Important Dates

The Department head allocates teaching responsibilities in consultation with faculty members, and the Undergraduate Sociology committee. The following principles and sentiments guide this allocation:

1. Each faculty member is encouraged to teach large first-year and second-year courses.
2. We try to balance the demands of teaching evenly among faculty members. Specifically, and in the interest of equity and fairness, it is expected that faculty combine teaching in large courses (100-level to 300-level) with teaching in small fourth year courses and graduate courses (in rotation). As a typical minimum in one academic year (and averaged over a three-year period), faculty will teach approximately 175 undergraduate students (e.g., 100 in term 1 and 75 in term 2).
3. Sessional instructors teach more students because they do not have formal research and administrative obligations.
4. At the graduate level - we strive for a balance between continuity (teaching one course at least twice in succession), and rotation of faculty members into (and out of) courses.
5. All faculty members are encouraged to teach a required undergraduate course (Sociology 100, 101, 102, 200, 217, 310, 328, 370, 371, 372, 380, 381, 382, 383, 414, 415, or 469; Family Studies 200, 238) and/or a required graduate course (Sociology 500, 501, 502, 503, 508, 514) on a regular basis.
6. The allocation of teaching must also reflect ongoing research and service commitments. This may mean some release from teaching for research or heavy service commitments (e.g., Department Head).
7. Faculty members are encouraged to supervise at least one Honours student every year or two.
8. We expect all faculty members to share equally in the supervision of graduate students (with no one having more than five fulltime primary supervisions in any particular year).
9. We expect faculty members to serve on PhD comprehensive examination committees when asked.

Sessional Instructors teach a significant number of courses in the Department. The Department takes the following steps in the assignment of courses which are consistent with the procedures outlined in the UBC Faculty Association ‘Collective Agreement 2012-2014’ (or subsequent versions):

1. We first assign courses to regular faculty.
2. We then assign courses to Continuing-Status Sessionals based on their individual course load entitlements. (If the winter session does not provide them with the full teaching load to which they are entitled, they have first priority for summer courses for which they are qualified.)
3. The Head determines the remaining courses allocations using the Sessional Pool (Continuing-Status and Non-Continuing-Status Sessionals), ‘Externals’ (adjuncts, clinical, honorary, visitors, post-doctoral fellows, and post retirement appointees), and graduate students.  This decision can change from year to year, depending upon factors such as who is available to teach, current Departmental needs, and the best interests of the students.  We expect to allocate each Non-Continuing Sessional to teach one course from the Sessional Pool per academic year. We assign remaining courses to Sessionals with less than a full-time course load and to first-time Applicants. If no Sessionals apply within the stated posting deadline a course may be assigned to Externals.
4. Occasionally courses become available at an irregular time. We advertise these courses and Sessionals with less than full-time appointments will have first priority to such courses.
5. PhD students who have advanced to candidacy are encouraged to seek teaching experience and the Department will, in accord with the Collective Agreement, seek to find them opportunities (PhD students who are offered teaching positions are considered Sessionals under the Collective Agreement).

1. We assign TA's based on course design, course enrollment and TA expertise.
2. Priority for teaching assistants, where possible, will be given to junior faculty (i.e., pre-tenure).
3. We will make every effort to match the training and expertise of a prospective Teaching Assistant to the course in question.
4. Faculty instructors are encouraged to communicate their needs for a TA, and their preferences for particular Teaching Assistants.
5. Teaching Assistants are covered by a collective agreement and the terms and conditions of that Agreement must be respected.
6. Faculty are required to ensure their TAs do not work beyond the 192 hour maximum nor work beyond end of Term date (April 30 for Term 1 / December 31 for Term 2).

