Anne-Marie Allison, PhD
Contract Faculty
Department of Mathematics, Waterloo
Current service roles:
* Contract Faculty Rep. Mathematics Department-in-Council and Science Divisional Council
* WLUFA:
· Executive Committee (VP: Internal)
· Joint Liaison Committee (meets with University Administration)
* OCUFA ad hoc Committee on University Governance
A dedicated and passionate instructor for 15 years at Laurier, Anne-Marie has observed that faculty face many obstacles in their efforts to achieve excellence in their teaching, research, and service. These obstacles have been particularly daunting during the ongoing pandemic.
Collaborative and communicative in her working style, Anne-Marie holds herself and others to a high level of accountability and integrity. Principled, she is not afraid to ask questions in order to best serve her colleagues and students. She has been a Contract Faculty Representative for the Mathematics Department-in-Council and for the Science Divisional Council for most of her time at WLU. Her WLUFA service started in 2013 as a member of the Strategy Committee for Contract Faculty negotiations, and expanded to include the Communications Committee (2015–2017), the Negotiating Team for Contract Faculty (2016, 2019), the Joint Liaison Committee (2017–present), and the Executive Committee (2016–present). She was the sole Contract Faculty member on WLU’s Freedom of Expression Task Force in 2018. And she has been serving as the sole Contract Faculty member on OCUFA’s ad hoc Committee on University Governance for the past three years. She is also chair of WLUFA’s Governance Committee, served as a liaison to WLUFA’s Diversity and Equity Committee, and serves as a liaison to WLUFA’s Climate Action Committee.
Anne-Marie’s varied service has been informative work, enabling her to see the numerous ways that WLUFA can proactively and positively serve its diverse membership. Her WLUFA and OCUFA experiences have provided deeper insight into how decisions made by University Administration impact students, faculty, librarians, and staff. That work has also reinforced how vital it is for faculty and librarians to work together in the relentless climate of funding and governance challenges.
Anne-Marie seeks to preserve the integrity of academic programs and to improve the environment in which faculty and librarians conduct their duties and responsibilities, while holding central the importance of students and their learning conditions. She welcomes the opportunity to continue serving on the Executive Committee, tackling issues faced by all faculty and librarians.
Kimberly Ellis-Hale
Contract Faculty
Department of Sociology, Waterloo
I am seeking to continue my work on the Executive because I am committed to creating a stronger, more inclusive, and responsive union. I believe that now more than ever, WLUFA needs to support, protect, and represent its members and their concerns.
While workload, safe return to campus, and employment equity and security continue to be among the most pressing issues at present, I will continue to advocate for greater funding, increased faculty renewal, more responsive governance, protection of academic freedom, and fairness for contract faculty.
In term of the experience I bring to WLUFA:
• 23 years teaching at Laurier (in class and online)
• 8 years on the WLUFA Exec and as CF Liaison Officer
• 3 years representing WLUFA as its VP External (working with internal and external labour groups)
• 3 years advocating for all faculty at the provincial level in my role as Chair of the OCUFA Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee
• I year OCUFA Employment Equity Working Group
I look forward to continuing my work on your behalf.
Jim Gerlach
Contract Faculty
Department of Chemistry & BioChemisty, Waterloo
It is hard to believe that it has been over a year since the lockdown at Laurier due to COVID-19. During that time, I and others on the Executive have worked diligently to ensure the safety and well-being of our Members. We negotiated agreements with the university administration on protocols for remote instruction, not only to protect Members from COVID-19, but also to protect their academic freedoms. We also made sure that agreements offered protections to Contract Faculty, who are especially vulnerable at this time due to the precarious nature of their employment. As a WLUFA worker representative on the WLU Joint Health and Safety Committee, I pushed the administration to adopt more stringent masking standards and reviewed carefully all protocols relating to COVID-19. Now that vaccines are available, WLUFA must begin to plan for a return to in-person instruction. While we are all anxious for a return to “normalcy”, it cannot be at the expense of the safety of our Members or that of staff and students. If re-elected, I promise to represent all faculty in this second phase of COVID-19 at Laurier. And, as Treasurer, to work to ensure that your dues are being used in a fiscally responsible manner.
Now, a little bit about me. After joining Laurier in the fall of 2006, I became involved with WLUFA during bargaining for Contract Faculty in 2007-2008. Initially I was a member of the Strategy Committee and then, during the ensuing strike, worked in the strike office. I have served on the negotiating teams for the last four Contract Faculty collective agreements and was privileged to serve as the Chief Negotiator for the last two rounds of bargaining.
