August 2026: VPFAL Action Guide

This post highlights upcoming academic HR deadlines and important administrative tasks for the month ahead. Please feel free to share it with faculty or staff who may find it helpful.

To be added to the distribution list or if you have any questions, feel free to contact vpfal.prof.dev@utoronto.ca.

Save the Date: 2026 New Faculty & Librarian Orientation

  • The New Faculty & Librarian Orientation takes place on August 10 & 11, 2026 at the Faculty Club (41 Wilcocks Street).
  • Faculty members who are appointed to the tenure stream, faculty members appointed to the continuing stream teaching stream, and librarians who are appointed in the permanent status stream with start dates between September 2, 2025 and September 1, 2026 should have received an invitation in July.
  • If any newly appointed faculty members or librarians in the streams listed above in your unit have not received an invitation, please reach out to vpfal.prof.dev@utoronto.ca.

Recruitment: Sample Job Ads

Ask your Dean’s Office for a copy of VPFAL’s updated sample job ad. 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.

PTR Process for the 2026-27 Academic Year

  • “at the beginning of the academic year (i.e., July 1)”, unit heads “shall communicate, in writing, to each faculty member of their unit”:
    • Internal policies and procedures for assessment of PTR
    • The format to be used for activity reports
    • The relative weight of teaching, research and service (PDAD&C #53).
  • A separate weighting of teaching, pedagogical/professional development and service should be made for teaching stream faculty. Teaching stream faculty members shall be evaluated on their pedagogical and/or discipline-based scholarship in relation to the field in which they teach and/or creative/professional activity[1] that allows the faculty member to maintain a mastery of their subject area and this evaluation will be appropriately weighted in the PTR assessment (PDAD&C #53). 

Part-Time Faculty Renewals

Part-time faculty members who have been renewed for a sixth year, must be reviewed in the fall before December 31. (PtP, 7b)

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, emphasis added).
  • 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.

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. Workload 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: 2026 Part-Time Data Collection

A reminder for Dean’s Offices to submit their 2026 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, 2025, to June 30, 2026). Please use the same template as last year and submit the spreadsheet with data for the period July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 to jamie.ryckman@utoronto.ca by Oct 26, 2026. 

Resources for Faculty

U of T Libraries Support for Faculty

➡️ Please share with your faculty

Please encourage both new and current faculty members to reach out to their University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) Faculty Liaison Librarian. Each liaison librarian can provide valuable research and teaching assistance.  This includes research consultations on a wide variety of topics such as research impact, research data management, digital scholarship, and open access. Additionally, they can collaborate with you on Systematic and Scoping Reviews and provide instructional sessions to your students that are tailored to your course content. With AI tools proliferating, librarians can play a key role supporting students’ AI literacy. UTL also provides a Syllabus Service to support you with the management of course readings and reserves in a manner that respects Canadian copyright law and existing U of T licensing agreements and policies. Library Staff will retrieve, scan, license, and acquire eBooks where necessary to support instruction.

U of T Bookstore Support for Faculty

➡️ Please share with your faculty

  • As you prepare for the upcoming academic term, we encourage all new faculty members to connect with the University of Toronto Bookstore for support with sourcing course materials. The Bookstore works closely with instructors to identify the most suitable resources for each course, offering both print and digital formats to meet diverse teaching needs.
  • For courses that draw on multiple sources, the Bookstore collaborates with a licensed Access Copyright copy shop to help you create and distribute custom course packs tailored to your syllabus.
  • To ensure materials are available for students at the start of the Fall term, we kindly ask that all course material orders be submitted as soon as possible. Orders can be placed through Verba Collect, or by contacting your designated textbook buyer directly for assistance.
  • If you prefer to email your order or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our knowledgeable Bookstore buyers. You can find contact information here.

Faculty Programming

NCFDD Webinars

➡️ Please share with your faculty

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 UofT NCFDD membership to access webinars.