Dr. Sheila Embleton receives CAUT's Bernice Schrank Award

YUFA is proud to announce that our Chief Steward, Dr. Sheila Embleton, is the recipient of the CAUT’s Bernice Schrank Award. The Bernice Schrank Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the enforcement of academic staff workplace rights through grievances and arbitrations.

Sheila’s strategic leadership and extensive service to YUFA spans over a decade. Many colleagues have benefitted from Sheila’s sage advice, fierce advocacy, and support on a wide range of workplace issues. A stalwart advocate of equity and fairness in the academic workplace, Sheila negotiated ground-breaking Pay Equity provisions and an Equal Pay Exercise, among many other important clauses, into the YUFA Collective Agreement, setting national benchmarks in the academic staff sector.

More recently, Sheila spearheaded complex policy grievances, some of which have resulted in landmark decisions for both YUFA and the sector, such as the Graduate Assistant Policy Grievance, and the Employer’s wrongful termination of life insurance for YUFA members at age 71.

Sheila has generously contributed her time and expertise beyond YUFA, including her participation as a member of OCUFA’s Grievance Committee since 2011, and her facilitation of grievance handling and equity workshops for CAUT members across Canada.

The CAUT could not have selected a more principled, dedicated, and deserving candidate for this award.

Congratulations, Sheila!