I was first elected to the WLUFA Executive Committee in 2011 and since then have served as association Treasurer. As Treasurer I have endeavoured to provide fiscal responsibility with full transparency to our Members. The demands on the financial resources of WLUFA have increased steadily and this represents an ongoing challenge to your Executive. If re-elected, I will work to ensure that WLUFA continues to provide its Members with the services they need.
I believe it is imperative that as a faculty association we form strong alliances with our colleagues in Ontario and across Canada. I am currently a member of the OCUFA Ad Hoc Committee on Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement. I have also served on the CAUT Executive as Chair of the Contract Academic Staff committee. We must continue to form partnerships to ensure our voices are heard. As a member of the Executive, I have emphasized the need to form bonds with other labour groups at the national, provincial and local levels. If re-elected, I will work to strengthen WLUFA’s ties with existing groups and to forge new alliances.
I remain firmly committed to improving working conditions for all faculty at Laurier. I believe this can only be accomplished by a united Laurier faculty, one that fights for the rights of both its continuing and contract Members. If re-elected, I will continue working to represent ALL Members of WLUFA and to ensure ALL voices are heard.
Cristina Gheorghiu
Contract Faculty
Department of Biology & Health Sciences, Waterloo
Through my training and professional experience as a veterinarian and committed academic lecturer, I have enthusiastically shared my knowledge and research experience with both Biology and Health Science students at Laurier for over a decade. Engaging with students in learning environments has been one of the most rewarding and valuable experiences of my career. I have discovered that teaching is one of my greatest passions and I deeply treasure the teaching opportunities that I have been given.
To better understand and serve my student’s needs, I have been actively interacting and collaborating with my fellow faculty members. Incidentally, I started becoming increasingly aware of certain issues that seem to interfere with our collective efforts to successfully perform our day-to-day tasks. Therefore, I decided to actively involve myself in community service in 2011 at both the departmental and faculty levels. This includes being a CAS/CTF representative for both Biology and Health Science (Department-In-Council) and the Divisional Council, Faculty of Science. In the process, I have been humbled to voice my peers’ CTF concerns and feedback in all of these working groups. I have learned that it is not always easy to find a middle ground.
Still, even though at times this has been challenging, it has indeed been and continues to be a deeply enlightening and enriching experience.
This past year especially I have tried as much as possible to involve myself in community activities. I am keen on working to accomplish the community’s shared goals. One such example includes becoming a member of The Joint Health and Safety Committee which I am very honored to be. As a member I contribute to all collaborative efforts made in order to continue nourishing a better and safer working environment in our institution. This is especially relevant with all the recent endeavors being made to return safely to in-person activities on our campuses.
I would be equally as motivated and honored to join WLUFA’s Executive Committee so that together we could strive towards improving working conditions at Laurier for every fellow faculty member.
Lisa Giguere
Full-time Faculty
Lazaridis School, Waterloo
I joined Laurier as a CAS instructor (Marketing) in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics in 2004. After teaching a number of courses as a CAS instructor, I transitioned into the role of a full time Lecturer in multiple Limited Term (LT) appointments. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching a wide variety of courses at the undergraduate (BBA) and graduate (MBA) level, and consistently achieved teaching excellence.
In addition to teaching, I enjoy writing cases, redesigning courses, and working on curriculum. In particular, I have embraced the most recent challenge of adapting my courses for the online format during Covid-19. I’m currently serving (2020-21) as the Marketing Area member on the Lazaridis Undergraduate Business Curriculum Committee, and am also a member of the Lazaridis Curriculum Committee.
During my 16+ years at Wilfrid Laurier University, I have been a member of both the Contract and Full-time Collective Agreements at various times. I think my experience as a member with both bargaining units would serve me well if elected to WLUFA. I’m running for the WLUFA executive as I think I can make a valid contribution. As a proud Laurier grad (MBA 1996), I’m also eager to give back – without my MBA, I would not be in my current position as a Marketing Lecturer.
I also have some prior board experience. In the past, I’ve served as a board member for the Canadian Mental Health Association (Waterloo Region/Wellington Dufferin) and KW Lightning Girls Basketball Association.
In my spare time, I enjoy travel (pre-pandemic), and competing with my dog in obedience and rally obedience. I also took up golf in spring 2020 when the pandemic began, and I’m looking forward to starting the season this spring.
Bruce Gillespie
Full-time Faculty
Digital Media & Journalism, Brantford
Bruce Gillespie is an associate professor in and coordinator of the Digital Media and Journalism program at the Brantford campus. In 2017, he was named a Laurier Teaching Fellow. He began working at Laurier as Contract Teaching Faculty in 2008 and obtained a tenure-track role in 2010. During that time, he has served as a member of the Senate Academic Planning Committee, the former Senate Committee on University Teaching and the Wilfrid Laurier University Press editorial board among others. He currently chairs the Brantford Foundations Review Committee, a group of students, staff and faculty working to include more BIPOC history, voices and perspectives in the campus’s common core courses. He has published four books, including News Writing and Reporting: An Introduction to Skills and Theory (Oxford University Press) and A Family by Any Other Name: Exploring Queer Relationships (TouchWood Editions).