Working with Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistants (TA's), both undergraduate and graduate, play a valuable role in enhancing student learning in our courses. Faculty need to ensure that TAs are well versed in our individual expectations, and have the support necessary to do an effective job. Teaching Assistants work under a collective agreement. First, they are expected to work a maximum of 192 hours per term (12 hours per week for 16 weeks). Second, the agreement allows for some ‘banking’ of hours across time periods although it is neither possible nor fair to ask TA's to do the vast majority of their hours in one or two discrete time periods (e.g., 80 hours in last two weeks of the exam period). Third, the Department uses a form ‘Teaching Assistant Duties and Hours’ to ensure we have transparency about expectations of hours and duties of TAs. This form is retained in the Students Services office. The Student Services secretary will distribute this form before the term commences. It is important that students in all courses know exactly who is marking what (i.e., TAs or faculty members). Also, aside from Sociology 100 level courses and very large 200 level courses (N>100), normal practice in the Department is to have the faculty instructor be responsible for assigning the final grades on a majority of student work. TAs should not be expected to do all of the marking in any course.

Supervisors of ALL TAs are required to conduct an evaluation of their TA prior to the final exam or April 30^th. The Student Services office will email Instructors a link to the evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is help determine future hiring.

Information about academic integrity (plagiarism, etc.), as well as course organization and planning, guidelines for grading, student evaluations, etc., is available on the Faculty of Arts website  at www.arts.ubc.ca.  Click on the ‘Faculty & Staff’ link then ‘Arts Internal Resources’ and log into the site via your CWL. Throughout the year students may experiencing various types of difficulty and be asking you about Academic Concessions. Students should be referred to Arts Advising for all Academic Concessions – they need to fill out a ‘Request for Academic Concession’ form. Forward the student this link: http://students.arts.ubc.ca/advising/academic-performance/help-academic-concession/. The Academic Concession policy exists to help with fairness.

The primary method of distributing materials to your students is through Canvas.

All courses have their own website, which is a key resource to enable you to make course material available to your students via the web, as well as provide a venue for paper submissions, on-line discussions, student progress reports, and other course-related matters. To get your course set up for this service, send an email to arts.helpdesk@ubc.ca, with your name, course number, and CWL username.

If you have any questions, please contact the Arts ISIT Help Desk at 7-2787 or arts.helpdesk@ubc.ca

Students have a right to know about our expectations for them in the courses we teach. Providing detailed course information is expected. This should include both of the following, concise course descriptions and detailed course outlines.

Outline of Syllabus These one-page descriptions provide succinct information to a variety of people including interested students, school advisors, and university exchange officers.  They are posted on the Student Service Centre web site. The Outline of Syllabus includes course description, probable method of evaluation, and probable text books. The purpose of the Outline of Syllabus is to provide these details prior to the availability of a formal course outline. Please email descriptions to the Student Services secretary at  soci.ugrad@ubc.ca,

Course Outline (or course syllabus) The Course Outline serves as a kind of contract. These should provide detailed information for, and be distributed to, all students enrolled in a course. At a minimum, course outlines should contain contact information, course locations, required readings, evaluation criteria, and deadlines. Please see examples of effective course outlines available from the Student Services Office.  Consider posting your outline on your course website and not printing out copies for every student.  Please email your course outline to the Student Services Secretary at soci.ugrad@ubc.ca

Submission of papers: Please communicate to your students that they are to hand in their papers either in hard copy - in class or directly to you or the course TA or the ANSO Paper Drop Box located near the door to the mail room - or electronically via Connect/Canvas. Please inform students clearly of your procedure. Never ask students to put their paper in your mail box nor to drop them off in the Main Office. Students should retain a copy of any paper they submit.

Returning papers: Faculty are obligated to ensure papers are returned to students in a method that is convenient and secure for their students, while at the same time not being a drain on staff time (i.e. papers should not be handed to staff to distribute). Faculty should inform students of how they will return papers.

