faculty hiring and its importance to campus sustainability

faculty hiring and its importance to campus sustainability

the excitement surrounding lakehead - orilia's new campus is growing as the september 2010 opening of the university avenue campus draws nearer. the new campus will be canada's first leed^? (leadership in energy and environmental design) platinum university campus, the very highest standard of energy efficiency and environmental design.

while this prestigious designation is very impressive, the facility itself represents only a portion of 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's investment in its orillia campus.

currently underway at lakehead - orillia is what is likely one of the largest faculty hirings to take place across the province this year. this spring, the orillia campus advertised seventeen full-time positions, including twelve tenure track positions and five term positions.

to understand the significance of this new orillia faculty complement, i spoke with dr. kim fedderson, 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's orillia campus dean

what does this current faculty hiring mean to lakehead - orillia?

faculty are the heart and soul of a university, and a university is only as good as the faculty it is able to recruit and retain. the investment we are making in new faculty this year is almost as large as the capital investment we are making to build our new campus. with each tenure track position, we are committed in perpetuity. the total investment could be estimated at $36 million, when, for example, you multiply the salaries of each of the 12 tenure track positions by a 30-year tenure.

why is such a major hiring taking place right now?

we are committed to expanding programs at the lakehead - orillia campus. as student numbers increase, we will also increase the number of qualified full-time faculty. in 2006, lakehead - orillia opened its doors at heritage place with a charter class of 120 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . the following year, enrolment grew to 308. in the current 2009-2010 school term, we have 750 full-time 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . we started out offering three programs, including the honours bachelor of arts and science, honours bachelor of arts and science/bachelor of education, and bachelor of arts and science/bachelor of education. we now offer degree programs in social work, a masters of business administration, and one-year post-graduate programs in education and social work. in 2010, we will introduce an honours bachelor of arts and science in environmental sustainability, and in 2011, degree programs in media studies and criminology.

can you describe the process involved with hiring faculty?

faculty hiring at ontario's universities is very complex and exacting. the process is governed by a series of regulatory frameworks involving, but not limited to, the faculty collective agreement, the university's board of governors, the university's senate, the council of ontario universities, and the canadian association of university teachers.

we established a separate hiring committee comprising faculty from both the orillia and thunder bay campuses for each competition. these committees follow detailed protocols to narrow down the applicants and shortlist potential interviewees. the committees' recommendations are forwarded to the deans at each campus, then to the president and vice-president before candidate offers can be made.

it has been a huge organizational task for the human resources department. heidi berry, who has overseen the process, reported that 600 applications were received for the seventeen positions. heidi's task was to ensure the process was well organized and that applicant information was efficiently delivered to the seventeen hiring committees. the committees are currently interviewing candidates and we hope to have the process completed by mid-june.

what types of applicants have expressed interest in these positions?

we were very impressed by the quality of applicants, including a good number from some of the most highly-esteemed universities in north america. we received applications from all over the world, including australia, korea, germany, and egypt. the minimum requirement for applicants is a phd, university teaching experience, evidence of research potential and publication, and a service commitment to the university and the community.

what is lakehead - orillia looking for, in addition to the required qualifications?

at the orillia campus, we offer a unique interdisciplinary program and an inquiry-based teaching approach - both designed to produce independent, critical thinkers. this represents a change in the way universities offer programs. in order to prepare our 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 for the future, we can no longer only focus on training with narrow specializations. 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 today need multiple skills sets. we're looking for teachers who understand and are able to teach the social, cultural, and political context of their subject areas and research.

do current faculty members have an opportunity to apply for the new positions?

yes. we have been fortunate to attract a great group of scholars to lakehead - orillia. as tenure track positions become available, existing faculty have the opportunity to apply for them. two of our original faculty members, tim kaiser and nanda kanavillil, applied for and successfully competed for tenure track positions, and were granted tenure by the university last fall. with tenure, a colleague who meets the teaching, research, and service responsibilities has a job for life. for the other original faculty members, we were able to extend their three-year term contracts by one additional year. like most universities, our collective agreement limits the number of years a faculty member can hold a term position. for many of our original faculty, that time limit is now up. some of them are currently competing for the positions we have advertised. some will likely succeed in these competitions, and for those who don't, but want to continue working with us, i hope there will be teaching or administrative opportunities they might consider exploring. we certainly don't want to lose the expertise all these gifted scholars have brought to lakehead - orillia.

can you sum up what this major addition to the faculty will mean to lakehead - orillia in the long-term?