In the past, MUNFA was contacted by a number of 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. These instances included teaching a course in another AU (for example, 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, or similar), or in an interdisciplinary program, including the Interdisciplinary PhD Program. As result of these complaints, MUNFA reached an agreement with MUN on a settlement, and as part of the last round of collective bargaining, is now incorporated in the Collective Agreement as Clause 3.29. ASMs would be well served to note:
- 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 preamble Clause 3.29). In other words, if an ASM is teaching outside their AU, and has not advised the Head of your 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 AU responsible for the course [see (a) in Clause 3.29]; ii) credit for graduate student supervision will be in accordance with the ASM’s appointed (or home) AU [see (b) in Clause 3.29]; 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 (c) in Clause 3.29].
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the MUNFA Office (munfa@mun.ca or 864-8642).
