Welcome to the 2020-21 Academic Year!
Welcome back! It’s been a strange summer but I hope you have found some relaxation.
The faculty association has been busy this summer.
Our faculty Relations Officer, Mike left us to help Canadian Blood Services establish a new service. I would personally like to thank Mike for his excellent service to the faculty association and wish him well in his new venture.
Please allow me to introduce our new Faculty Relations Officer, Keith Gardner. Keith joined the Faculty association at the beginning of July and has already demonstrated he will be a great asset to our team. You can read more about him in our about section.
Please stop by if you are on campus and say hi, otherwise reach out to Keith in the FA office 3217 or by email with your Faculty association needs.
With the pandemic limiting our activities the executive felt it would be better to plan our annual general meeting once we had access to facilities and faculty. As you are aware the opportunity has not yet materialized. We do need to hold an annual general meeting so we are exploring a blended format in September. We will try to provide an opportunity for those who wish to attend in person (following AHS protocols) as well as access for those who wish to participate on Zoom. We will provide a complete agenda and more details once we can finalize arrangements.
The AGM is our election platform and this one will have many opportunities to participate in the Faculty association. There will be vacancies in many of the standing committees and executive positions, watch for a complete list in the near future.
Ryan met with College administration in May on behalf of the negotiating team. Negotiations will begin in early October.
The bylaws committee are prepared to wrap up the work on the by-laws. They have done extensive work on restructuring the bylaws to meet the new standards and will be prepared to present them to faculty very soon. Our current bylaws require changes be presented and voted on at the AGM however your faculty executive would ask that you allow us to present the complete document to you by e-mail, allow you adequate time to review it, host a separate meeting for an opportunity for questions and input, then vote on the bylaws separate from the general meeting. We have heard that faculty do not want meetings drawn out too long and wish to ensure you have adequate time to consider the proposed bylaws. Please let me know as soon as possible if you feel this departure from the current bylaws is not acceptable and we will follow the current bylaws.
The Lethbridge College team has been working hard to provide for a return to classes in stage two relaunch. 5 teams have identified and worked on areas that need to be addressed to facilitate a safe return for students, employees, and faculty. They have produced guidelines and rules designed to protect those on our campus. Please respect the rules if you have to be on campus.
Lethbridge College has worked hard to meet the needs of students and faculty through this challenging time. They have tried hard to anticipate each barrier and do what can be done to eliminate each. If you face some unforeseen difficulty please reach out to the college supports available.
I have met with president’s council of ACIFA weekly over the summer. As you can imagine the implications of the budget changes and then the pandemic provided us with a great deal to talk about. The institutional responses have varied dramatically and I have to say I am very pleased by the response of our college.
The ACIFA conference fell victim to the pandemic and so they were unable to host an AGM. They will do a blended AGM with elections October 24th at 9 am. The meeting will be open for anyone who wishes to attend. Please contact Keith for contact information closer to the date.
Keyano was at the heart of the flooding in Fort McMurray, many faculty members were affected and the association suffered significant damage to their building. ACIFA provided a financial donation to the faculty association and another to the food bank on your behalf.
We met with Minister Nicolaides Tuesday Aug 25th to talk about moving forward in post secondary in Alberta. Although he was not able to share a lot of detail he did tell us that they recognize the important role post-secondary education will play in restarting the Alberta economy. While financial restraint is still paramount they intend to pull back and reevaluate the strategies around strategic change. There is a provincial review of the sector underway which will provide input and we will have several opportunities for input into that process which may have significant implications for post-secondary education in Alberta.
Trades instructors returned early in August and our first intake started August 24th. Instructors and new students suffered a crash before 8 am on day one when the ZOOM website went down. They were up and running quickly with minimal impact. Despite the excitement each instructor reports good progress and student success through the first week.
I wish you all the best in this new circumstance. I believe we can accomplish lots when pressed into an uncomfortable situation. Have a great year.
Kevin Wiber, President
Lethbridge College Faculty Association
