Monthly Action Guide: October 2025 – Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life

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. 

Recruitment

Academic searches are ongoing at this time. Chairs may find it helpful to review Strategies for Recruiting an Excellent & Diverse Faculty Complement.
Ask your Dean’s Office for a copy of VPFAL’s updated sample job ads. Basing your faculty ad on VPFAL sample ads will help ensure your ad conforms with immigration, institutional, and best practice requirements, increasing the speed with which your ad can be approved and posted.

Continuing Status Review for Teaching Stream Faculty

“The continuing status review should be completed and the candidate notified by December 31st.” (PPAA, 2021, Part VII, 30, x, emphasis added)” For reviews currently underway, VPFAL encourages submission of these files by October 31st where possible, to allow time for processing before the December 31 deadline.
Please submit your CSR files through the secure VPFAL Document Submission Portal.

Part-Time Faculty Review for Continuing Appointment

Part-time faculty who have been renewed for a sixth year, must be reviewed in the fall before December 31 (PtP, 7b).
See AAPM Section on Continuing Appointment Review: Part-Time.

Promotion to Professor

“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 receive more detailed consideration for promotion” (PPP, 20).
“Associate Professors may request that they be considered for promotion in any given year. Such requests are to be made in writing to the Chairman of the department on or before October 15 of the calendar year preceding the possible promotion. In this case, the Promotions Committee is obliged to give the faculty member detailed consideration along with any other candidates under consideration” (PPP, 21).
Single Department Faculty Deans should be aware that promotion files sent to VPFAL by January/February may allow for review and response by our Office before tenure season begins in April.
See the AAPM Section on Promotion to Professor

Promotion to Professor, Teaching Stream

“Each year the Department Chair will place before the Promotions Committee for preliminary consideration the names of 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, 18).
“Associate Professors, Teaching Stream may request that they be considered for promotion in any given year. Such requests are to be made in writing to the Chair of the department on or before October 15 of the calendar year preceding the possible promotion. In this case, the Promotions Committee is obliged to give the faculty member detailed consideration along with any other candidates under consideration” (PPPTS, 18).
Single Department Faculty Deans should be aware that promotion files sent to VPFAL by January/February may allow for review and response by our Office before tenure season begins in April.
See the AAPM Section on Promotion for Teaching Stream Faculty

Research & Study Leave (RSL)

Academic units should be receiving leave requests from faculty and librarians and preparing their leave request form for the 2026-27 leave cycle.
- “A faculty member who wishes to take research leave shall request such leave in writing from his or her chair, dean, or principal no later than October 31 of the academic year preceding. Every request for research leave requires the approval of the Vice-President and Provost of the University of Toronto.” (MoA, 2016, Article 4)
For details on leave information, eligibility, and requests, please see the Research & Study Leave section of the AAPM and the Research & Study Leave Tool
You should be aware of resources to assist with the RSL/Admin leave process.
- The Research and Study Leave Report is available to specific users in Fiori. Instructions for the report: HR Systems Training & Support Centre and then HRIS Support Materials > Fiori Launch Pad.
- Leave Request Form: Dean’s Offices must submit leave requests using the revised RSL request form. Note: there is a separate form for for Multi-Departmental Faculties (MDFs) and Single-Departmental Faculties (SDFs).
  - Please be reminded that MDFs should separate exceptional RSL/admin leaves in annual omnibus submissions. Requests that do not conform to policy will receive additional review. A reminder to please submit supporting documents for all exceptional requests. Standard requests will not be given further review. The MDF-specific form reflects this process.
  - All SDF leave requests will be thoroughly reviewed by VPFAL. A reminder to please submit all leave documentation including leave proposals. The SDF-specific form reflects this process.
- Please be reminded that support materials (guides and video tutorials) will continue to be available on the HRIS Support Materials > Academic> Leave- Paid & Unpaid. In addition, the RSL request form has sample tabs with direct links to the “how-to” materials.

Reminder: 2025 Part-Time Data Collection

A reminder for Dean’s Offices to submit their 2025 information with respect to part-time continuing appointments, e.g. part-time faculty members who were considered for a continuing appointment during the previous academic year (July 1 2024 to June 30 2025). Dean’s Offices may have access to the template we shared last year. Please submit the spreadsheet with data for the period July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 to jamie.ryckman@utoronto.ca by Oct 10, 2025.