Student wellbeing is fundamental to the aspirations of UBC’s campus community and pivotal to student learning and success.  We recognize that, throughout a student’s time at UBC, there are multiple ways in which their success may be impeded. This includes challenges associated with their transition to UBC, financial resources, academic and career aspirations, as well as mental and physical health. In support of this goal, UBC has launched ‘Early Alert’, a website where faculty and staff can identify their concerns about students who are facing difficulties. This gives students the earliest possible connection to the right resources and support, before difficulties put their academic success at risk.  More information for faculty, staff, and students is available on the Early Alert website: www.earlyalert.ubc.ca

The text below is provided as an example for you to paste into your course outline, so that students are aware that this service may be used, either by you or them.

‘Early Alert’ (earlyalert.ubc.ca)
During the term, I will do my best to reach out and offer support If I am concerned about your academic performance or wellbeing. I also encourage you to come and speak with me if you need assistance. In addition, I may identify my concerns using Early Alert. The program allows academic, financial, or mental health concerns to be identified sooner and responded to in a more coordinated way. This provides you with the earliest possible connection to resources like academic advising, financial advising, counselling, or other resources and support to help you get back on track. The information is treated confidentially and is sent because I care about your academic success and wellbeing. For more information, please visit earlyalert.ubc.ca.

We have become more successful in avoiding appeals on purely technical grounds because faculty have been putting more of their assignments, deadlines, and other course requirements in writing. Provided faculty scrupulously observe their own requirements, and the requirements are clear, fewer students appeal on the grounds that the instructor did not tell them something.

UBC expects all students to be competent writers and it is part of our job as instructors to help in this effort. Literacy should be evaluated as part of all exams and papers. Please make requirements clear, and take a class session in each course to outline the basic rules for writing essays, preparing footnotes, using quotations, etc.

Courses in Sociology are graded as the chart below illustrates:

In undergraduate courses please operate on the assumption that ‘A’ grades (80% and above) are for outstanding work only. Good, solid but unexceptional work should be given a ‘B’ grade (68%-79%), and ‘C’ is an acceptable grade (> 67%) and not a penalty. Remember the average grade in Social Science Departments in the Faculty of Arts for 100 level courses is in the 70-73% range, an average that rises to about 77-80% in 400 level courses.

Experience shows that grades falling at the top of the ranges in the above table often lead to student appeals.

Grading practices attempt to asses all students fairly in relation to other students in the same class, students in other sections of the same course, and students in other courses. Results in an average class of reasonable size will normally fall somewhere within the following broad limits:

• Grade ‘A’ between 5% and 25% of class
• Grades ‘A’ & ‘B’ combined not over 75% of class
• Grade ‘F’ not over 20% of class

Experienced instructors with challenging course material and rigorous but fair grading practices find that final grades normally conform to the above distribution pattern. Undoubtedly there will be courses in which these guidelines need to be flexible, but in such cases it is imperative that the instructor provide a convincing rationale for an exception (e.g., poorly prepared students and therefore many failures; or small seminar open only to honours students; or a course that filled on the first day of registration – given that registration dates for students are driven by their grades).

Enter grades on-line on the Faculty Service Centre (FSC) system. If you have questions or need help with this please email them at sis.support@ubc.ca. Grade distributions will be discussed as necessary with individual instructors and/or in Department meetings. This procedure is followed to help us ensure that we do not have grades submitted that fail to conform to guidelines.

Grade Entry Deadlines: Grades are due 7 business days following the date the examination was held, or 5 business days following, in the case of examinations written on the last 2 days of the examination period.

Unless granted prior approval by the Head, and with the exception of courses in statistics, the ‘essay format’ must constitute at least half of evaluation criteria in all Sociology courses, and especially all upper level courses. In ‘essay format’ we include the following: term papers, proposals, project reports, laboratory reports, book reviews, and exam answers requiring discursive prose.

(Soci 433 or 598) If you agree to offer a reading course (private tutorial) you must obtain a "Directed Study Form" from the Student Services Office. The student and instructor should complete the form and return it to the Head for approval. Registration in directed studies courses is blocked so that only students with approval may register. After approval, the student will be registered by the Student Services secretary.

