Despite the agreement with the university administration of almost a year ago, the issue continues to be raised by our members. We wanted to remind Academic Staff Members (ASMs) who were concerned about not receiving credit for teaching duties carried out in an Academic Unit (AU) other than the Unit in which they hold an appointment, of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was signed.
These instances included teaching a course in another AU (for example, an ASM teaching in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program, an ASM from the Faculty of Science teaching an Engineering course in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, or similar), as well as individuals carrying out supervision of a graduate student enrolled in another AU (for example, an ASM in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences co-supervising a student enrolled in the Faculty of Education, in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program, or similar). As result of these complaints, MUNFA submitted two separate Association (policy) Grievances (A-15-07 & 16-P-00136) to cover both types of violations of the Collective Agreement. MUNFA reached an agreement with MUN on a settlement, and ASMs would be well served to note the following in the attached Memorandum of Understanding (MOU):
- Teaching duties (both course based, and graduate supervision) must be “assigned or approved” by your Administrative Head in order to receive teaching credit for such work (see #1 in the MOU). In other words, if an ASM is teaching outside his/her AU, and has not advised the Head of the appointed (or home) AU, such duties will likely be considered voluntary;
- If such teaching duties are approved or assigned by the Head: i) credit for course-based teaching (both undergraduate and graduate) shall be in accordance with the AU responsible for the course (see #2 in the MOU); ii) credit for graduate supervision will be in accordance with the ASM’s appointed (or home) AU (see #3 in the MOU); and, iii) for ASMs from Grenfell Campus, credit will be in accordance with the St. John’s AU that most closely matches their Grenfell Campus Discipline (see #4 in the MOU).
If you have any questions or concerns about this recent settlement, please contact the MUNFA Office (munfa@mun.ca)or ext.8642