Bruce Gillespie: Statement
I am interested in serving as a member of the WLUFA Executive Committee because I would like to learn more about how our faculty association works but also because I believe we have a shared responsibility in its governance and I am willing and able to play my part at this time. This is a crucial time for our members to have strong, independent representation as the university administration makes plans to resume normal operations over the next twelve months. It will be equally important to advocate for the administration to act on its stated commitments to hiring more Indigenous and Black faculty and making the university a more equitable and inclusive working environment.
Andrew Herman
Full-time Faculty
Department of Communication Studies, Waterloo
Andrew Herman received his B.A. in Government from Georgetown University and his PhD in Sociology from Boston College. American by birth and Canadian by choice, Dr. Herman taught at Boston College, Drake University, and College of the Holy Cross before joining the Communication Studies department at Laurier in 2004. H has written widely in the field of social theory, media and culture and his work has appeared in scholarly journals such as Cultural Studies, Critical Studies in Media Communication, South Atlantic Quarterly, and Anthropological Quarterly. Among his many publications is his book, The “Better Angels of Capitalism: Rhetoric, Narrative and Moral Identity Among Men of the American Upper Class (Westview, 1999) and his edited collections, Mapping the Beat: Popular Music and Contemporary Cultural Theory (Blackwell, 1997), The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory (Routledge, 2000). His most recent book is Theories of the Mobile Internet: Materialities and Imaginaries (Routledge, 2015). He also has considerable experience in labour-management relations, having worked with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (US), the United Auto Workers (US), and the International Association of
Machinist and Aerospace Workers (US-Canada). I have also served WLUFA directly in the following capacities: the Joint WLUFA/CTIE/Office of the VPA and Provost Committees on Online Learning, 2015 to the present; the WLUFA Bargaining Committee for the 2017-2020 Contract Negotiations; WLUFA representative to the Joint Liaison Committee for 2017-2019; and as a member of the WLUFA executive 2018-2019. I had to step down from my seat on the executive because I was on medical leave from September 2019 to January 2021.
Sapna Isotupa
Full-time Faculty
Lazaridis School, Waterloo
I have been a faculty member in the operations and decision sciences area of the Lazaridis School for over 15 years and am currently a full Professor. During that time I have served on many search committees, been a member of senate and senate committees on various different occasions. I am currently on my second term as Area Coordinator of the Operations and Decision Sciences Area. I have been a member of the WLUFA executive committee in the past.
All these service positions have given me insight into the issues surrounding hiring, working and creating policy at Laurier and the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion. The experiences I have had in these positions has re-affirmed my belief that good processes and transparency are the key to a collegial and healthy work place. I believe that I can use my background in operations and logistics to help create information dissemination channels and processes that are transparent, fair and equitable to all members of WLUFA thus making Laurier a great work place.
Chris Klassen
Contract Faculty
Department of Religion & Culture, Waterloo
I am a Contract Faculty member who teaches at both the Waterloo (Faculty of Arts) and Brantford (Faculty of Liberal Arts) campuses. I have been part of WLUFA for 18 years and am actively involved in service. I currently am a member of the WLUFA Exec and have the role of Brantford CTF Liaison. I also chair the WLUFA Diversity and Equity committee. I am on the Strategic Action Plan: EDI committee and was the CAS/CTF member on the Search Committee for the EDI Senior Advisor (2019) and the Search Committee for the VP: Teaching and Learning (2020). I am committed to working with peers on WLUFA Executive to carry out the Association’s mission of protecting and promoting the interests of faculty and librarians in their relationships with our employer. I also bring my specific commitment to upholding a focus on diversity and equity, both within our faculty association and across our larger university community. For me, this means addressing and combatting the continued microaggressions faced by racialized, disabled, LGBTQ+, and contract faculty, as well as working toward
implementation of the recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for increased hiring and retention of Indigenous faculty and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge.
Karen Lochead
Contract Teaching Faculty
Department of Political Science, Waterloo
Karen Lochead (BAH Queen’s, MA McMaster, PhD Simon Fraser University) – I’m a Political Scientist with a research specialization in Indigenous-state relations and Indigenous rights. I’m also an adoptive Mum of 3 (age 10, 12 and 15), an avid camper, and a recreational swimmer. As a long-time CTF (I began teaching in Laurier’s Department of Political Science in 2004) I have an intimate knowledge of the Collective Agreements as well as of Laurier’s administrative structure and institutional culture. I value fairness, equity, transparency and integrity. I welcome this opportunity to serve you and to advocate for your rights and interests.