(Soci 449) If you agree to supervise an Honours student you must obtain an "Honours Thesis Form" from the Student Services Office. The student and instructor should complete the form and return it to the Student Services secretary (who in turn will have it approved by the Sociology Undergraduate Studies Committee, or a representative of the committee). Registration in the Honours program is blocked so that only students with approval may register. After approval, the student will be registered by the Student Services secretary. Guidelines for the Honours program are detailed in “B.A. Sociology Honours Program” available from the Student Services secretary.

Please make full use of the formal examination periods, in December and in April as well as in both of the summer terms. All courses designed for first and second year students should hold exams unless the Dean or Head, for sound academic reasons, grant an exemption.

You must schedule exams in the formal examination period at the end of terms (check calendar for exact dates). Instructors may not hold any exams, formal or informal, during the two weeks preceding the formally scheduled exams of December and April. This is true too of the week prior to the formal exam periods in the summer (typically in June and August). (The recommendation does not apply to regular weekly or bi-weekly tests or to traditional and current practices in laboratories). For further information on Senate Policy on Examinations, please see: http://www.students.ubc.ca/calendar/index.cfm?tree=3,41,89,0

Invigilation of exams. Each exam room requires one head invigilator to be in charge of setup and problems – normally, the instructor of the course. You will invigilate your own exams and be available for the entire examination period. Further details can be found on the UBC Scheduling Services website: http://www.students.ubc.ca/classroomservices/course-and-exam-scheduling/exam-scheduling/winter-session-exam-invigilation/

The Department is required to maintain a complete file for all completed courses. These are necessary in the event of student appeals, as well as for maintaining general departmental records. Once a course is completed, please send the following materials to the Student Services secretary:  Course syllabus, Assignment sheets, Exams, Grading Criteria, Breakdown of grade for each student, Final Grade Sheets.

Under University regulations, student evaluations are required for every course (of any credit value). The only exception relates to courses with individual students (e.g., Soci 449; Soci 598). The Faculty of Arts uses an on-line standardized evaluation process. It is up to the Faculty member to retain all evaluations, for use by PAT committees or in rehiring (in the case of non-tenure track instructors, sessionals, etc.).

For purposes both of sessional review and for reappointment, promotion and tenure, senior colleagues in the Department will conduct a peer review of teaching which will include a review of course objectives, content, structure, and evaluation methods (through review of print materials) and class visits, arranged cooperatively by the reviewer(s) and reviewee. Non-Department reviewers will be included as part of the peer of review of teaching process. Colleagues should anticipate that an external reviewer will join colleagues from the Department in conducting class visits and commenting on course materials (e.g., syllabus, evaluation methods).

The Department is fortunate enough to have a Reference Librarian (Sheryl Adam, sgadam@mail.ubc.ca) who is available to assist faculty with the following:

• Current Awareness for your Desktop via RSS. Set up a (free) RSS reader and subscribe to feeds from your favourite journals (table of contents), databases (results of a particular search), newspapers, government announcements, blogs, whatever you need.
• Course Pages – via Canvas – for your course.
• Journal and book suggestions are always welcome. Your recommendations help the library allocate resources to where they will be used. Please let Sheryl know if there are any journals that the library should add to their list of possible subscriptions, and/or any books or other materials that would assist you and your students in their research.

• Faculty may request one additional course release through a course buyout. To request this course release, faculty should be ready to buy out their course with $15K. Money for buyouts can come from different places, including internally (for instance, UBC in return for serving on SAC) and salary awards.
• Releases already built in a faculty contract/offer letter will be honored.
• For more details on course releases, see the Department of Sociology Workload Policy.

