Dear Members:

Nominations are now being accepted for the positions of Chief Steward (1 of 2 positions) and Equity Officer (1 of 2 positions). The terms of office begin June 1, 2019 and end May 31, 2021. Read more about the positions here.

Candidates for election as Officers of the Association shall submit written statements of their qualifications, goals, and interest in serving. Where two or more candidates stand for an Officer position, an option to reject all candidates shall be placed on the ballots. Where only one candidate is nominated for an Officer position, a ratification ballot shall be conducted. Candidates’ statements shall be circulated with the electronic ballot information.

YUFA members who wish to nominate colleagues (with their consent), or who are themselves willing to serve, should submit their statements to the Association by email ([email protected]), by fax (416-736-5850) or by campus mail (YUFA, 240 York Lanes). Please use subject line: Officer Nomination.

The deadline to submit nominations is Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 3:00 p.m.

The voting period begins Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. and ends Thursday, November 22, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. The results will be announced shortly after the voting period ends.

All YUFA elections are governed by the YUFA Constitution and the YUFA By-Laws . A description of eligible voters is available here

You are invited to participate in the by-election to elect a Recording Secretary for the YUFA Executive Committee. The person elected will serve the remainder of the term that expires on May 31, 2020.

The election will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 and end at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 25, 2018.

Voting instructions will be sent out by e-mail to all eligible voters.

Candidate statements

• Arthur Hilliker: Word or PDF
• Marcia Macaulay: Word or PDF

The voting period for approving the 2018-19 YUFA Budget and the continuation of the Faculty/Grad Club Levy ends at 12:00 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. 

All YUFA members who are eligible to vote will receive an email invitation to vote. You may vote by clicking on the link in the email invitation.

If you do not receive an invitation to vote, please contact YUFA right away: email [email protected].

This electronic vote is being conducted in accordance with Article 3.5 of the YUFA Constitution, which states:

“The annual budget and fee structure shall be prepared by the Executive Committee and presented to the general membership at the Annual Meeting. Assent shall be given by a simple majority decision of those members voting electronically subsequent to the meeting. Accommodations will be made for those who do not have access to the Internet and who request such accommodation. No proxy voting is permitted.”

The proposed budget was presented to the general membership at the Annual General Meeting on April 17, 2018.

Nominations for YUFA Officer positions (June 1, 2018 to May 31, 2020) have now closed.  Voting will take place from 1:00 pm on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 to 1:00 pm on Tuesday, December 12, 2017.  Eligible voters will receive instructions via electronic mail.  Should you not receive an electronic link to vote, contact YUFA at [email protected].

The names of the candidates for each YUFA office and their respective statements are below.  To access a Word version of a candidate's statement, click on the link marked statement.  To access a PDF version of a candidate's statement, click on the candidate's name.

Call for Nominations

2018-2020 YUFA Officer Elections:  Definition of Eligible Voters

President:  Statement  Art Redding

Vice-President Internal: Statement  Ricardo Grinspun

Vice-President External:  Statement  Terry Maley

Communications Officer: Statement  Jody Berland;

Communications Officer:  Statement    Kean Birch

Chief Steward:  Statement    Maura Matesic

Equity Officer:  Statement  Ellie Perkins

Treasurer: Statement    Paul Evans

Recording Secretary:  Statement  Carlota McAllister

Nominations for Executive Officer positions for the term beginning June 1, 2018 and ending May 31, 2020 are now being accepted.  Submission of nominations closes at 2:00 pm on Friday, November 24, 2017.  Below are the available positions and nominations received:

President:  Art Redding

Vice-President Internal:  Ricardo Grinspun

Vice-President External:  Terry Maley

Communications Officer:  Jody Berland; Kean Birch

Chief Steward:  Maura Matesic

Equity Officer:  Ellie Perkins

Treasurer:  Paul Evans

Recording Secretary:  Carlota McAllister

YUFA conducted by-elections from June 22 at 4:00 p.m. to July 6 at 4:00 p.m. for the Communications Officer, an Equity Officer, and a number of stewards. Voting was by electronic ballot.

Elections and by-elections are governed by YUFA's by-laws (see: 1. Election Procedures).

