M Louise Ripley,
M.B.A., Ph.D.
One third of
a professor's job is teaching, one third is research, and the remaining third
is service - to the university, the academic community, and the larger
community. Here is some of what I do in my Service
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YUFA
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In past years I have served first as Vice Chair of the Faculty
Council for the Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, and
then as Chair (2009-2011).
Before that, I served a number
of years as Chair, Secretary, and Speaker of the Atkinson Faculty
Council.
In 2006 to 2010 I served as YUFA's Communications Officer. In
2006/07, I served
on YUFA's Bargaining Team for contract negotiations.
In 1997, after 17 years as a
professor of management I finally was able to honour the
contributions of my father, Stephen Ripley, an
American labour union organizer, in the York University Faculty Association Strike where I served as a Picket Captain on the
Sentinel Road Gate. If you were
here then and saw a woman in a yellow hard hat and
steel toed boots on the picket line, that was me
If you're wondering how a teacher
could go on strike knowing her students will suffer, you
can read the text of my speech, "Radicalization
and Renewal: The YUFA Grand Strike of 1997" given to
the Atkinson Alum Association when I won their Teaching Excellence
Award
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Since the strike, I have served my union as Atkinson's
representative on the Union Executive, as the Vice Chair for
Organization, as YUFA's representative on the CAUT Defense Fund Board of
Trustees, as the Union Steward for the School of
Administrative Studies (first in its history), as a member of
the 2006-07 Negotiating Team, and most recently as
YUFA's Communications Officer.
As a member of the CAUT
Defense Fund Flying Picket, I visited picket lines of other
university faculty/librarian unions on strike as we bring our
message of solidarity and support (a $20 million defense fund
and a reminder that no union ever walks a picket line alone). Here I am at an October
19, 2007 visit to Acadia University in Wolfville during their strike (dead
centre, middle
of second row). You can
read reports of these visits at CAUT
Flying Picket Visit Reports. I finally had to give this up
when an old football injury to my knee acted up and I
could no longer walk long distances (I used to play for
the Argos; that's my story and I'm sticking to it!).
Some professors consider Service a chore but it has
been one of the most rewarding parts of my University
career.
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The School of Administrative Studies
Meetings - One Thursday per month, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
This is where your SAS professors get together once a month
to talk about what we're doing, where we're headed, and how
we'll do it all. We have good discussions, are quite polite to
each other, and even have Skype now for professors who may be
away and unable to attend.
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The
School of Women's
Studies
Member of the Undergraduate Women's
Studies Council;
Meetings - Tuesdays 2:30-4:30 p.m. once per month
Again, similar to SAS, WMST faculty get together to evaluate and
plan. I have served on the Executive Board of the
Office of The Status of Women and on the Board of the Centre for
Feminist Research. I also serve on the undergraduate faculty
council. One year I served as Acting Chair of the School of
Women's Studies. I have spoken to a number of women's
groups and government agencies on issues of women and business,
particularly in the area of women and risk taking
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Convocations - Spring and Fall
I am always at Convocation. I consider it the best and most important
day of the academic year beause it belongs to the students. I served for a number of years
as the University Orator, introducing the honourary
graduate at York convocations.
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Internal/External examiner for PhD and Masters
defenses
As a member of the Faculty of Graduate
Studies, I have served on a number of masters
and doctoral oral defense committees across the
University.
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Masters in
Environmental Studies
programme
I have served as a Secondary Advisor for students
here and supervised Master's Theses. I also offered the course ES5078:
Independent Reading courses in Social Marketing
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Interdisciplinary Studies
I have served as a supervising
committee member for graduate students here. I also served as a
committee member for a former York student,
Sandi Warren, when she
did her PhD at Trent University in Native Studies. Sandi was
very special. You can read about her in my Gender Issues in
Management pages:
Sandi Warren
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First
Unitarian Congregation of Toronto
I served as Editor of the Newsletter of the
First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto for a number of years. I have served as Treasurer and as a Worship Leader in
the Unitarian Universalist denomination, a denomination that holds that belief is determined by the
individual and not dictated from outside and which holds that we
only get one life - the one we live right here and now. Some beliefs we
share as a group include an acceptance of the inherent worth
and dignity of every person, an appreciation for the
interconnected web of existence, and an understanding of the
importance of justice equity and compassion in human relations -
much of which influences how I try to teach in the classroom and
to live my life
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My Neighbourhood
I have been involved with the Neighbourhood Watch programme
where I live, and I used to pick up trash in the ravine and the Hydro
field while walking my dog as my contribution to cleaning up the
environment. Twice I have found a $20 bill!.See, good deeds
sometimes pay off! I can no longer do this due to back and
knee problems.
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 York University, Toronto
© M Louise Ripley, M.B.A.,
Ph.D.
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