The Department will pay guest speakers a stipend of up to $100. Please note that guest speakers typically do not require or request a stipend if public relations is part of their profession. Stipends are intended for special circumstances only. Approval is required from the Department Head prior to inviting a speaker in order to ensure the availability of funding. Procedure: Send request to Head with details and rationale. Then forward Head’s email approval together with the following to the Main Office Clerk: course name and date, and speaker’s name, address, phone number, and social insurance number.

As a normal part of their university responsibilities, faculty hold research grants to support their own research and the students whom they supervise.

The university offers support for funding your research.  Support Programs to Advance Research Capacity (SPARC) is a university office designed to assist with project and proposal development (https://sparc.ubc.ca/).

Requests for research grant funding must be approved by the Head. Normal practice is for multiple signatures to be required, at the Department level, the Dean’s level, and sometimes via the Office of Research Services. This process always requires adequate lead time so please factor this into your timeline given grant deadline dates.

The Faculty of Arts has a full-time Grants Facilitator (Pamela Forsberg) who can assist with the granting process at the University.  The Office of Research Services (ORS) can facilitate the managing of your funds here at UBC (ors.ubc.ca).

Research grants are processed through the Finance Department once the Director of Research Services has received confirmation from the granting body or responsible agency. The University must have its research grant records audited and the various organizations supporting University research have become increasingly scrupulous in ensuring that money, much of it public money, is spent wisely and appropriately.

When requesting funds to cover research expenses, please ensure that the paperwork is clear, that original receipts are present and organized, and that the Head has signed expense claims. Keeping our grant records straight is an enormous task for our support staff and it is expected that faculty will make their jobs as easy as possible.  It is the responsibility of faculty members to organize receipts prior to submitting these to the Main Office for processing. You should sort, order and provide an itemized total of all receipts should be sorted, ordered, itemized and totaled with a covering Reimbursement Claims-Summary Sheet form available in the Mail Room (an example is available at the Main Office).

UBC Finance automatically deducts funds from the Department for over-expenditures on grant accounts. Since the Department does not have funds to cover such costs, the grant-holder must pay the over-expenditure. Please keep track of your spending to avoid that situation.

Ethical considerations are the primary responsibility of the researcher. The Research Ethics office in the Office of Research Services reviews all research (faculty, course-related, graduate students). Please check out www.ors.ubc.ca/ethics

Main Office (Dan Harper): provides clerical and reception re general office functioning (e.g. supplies, photocopy accounts, Finance & Professional Development reimbursements, meeting room bookings).

Student Advisor (Mairead Roche): provides graduate and undergraduate support (e.g. maintenance of student programs, student appointments - research assistants and teaching assistants, etc).

Head’s Assistant (Kristin Sopotiuk): Assists the Head with general departmental administration, procedures, and events, and handles faculty appointments.

Administrator (Bryan Mathews): Oversees all financial and administrative functions in the department, provides course and classroom scheduling, and manages the physical functioning of the building.

Faculty are expected to do their own copying, faxing, and all other general office tasks. On occasions where there is an unforeseen urgent situation, please see the Administrator who will determine if staff are able to help with your work. Most computer-related enquiries can be efficiently responded to by staff at the Arts Helpdesk (arts.helpdesk@ubc.ca or 604-827-2787)

The ANSO building is opened Mondays through Fridays at 7:00 a.m. and locked at 6:00 p.m. Please be sure not to create opportunities for others to enter if you are in the building outside of these times. This means that doors should not be propped open nor windows left open in an unoccupied space.

The Head and the Administrator allocate offices and keys. See the Main Office staff to request a key for your office. The UBC Parking & Access will send you an email when your key is ready for pick up from their office. Your UBC card will provide access to the building on off hours.  Bring your UBC card to the Main Office to have it activated for building entry.

If you would like someone else to use space assigned to you, you must have prior approval. If you want someone else to have key access to a space for which you have been allocated a key, you must ask the Administrator to request a temporary key assignment.

