Monthly Action Guide: June 2025

This email contains reminders of key deadlines and administrative tasks related to academic HR. Please share with faculty or staff who would find this information relevant. 

Contact vpfal.prof.dev@utoronto.ca to be added to the distribution list or with any questions. 

Unit Workload Policies

  • All units should review the date of their most recent unit Workload Policy. The University’s Workload Policy and Procedures states that “Unit Workload Policies shall be reviewed at least every three years by the unit.” (WLPP, 2.16)
  • If your unit workload policy was last reviewed three or more years ago, it is time to review it again to ensure it continues to serve the unit well. Policies require approval: in a multi-department Faculty, please reach out to your Dean’s Office; Single Department Faculties should contact VPFAL.
  • The process of considering your unit workload policy is meant to be a collegial one: your workload policy committee “should be reasonably reflective of the membership of the Unit, including reflecting the types of appointments that faculty members in the unit hold.” (WLPP, 2.2)

Reminder: Unit Head’s Responsibilities Relative to Workload

Unit heads should be aware that no later than June 30th, they are responsible for:

  1. Providing a written assignment of workload.
  2. Making workload letters available via a secure site.
  3. Preparing a Unit Workload Document annually setting out information regarding the assigned teaching and assigned service workload for each member in the unit and providing access to all members of the unit and to UTFA by June 30th each year. The Unit Workload Document is due by June 30, 2025.

Important Travel Information for Faculty, Staff, and Students

  • Before travelling to any destination, please ensure you have reviewed the most up-to-date information on the Government of Canada’s travel advisory information. 
    • To ensure access to critical support while travelling for work, faculty members, librarians and staff are also encouraged to register for the International SOS program, which provides 24/7 travel assistance at no cost.
    • A reminder that required documentation for some travel to the United States has been updated. These changes may affect the current or future stay of faculty members.

Provostial Funding for the NCFDD Faculty Success Program (FSP) & Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program

  • We are in the process of finalising the registration process for the coming year.
  • In the meantime, we encourage Dean’s Offices to keep a list of the names of faculty members who are interested in registering for the Faculty Success Program. VPFAL will connect in early summer with more information on how to proceed.

Completion of Offers

  • Please complete the Completion of Offer (COO) form for Academic Appointments available on the AAPM Templates page as soon as possible after a search has concluded and return to the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life (academic.hr@utoronto.ca). The form should be submitted in cases of acceptances and declines. For acceptances, please also submit the signed letter of offer.
    • Please note: To begin the immigration support process, VPFAL must receive the COO and the passport details for the new hire.
  • Please also complete the workflow in SuccessFactors Recruiting (SFR) by moving candidates through the appropriate steps in the recruiting system, depending on the outcome of the search. Please reference the SFR job aids about offering a position, hiring a candidate, and closing a search available on the ASA resources page. Questions about the SFR workflow can be sent to academic.jobs@utoronto.ca.

Interim Review (Tenure Stream)

  • Tenure stream faculty members should have their performance “reviewed no earlier than May 1 of the third year of [their] contract … Normally no later than 30th June, the appointee should be asked to submit an account of research or creative professional activity which has been completed or undertaken since the time of initial appointment … The appointee will not normally be required to complete the submission prior to August 31” (PPAA, II.8).
  • See the AAPM Section on Interim Review

Tenure Review

  • In units with faculty members coming forward for tenure review, “Each division head or chair of the department in the multi-departmental divisions shall have the responsibility … to notify the candidate, normally no later than June 30th, that he or she will be considered for tenure in the following spring and when the process of review, including assembling of documentation, is about to begin and when it will be completed. Candidates should normally be provided with a period of at least 6 weeks in which to assemble and prepare the documentation required from them as set out below and will not normally be asked to submit their research dossier prior to July 1” (PPAA III.14.ii, emphasis added).
  • See the AAPM Section on Tenure Review

Probationary Review (Continuing Stream Teaching Stream)

  • Continuing stream teaching stream faculty members coming forward for their probationary review should be notified of their upcoming review “normally no later than May 1” and given a deadline for submission of their dossier (they “will not normally be required to complete the submission prior to June 30”) (PPAA, VII.30.vii).
  • See the AAPM Section on Probationary Review

