.trufa.ca

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