If you require space for a project, please submit a request describing the time frame, the space required, and any other particulars that would help the Head assign the space effectively.

For occasional space needs (for meetings, etc.), contact the Main Office (soci.dept@ubc.ca).

Teaching related items can be mailed via the out-box in the mailroom.  Please assure the proper tab is clipped to the envelope indicating mailing within Canada or abroad.  This includes departmental correspondence, all matters relating to courses, references for students, etc. Please use your research grants for research related mailings.

Department meetings normally take place the second Tuesday of every month, 11:00-12:30 (save for September and January when it will be the third Tuesday. Special meeting dates may need to be arranged for Department meetings to consider hiring.  All Tenure/Tenure-track Faculty members are expected to attend Department meetings. The Administrator attends to provide information and the Head’s Assistant attends to take notes on any matters which result in a vote or on any ‘action’ items.

The quorum for any Department meeting will constitute 50% plus one of members eligible to vote at a Department meeting (taking into account people away on leave). In the case of voting, eligible voting members are defined as follows: all tenured and tenure-track faculty in the Department, 12 month lecturers, and two student members selected to represent graduate students and  undergraduates (the selection procedures to be determined by the GSCS and SSA respectively). Other members of the Department (e.g., staff, sessionals, affiliated faculty, visiting faculty, students) are welcome to attend regular Department meetings. In unusual circumstances the Executive Committee may call for a special Department meeting which only voting members attend. Voting will normally be done by a show of hands (except for hiring, see below, and other matters deemed by the Executive Committee to be of a controversial or sensitive nature). A secret ballot may be used in exceptional circumstances (as requested by any individual). An agenda will be distributed prior to meetings (or, in special cases, at the meeting), although the agenda may be amended at the beginning of any meeting. In cases where individual students, staff, or faculty are discussed, student representatives will not be present.

Good departments are built and maintained by recruiting strong scholars who are effective teachers and researchers. Hiring is also a competitive process where good scholars often have several alternatives. Recruiting needs to balance careful selection and timely process. In the hiring process we need to be transparent with information and intentions, provide sufficient opportunity for all members of the Department to engage with the selection process, and ensure that the process allows sufficient time for making informed decisions.

Decisions about hiring are initially made in consultation with the Dean of Arts.  After obtaining approval for hiring, the Department makes decisions about the job description at a spring Department meeting and we circulate advertisements widely in the summer.  Applications are due in September.  The bulk of hiring takes place in the fall, with job offers ideally made by late November.

A search committee is charged with the task of bringing to a Department meeting a recommended list of potential candidates to be interviewed for tenure track positions (all colleagues are encouraged to read all job application files, as is the graduate student member of the search committee who represents all graduate students). The search committee will distribute a long list of candidates to the Department with sufficient time for review.  The search committee may modify the long list based on feedback received from faculty.  At a Department meeting, the faculty will consider the short list recommendation of the Search Committee, should they propose one.  Voting members of the Department will vote on a short list of three to four candidates to be invited for campus interviews (with several other candidates possibly ranked as additions should someone on the short list decline an interview). Voting on the short list will normally be by show of hands. Voting eligibility is determined by the Collective Agreement and Senior Appointment Committee Guidelines.  In Department meetings considering hiring, any non-eligible members of faculty and the graduate students’ representative on the search committee may provide input although they cannot vote. Members may vote absentee by leaving written instructions with the Head. It is expected that colleagues would be professional and ensure they are well informed prior to instructing the Head on their voting preference(s).  The Office of the Dean of Arts must approve all short lists.

A typical interview for job candidates normally includes a public talk, a panel interview, a meeting with students, meetings with individual faculty, and a meeting with the Head of the Department.

Once candidates have been interviewed, a Department meeting for voting is called.  After a period of discussion of each candidate, decisions about job offers are made by secret ballot of those eligible to vote according to the Collective Agreement.  The Office of the Dean of Arts must approve any recommendation for hiring as made by the Head of the Department.