Continuing Status Review

  • In units with faculty members coming forward for continuing status review, “The division head or chair shall … notify the candidate of the final composition of the continuing status committee and when the process of review, including assembling of documentation, is about to begin and when it will be completed. The candidate, with appropriate assistance and advice from the division or department head, will prepare a dossier in accordance with Divisional Guidelines for submission to the continuing status committee by June 30th” (PPAA, VII.30.x.b, emphasis added).
  • See the AAPM Section on Continuing Status Review

Planning for 2025-26 Promotions

  • This is the time of year to conduct considerations of all faculty coming up for promotion and to consider who needs a more detailed scrutiny.
  • This includes Associate Professors, Associate Professors, Teaching Stream; Part-Time Assistant and Associate Professors (both teaching stream and non-tenure stream), Status-Only Professors and CLTAs.
  • Here is the relevant policy language for tenure/non-tenure stream and teaching stream faculty:
    • “Each year the Department Chairman will place before the Promotions Committee for preliminary consideration the names of all Associate Professors in the Department, together with their curricula vitae. The Committee will advise the Chairman as to which staff members should received more detailed consideration for promotion.” (PPP, 1980, 20)
    • “Each year the Department Chair will place before the Promotions Committee for preliminary consideration the names of all part-time Assistant Professors, Teaching Stream with continuing appointments and all Associate Professors, Teaching Stream in the Department, together with their curricula vitae. The Committee will advise the Chair as to which faculty members should receive more detailed consideration for promotion.” (PPPTS, 2021, 18)
  • Follow up with individual faculty members regarding a timeline for when they may be ready to come forward for promotion.
  • “The successful candidate for promotion will be expected to have established a wide reputation in his or her field of interest, to be deeply engaged in scholarly work, and to have shown himself or herself to be an effective teacher.” (PPP, 1908, 7)
    • “The greatest weight will be given to scholarly achievement or, where appropriate, creative professional work, and to high quality in teaching.”
  • “Promotion to Professor, Teaching Stream will be granted on the basis of excellent teaching, educational leadership and/or achievement, and ongoing pedagogical/professional development, sustained over many years.” (PPPTS, 2021, 6)

Eligibility Update: Emeritus/Emerita Titles and Part-Time Faculty

  • Please be aware that as of April 1, 2025, part time faculty members who: 1) have received a continuing appointment and 2) are retiring at the rank of Associate Professor; Associate Professor, Teaching Stream; Professor; or Professor, Teaching Stream will be eligible for Emeritus/Emerita status.
  • Retiring part-time faculty members meeting these criteria may now elect Emeritus or Emerita status on their Notice of Intention to Retire form with no additional materials required.
  • This update is a clarification of the relationship of our existing Emeritus/Emerita policy to the part-time continuingappointment type, established in the 2021 Policy and Procedures on Employment Conditions of Part-time Faculty.

Retirement Notice

Save the Date: Retreat for New Academic Administrators

  • The Retreat for New Academic Administrators takes place on June 23-25 at the Faculty Club (41 Wilcocks Street).
  • Newly appointed Chairs; Graduate Chairs; Directors; Deans; and Vice and Associate Deans with portfolios related to faculty, academics, and graduate education will receive an invitation in the coming months.
  • Any continuing academic administrator who wishes to attend the Retreat is welcome to do so and should contact vpfal.prof.dev@utoronto.ca for registration information.

Save the Date: New Faculty & Librarian Orientation

  • The New Faculty & Librarian Orientation takes place on August 11 & 12 at the Faculty Club (41 Wilcocks Street).
  • Faculty members appointed to the tenure stream; faculty members appointed to continuing stream teaching stream; and librarians with start dates between September 2, 2024 and September 1, 2025 will be sent an invitation in July.

NCFDD Programming (online)

NCFDD offers on-demand access to programs and resources designed to help faculty members “achieve extraordinary writing and research productivity while maintaining a full and healthy life off campus”

Activate your NCFDD membership to access webinars