Provost’s Leadership Academy – Call for Applications

Please share with eligible faculty

The Provost’s Leadership Academy is a program intended to identify, engage, and support mid-career faculty members in the tenure stream and continuing stream teaching stream with interests and capacities for future University leadership.
The program offers a cohort-based leadership curriculum to approximately 24 Fellows selected from across the six Multi-Department and eleven Single Department Faculties
Applications for the 2026 Provost’s Leadership Academy cohort are now being accepted. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2025.
More information is available on the Provost’s Leadership Academy webpage

October & November Programming for Academic Administrators

Highlighted below are the sessions occurring in the months of October and November 2025. To see the complete list of scheduled workshops for academic administrators, please visit the VPFAL programming page.

Hosting International Collaborators (Online) for Academic Administrators, Faculty, Principal Investigators and Staff

October 6, 2025, 1-2:30pm

Hosting international colleagues, researchers, expert knowledge holders, students or visitors to your department, lab, or office requires advance planning and must include immigration considerations. There can be a variety of negative repercussions if there are errors or omissions in the process. This session will guide participants on where to seek assistance. We will provide an overview of the Canadian immigration system, offer information on ways to invite and host international collaborators, and answer general questions about immigration processes and options.

Managing Teaching Assistants and Sessional Lecturers for AAAs and Staff (Online)

October 20, 2025, 1-3pm

This session, offered by Labour Relations, will provide Chairs, Directors, Associate Chairs, Vice/Associate Deans, TA Coordinators, and Administrative Staff responsible for the administration of CUPE 3902 appointments the tools and information necessary for managing employees under the CUPE 3902 Unit 1 and Unit 3 Collective Agreements. Topics will include performance management, accommodation, workload, leaves, and all other relevant processes under the Collective Agreements for the duration of an employee’s contract.

Assessment of Teaching in Tenure, Continuing Status, and Promotion Reviews for Chairs, Directors, and Members of Teaching Evaluation Committees (Online)

November 19, 2025, 1-3pm

The evaluation of teaching is a critical element in tenure, continuing status, and promotion reviews. Led by the Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life (VPFAL) this is a substantive session on the evaluation of teaching effectiveness that will help those engaged in these reviews to conduct their work in a fair and robust way.

October & November Programming for Faculty

Bias in the Context of Academic Reviews (Online)

October 22, 2025, 1-3pm

Session Leaders:

Maydianne Andrade, University Professor, Biological Sciences, UTSC and Founder and Co-Chair of Co-Chair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity & Excellence (TIDE)
Bojana Stefanovic, Professor, Medical Biophysics, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
with support from Alison Keith, University Professor & Director, Jack Humanities Institute

This workshop is intended for Provostial, SGS, and Decanal assessors; members of any committee that involves peer assessment (e.g., search, PTR, tenure, continuing status); as well as Deans, Principals, Chairs and Directors. Please note that we are unable to accommodate staff, students, post-docs, sessional lecturers or clinicians at this session.

The goals of this session are to:

Provide you with the tools to identify bias
Introduce you to some practical strategies to help you interrupt bias in the moment
Discuss what a unit might consider/discuss/put in place to help mitigate bias in academic review processes and assessments

Pre-work: The Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life recommends that all search, tenure, continuing status review, and promotion committee members, faculty on PTR committees, and assessors review the online Unconscious Bias Modules 1-3 before attending this session. Access these modules through SuccessFactors.

NCFDD Programming

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

NCFDD Faculty Success Program Spring Session (January 26-April 5, 2026)

The registration period for the NCFDD Spring Session (January 26-April 5, 2026) is now open.
The last day for Dean’s Offices to submit Spring Session candidates to VPFAL via the NCFDD Programs Request for Provostial Funding Form, 2025-26 is October 31.
VPFAL will confirm with Dean’s Offices whether candidates are eligible for Provostial funding within two weeks of October 31.
Please use the email template sent to Dean’s Offices to communicate to eligible faculty about the upcoming session and deadline
Faculty should not be registering themselves for the program, as they will not be eligible for reimbursement through the Provost’s Office.
Please see the Provostial Funding for the NCFDD Faculty Success Program (FSP) & Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program (PTP), 2025-26 for details about the program, eligibility, and reimbursement procedures.

University of Toronto 14-Day Writing Challenge (November 3-16, 2025)

The University of Toronto, in partnership with NCFDD, is offering a free, virtual 14-Day Writing Challenge for faculty members of all ranks
Participants commit to 30 minutes of writing per day, which could include a range of scholarly activity
Please encourage your faculty members to participate and consider booking a space in your unit where faculty can gather to write together in person
More details and registration: web.ncfdd.org/14dayuoftoronto25.