Confidentiality When issues of a sensitive and personal nature are considered (e.g., hiring decisions, Promotion and Tenure decisions (see below)), the deliberations and votes in the meeting must be held in strict confidence.

The procedures outlined here are in accord with those of the Collective Agreement on Conditions of Appointment for Faculty, which has priority should any dispute arise. This outline complies with Article 5 of the Agreement. Departmental decisions about promotion and tenure are made by a Department Standing Committee (DSC).  The membership of that committee varies based on the rank of the candidate being reviewed.  Details of eligible DSC membership can be found in the Collective Agreement, and the Senior Appointments Committee Guidelines.

Faculty eligible for re-appointment, promotion and/or tenure meet with the Head in the spring of the year prior to discuss the procedures and expectations.  Two faculty members (one appointed by the candidate and one by the Department) form a subcommittee responsible for writing an assessment that discusses scholarship, teaching and service of the candidate.  The DSC meets in the fall and spring to evaluate colleagues eligible for re-appointment, promotion and/or tenure. The University regards attendance at these meetings as obligatory. Eligible members votes on every case based on their reading of the candidate’s dossier. Abstentions count as negative votes. The dossier for re-appointment, promotion, and tenure will normally include an up-to-date UBC CV, teaching evaluations for the most recent five years (and for reappointment, all the most recent years), at least two peer evaluations of teaching, and a sample of scholarly contributions selected by the candidate. Voting is normally done by a show of hands, but when requested by members of the committee, will be done by secret ballot. Serious concerns that arise in a P.A.T. Committee meeting will be communicated to the candidate in writing and the candidate will have an opportunity to respond in writing. In cases of Joint Appointments, the procedures outlined here may be modified to conform with those laid out at the time of appointment.

The Department includes the following standing committees: Awards, Communications, Graduate Studies, Seminars, Undergraduate Studies, and Visiting Faculty.  The GSCS and the SSA also act as standing committees to the Department.  Committee chairs typically serve a three-year term.  Each spring Departmental committee memberships are appointed. Committee duties run from July 1 to June 30. Duties rotate so that someone may have very heavy committee responsibilities one year, and light ones another year. We try to distribute work fairly.

Committees have a great deal of autonomy although in the UBC system they are advisory to the Head. Committees bring Motions to Department Meetings if they wish to alter procedures, and otherwise submit regular reports to Department Meetings. All committees should ensure that they have an up-to-date mandate reflecting their objectives and responsibilities. This is especially important so new committee members understand expectations and so that outside reviewers have a clear sense of lines of responsibility within the Department.

Please inform the Main Office Secretary (soci.dept@ubc.ca) of any absences from campus that are greater than two days. Instructors are responsible for teaching and other responsibilities in their absence.

Faculty are responsible for keeping their web pages up to date. For help with WordPress (the current web editing program), faculty should contact the Arts Learning Centre at 2-0204 or arts.helpdesk@ubc.ca.  CVs must be up-dated annually and available on faculty webpages or emailed to the Department Head’s Assistant by the end of the Winter Session each year, for salary purposes. UBC CV Form is on the Faculty Relations website, under ‘forms’. It is not mandatory to use this form but it is important to follow this standard UBC CV format.

Faculty must submit a report of activities each year. These should outline work done between April 1 – March 31 under these categories:

1. Teaching - courses, credits, # students, Reading courses, Graduate student supervision, Honors student supervision, Graduate committees
2. Scholarship – For research stream faculty, articles, books published (incl. page #s) in press or forthcoming (confirmed), Grants received / continuing / applied for, Book reviews, Conference papers, Guest lectures elsewhere, Non-academic articles, Unpublished reports, Work in progress (detailed). For educational leadership stream faculty, innovation and enhancements to teaching and learning beyond the classroom (including securing funding), curriculum development and renewal, engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning, capacity building for excellence in education.
3. Service - Department and University, professional, community

Annual reports are the basis for merit / career progress assessments. Colleagues may include with their report a short statement of the nature and significance of their activities. Further information on the report is available from the Head. Merit recommendations are made to the Head by the Executive Committee of the Department.

