Lisa Philipps, provost and vice-president academic, issues the following announcement to the York University community:
In October 2018, my office launched an initiative to develop a multi-year Complement Renewal Strategy for the University, with the goal of clarifying how we can best build the complement needed to achieve academic priorities as expressed in key planning documents including the University Academic Plan and Strategic Research Plan. York has been making steady progress over several years toward renewing, diversifying and modestly growing our tenure-stream faculty complement. This year, we are undertaking 160 searches, a more than 50 per cent increase over last year’s authorized appointments. This was just a first step as we developed our longer-term strategy.
Since our launch, Alan Harris, a former provost at three Canadian universities and former dean of social sciences at McMaster University with a wealth of experience with complement planning, has assisted us with the research and analysis that will ground this initiative.
I am now pleased to share with you documents intended to serve as a reference point to inform consultations with the University community this spring. Included are:
- “Faculty Complement Renewal at York University: Provostial Discussion Paper”; and
- “York University’s Faculty Complement: A Comparative Analysis.”
Over the next few weeks, we will be seeking input from the community on the questions in the discussion paper to determine how to best build York’s faculty complement over the next five to 10 years. Venues for consultations will include open forums at the Keele and Glendon campuses, visits to Faculty Councils where possible, the Student Representative Roundtable and an opportunity for written feedback.
I would like to encourage all community members – faculty, staff and students – to read the short Discussion Paper and longer Comparative Analysis and engage in the community consultations. For those who are unable to attend an in-person session, I invite you to provide your written feedback through our consultation form.
Documents and further information can be accessed on the Provost & Vice-President Academic website. Consultations will take place throughout March and April and further details will be updated on that website as they become available.