Your appointment as a tenure-stream faculty member at UBC will be either be in the Research Stream (Acting Assistant Professors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors) or Educational Leadership Stream (Acting Assistant Professor of Teaching, Assistant Professors of Teaching, Associate Professors of Teaching and Professors of Teaching) and generally entails responsibilities which fall under three areas:
Teaching (Both Streams)
Teaching is expected to encompass a broad range of activities consistent with the academic unit’s norm for rank. Teaching loads are set by the academic unit Head/Director in consultation with the faculty members of the academic unit.
In cases where faculty members hold joint appointments — that is, an appointment split between two academic units — teaching loads usually reflect the breakdown of the appointment.
Scholarly Activity (Research Stream)
The direction of scholarly activity is generally determined by the individual faculty member, consistent with the disciplinary nature of the academic unit and the criteria for promotion and tenure. Scholarly activity can include a wide range of activities, reflecting the applied professional nature of our faculty.
Apart from more traditional research, scholarly activity may include contributions to architectural or engineering design, educational scholarship, and scholarship of a professional nature. Diverse substantive contributions to knowledge and methods of dissemination, as recognized within the field of inquiry, are valued.
Overall, scholarly activity in the Faculty is given high priority. We have excellent facilities for both individual and collaborative work.
Educational Leadership (Educational Leadership Stream)
Evidence of educational leadership is required in the education leadership stream and can include, but is not limited to:
- Leadership taken at UBC and elsewhere to advance innovation and excellence in teaching
- Contributions to curriculum development and renewal (curriculum design/re-design) within the academic unit/Faculty
- Pedagogical innovation
- Scholarly teaching with impact within and outside the unit
- Applications of and contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning
- Innovative use of learning technology
- Leadership and contribution to teaching and learning initiatives and programs
- Advancement of interdisciplinary/interprofessional collaboration
- Leadership through mentoring
- Obtaining funding for educational improvement/advising
- Other activities that support evidence-based educational excellence, leadership and impact within and beyond the University.
Although direct evidence of educational leadership is not required in the research stream, educational leadership activities can be used in this stream as supporting evidence for teaching and service contributions.
Service
In addition to teaching and research, all faculty members are involved in various forms of university and professional service. Service responsibilities may include activity such as committee work and participation in initiatives at the academic unit, Faculty, University or professional levels, although Faculty-level and University-level service is not usually expected of new faculty members.
During the first year or two of a faculty appointment in the research stream, at the discretion of the Head or Director, teaching and service loads may be relatively light in order to allow you to establish your research program and develop your initial courses.
In order to help you carry out these varied activities, the Faculty is pleased to offer a variety of support services. Within your academic unit, you will likely have access to administrative and secretarial services, IT services, and, within engineering, technical support in our teaching and research laboratories.