The results of the by-elections are as follows:

Communications Officer (term expires: May 31, 2018)

Didi Khayatt: 196 (54.9%) ELECTED
Scott McLaren: 161 (45.1%)
Abstain: 85 (19.2%)
Total voters: 442

Equity Officer (term expires: May 31, 2017)

Wilburn Hayden

Yes: 299 (94.3%) RATIFIED
No: 18 (5.7%)
Abstain: 125 (28.3%)
Total voters: 442

Admin Studies steward (term expires: May 31, 2018)

Haiping Wang

Yes: 26 (100.0%) RATIFIED
No: 0 (0.0%)
Abstain: 1 (3.7%)
Total voters: 27

Economics steward (term expires: May 31, 2018)

George Georgopoulos

Yes: 16 (88.9%) RATIFIED
No: 2 (11.1%)
Abstain: 0 (0.0%)
Total voters: 18

Environmental Studies steward (term expires: May 31, 2018)

Justin Podur

Yes: 12 (100.0%) RATIFIED
No: 0 (0.0%)
Abstain: 0 (0.0%)
Total voters: 12

Libraries steward (term expires: May 31, 2019)

Patti Ryan

Yes: 22 (91.7%) RATIFIED
No: 2 (8.3%)
Abstain: 3 (11.1%)
Total voters: 27

Mathematics & Statistics steward (term expires: May 31, 2019)

Jorg Grigull

Yes: 16 (94.1%) RATIFIED
No: 1 (5.9%)
Abstain: 0 (0.0%)
Total voters: 17

For more information, please contact Kym Bird, Returning Officer: [email protected].

Below are the results of the election for YUFA Officers for the term 1 June 2016 to 31 May 2018.  Candidates' names in boldface indicate persons elected and ratified.  YUFA extends its sincere appreciation to all those members who ran for office and thanks all those members who took the time to vote.

President:  Richard Wellen
Yes - 405 (88.4%)
No - 53 (11.6%)
Abstain - 44

Vice-President Internal:  Maura Matesic
Maura Matesic      264 (69.5%)
Ray Rogers             107 (28.2%)
Reject All                   9  (2.4%)
Abstain - 122

Vice-President External:  Terry Maley
Yes - 358 (92.7%)
No -   28  (7.3%)
Abstain - 116

Communications Officer:  Stephanie Ross
Yes - 392 (93.8%)
No -   26 (6.2%)
Abstain - 84

Chief Steward (1 of 2):  Art Redding
Yes - 345 (92.5%)
No -   28 (7.5%)
Abstain:  129

Equity Officer (1 of 2):  Nick Mulé
Yes - 326 (89.3%)
No -   39 (10.7%)
Abstain - 137

Treasurer:  Ricardo Grinspun
Yes - 363 (83.3%)
No -  73  (16.7%)
Abstain - 66

Recording Secretary:  Merle Jacobs
Yes - 354 (81.6%)
No -   80 (18.4%)
Abstain - 68

Kym Bird,
YUFA Returning Officer

YUFA is seeking a total of six (6) members from a range of disciplines to form an ad hoc working group tasked with evaluating the appropriateness of currently available performance analytic tools for measuring scholarly productivity across the disciplines.

Many of our colleagues here at York and at other universities have expressed concern about the proliferation of metrics for evaluating and quantifying the research contributions of faculty members. For example, York University now subscribes to SciVal, which is designed to compare and benchmark the research performance of individuals, departments and institutions. A recent Ontario government report clearly anticipates the development of more performance based funding for universities, which may involve increased tracking and benchmarking of research activity.

In order to develop a faculty perspective on these developments here at York, the YUFA Executive passed a motion on December 11 to establish a working group to assess the strengths, weaknesses and implications of new research performance analytics tools.

The working group will be composed of colleagues drawn from a cross-section of areas and disciplines. If you would like to be considered for appointment for this committee, please send a statement of interest to the YUFA Executive at [email protected] by 4 pm on Friday, January 8, 2016.  Please include in your statement a brief review of your qualifications and experience relevant to this work, and the reasons for your interest

YUFA is seeking one member for the Joint Implementation Committee on Affirmative Action for Faculty and Librarians (Article 12.22).

The mandate of this subcommittee is to ensure that units conform to the Article 12.21 criteria for selecting candidates and to ensure that units actively seek out and give fair consideration in their selection processes to candidates designated in the affirmative action provisions of the Collective Agreement. The subcommittee approves academic unit affirmative action plans in order to ensure that policies already established are implemented. Any substantive revision to a unit’s plan must be submitted to the Joint Committee on Affirmative Action for approval.

The meeting schedule is determined by the Joint Subcommittee. For this academic year, members are asked to keep Wednesdays 1-3 available in case meetings are needed.  Most meetings occur during the hiring period, between January and the early summer. Affirmative Action plans are mostly reviewed over email, throughout the year. The term for this appointment is January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016.

If you are interested in being appointed as a YUFA representative, please provide a brief written statement to [email protected] outlining your interest and experience relevant to the subcommittee by December 10, 2015.

YUFA is seeking two volunteers to serve as Trustees for the 2015-16 year. The trustees work together to review the activities and operations of the Association for the year, based on the audits and financial statements, minutes from Executive Committee meetings, minutes from Stewards Council minutes and any other material they feel would be useful. They present a report at the Annual General Meeting in the spring, with recommendations for improvements where appropriate.

The task is not arduous, but it is very important.  We hope very much that there are members willing to undertake it.

Interested members should contact the office at [email protected] by Friday November 27, 2015.  If there are more than two volunteers an electronic election will be held.