Money is tight so please be certain to make appropriate use of opportunities such as the following. Please help to reduce administrative costs by submitting receipts for reimbursement in bulk, when possible.

• Professional Development Fund. Each year regular faculty members and continuing sessionals are eligible for money from the Professional Development Reimbursement Fund. Information and the form are available on the Faculty Relations website. Click on the ‘Compensation’ link at hr.ubc.ca/faculty_relations. Funds can be used to cover expenses such as travel, conference fees, professional memberships, etc.
• Books: Thanks to an endowment, the Department has the Burwell Book Fund which provides $300 to each tenure stream faculty member each year for the purchase of books related to their research and/or teaching activities. Receipts should be provided to Department staff for reimbursement. Please note that this fund should typically be used only AFTER your PDF Funds have been used up.
• Humanities and Social Science Travel Grant: A small amount of funding to cover the dissemination of research results is available from the HSS fund.(Seeors.ubc.ca/ for details.)
• SSHRC International Travel Fund: A small amount of funding to cover the dissemination of research results at international venues is also available.

The Department of Sociology works together with the Department of Anthropology and other departments housed in the ANSO building to maintain an active ANSO Building Safety Committee. This LHSC (Local Health and Safety Committee) meets monthly to:

• Assist in creating a safe and healthy workplace
• Assist with employee concerns relating to health and safety
• Promote compliance with applicable rules and regulations
• Participate in worksite inspections
• Participate in incident/accident investigations
• Accompany WorkSafeBC officers on inspections
• Make recommendations to the department head

This document is maintained to ensure the safety of the building occupants through any emergency situation and to provide a checklist of procedures for responding to, and reporting, an emergency. It is posted on bulletin boards in the Administrative hallway, and available on the Connect Workshop space “STAR”.

For your TAs, RAs (your employees)

Supervisors of new employees are required to provide safety orientation to their employees. This policy ensures UBC complies with WorkSafeBC. In brief here are the steps. Provide the link below to your employee. They will be asked to complete the online quiz and bring it to you as their supervisor, so they can complete the site specific safety orientation. Upon completion, print a copy for the employee’s records, as well as a copy for you as supervisor as documented proof of their orientation. Please forward this document to the Administrator so that it can be kept on file. https://www.hse2.ubc.ca/moodle/login/index.php

Mandatory Training for all Workers

New employees are required to complete the following mandatory courses, to meet WorkSafeBC and UBC requirements. At UBC, a worker includes, Senior Executives, Faculty, Staff, and Student workers. (rms.ubc.ca)

New Worker Safety Orientation
Workplace Bullying & Harassment Training
Workplace Hazardous Material Information Systems (WHMIS) Training
Workplace Violence Prevention
Accident Incident Reporting & Investigation

As well, there are staff who have training in ergonomics who can assist with setting up proper workstations. Please see the Administrator if you require assistance from an Ergonomics representative.

Sustainability is important to UBC and to our Department. Sociology encourages carbon offsetting for travel, has plenty of bike racks, and a shower room (for cyclist commuters).  There are recycling stations throughout the building and battery and toner recycling in the mail room. The Department currently has one Sustainability Coordinator (Kristin Sopotiuk) who is responsible for actively liaising with the Sustainability Office and the Department to keep up to speed and informed of current sustainability issues. ANSO Patio Gardens have been established through a Healthy Workplace Initiative grant and a Xerox grant from the Sustainability Office. As well, Guerilla gardens flourish around the building. Please help in sustaining these initiatives. Department members are encouraged to always consider the environment when making decisions in their office. (i.e., student papers should be requested double-sided, without a separate title page, etc.).