Marcia Oliver
Full-time Faculty
Law & Society, Brantford
I am an Associate Professor in the Law & Society program at Laurier Brantford, where I teach courses on law, globalization and justice; law, gender and sexuality; and feminist socio-legal theories. Since joining Laurier, I have served on WLUFA’s Executive Committee for two years (2017-2018, 2020-2021), VP: Student Affairs Search Committee, Taskforce for Free Expression (2018), Sexual Violence Policy and Procedures Working Group (2015-2016), and on various program-related committees in Law & Society (PCC, PTAC, curriculum, LSSA faculty advisor) and Social Justice and Community Engagement (graduate coordinator, admissions). I am excited to join WLUFA’s Executive Committee for another year to contribute to existing conversations and efforts to advance equity on campus and better working conditions for full-time and contract faculty members.
Robin Slawson, Professor
Full-time Faculty
Department of Biology, Waterloo
During the past 18 years at Laurier, I have been in a full-time faculty position, maintaining an engaging teaching and research platform, summarized below. I have also had the opportunity to serve the university in a variety of ways including two terms as a Faculty Senator, which included participation on various Senate committees as well as serving as undergraduate and graduate officer at the department level over the years. Recently, I have served three terms on the WLUFA Executive committee (2017-2018; 2018-2019; 2020-2021) and, in this capacity; have had the opportunity to view the life of the university from yet another vantage point. I am willing to return and continue to learn and represent members in this capacity for another
term, should I get elected, as I feel it is important to have as much perspective as possible on behalf of our membership. Together, the collective knowledge and experience brought forward by the Executive team can best represent our highly valued members.
R. Slawson received her PhD in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Guelph in 1993 and M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo in 1989. Graduate research focused on heavy metal toxicity and metal resistance in environmental/aquatic microorganisms.
Prior to joining Laurier, she was a Research Associate Professor with the NSERC Chair in Water Treatment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Research focused on microbiological aspects of drinking water treatment. During this time, she also held a number of contract teaching appointments at UW.
Within the discipline of applied environmental microbiology, the current Laurier research laboratory focuses primarily on aspects of microbial water quality with specific attention to the environmental persistence of antibiotic resistant pathogens. Ongoing projects include constructed wetland treatment of wastewater including the role of microbial community structure in bioremediation potential, biofilm formation by selected waterborne pathogens and the relationship to antibiotic resistance, and bacterial-mycorrhizal interactions in wetland plant root systems. The Laurier Environmental Microbiology Laboratory also represents the Pathogen Resilience Platform for the Ontario Watershed Consortium.
Extensive undergraduate and graduate supervision has taken place over the past 27 years resulting in over 100 HQP. Courses taught include introductory undergraduate, senior undergraduate as well as graduate courses in microbiology and engineering.
Irene Tencinger
Full-time Librarian, Brantford
I have been a librarian on the Brantford campus since 2008. I am very interested in equity issues and this is demonstrated by my involvement with various equity committees. I have served as a WLUFA representative on the Bilateral University-Association Employment Equity Committee. I was also a member of the Employment Equity Advisory Team when it was reactivated in 2015/2016. When the committee was revived we focused on the terms of reference in the first year and then I served again on this team in 2016/2017. In the second year, the larger group was divided into five working groups and I volunteered for two of the working groups, People with Disabilities, and the Indigenous working groups. The working groups conducted a SWOT analysis with the goal of identifying priorities to create an equitable working environment. I am also very much interested in working to help create a more equitable work environment for contract teaching faculty.
Fang Wang
Full-time Faculty
Lazaridis School, Waterloo
I am a full professor at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, and an incumbent WLUFA executive.
I am a productive researcher and a dedicated educator. My ongoing research focuses on business/marketing strategy, firm long-term productivity, e-business, and big data analytics. I have published extensively in top business and engineering journals. My work has received several research awards, and is funded by multiple research funding agencies such as SSHRC and NSERC. I hold multiple patents on data analytic methods. I am committed to teaching and have been teaching business courses at the BBA, MBA, and PhD levels. I enjoy a great job satisfaction in helping and supporting students in their growth and success. Additionally, I have successful industry experience on innovation commercialization, entrepreneurship, and business consulting.
With a great experience working on the WLUFA executive committee since 2019, I seek to continue my service. In the past year, we have been going through the difficulty time of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have worked with the fellow WLUFA executives to provide our best support to members. The coming 2021-2022 academic year is of many uncertainties for the process of returning on campus. I hope to continue working with the fellow executives and contribute to the WLU community for a safe, healthy, and better working environment.