Fonds F-203 - Academic Relations Office fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Academic Relations Office fonds

General material designation

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Title notes

Source of title proper: The title of the fonds is based on the name of the creating body.

Level of description

Fonds

Repository

Simon Fraser University Archives and Records Management Department

Reference code

CA SFU F-203

Edition area

Edition statement

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

1977 - 1995 (Creation)

Creator

Academic Relations Office

Physical description area

Physical description

1.63 m of textual records

Publisher's series area

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Archival description area

Name of creator

Academic Relations Office

Biographical history

The Academic Relations Office is the planning, policy advising and administration office for faculty, professional librarians and archivists, and academic administrators at SFU. The Office was established in 1988 with the appointment of Sharon Cochran as Director. Its main functions are to coordinate human-resources services for faculty personnel; advise faculty and provide administrative support to the appointment, renewal, tenure, promotion, and salary review processes; and liaise with the SFU Faculty Association. Prior to 1988, a number of these responsibilities had been carried out within the Office of the Vice-President, Academic (VPA) by Alison Watt in her position as the Assistant to the Vice-President (1978-1990).

Throughout its history, Academic Relations has always belonged the VPA's reporting portfolio. From its establishment in 1988 until the departure of its first Director in 1996, Academic Relations reported directly to the VPA. Subsequently, the Associate VPA, Judith Osborne, assumed direct responsibility for the unit from 1996 to 2001. A new Director, Sue Roppel, was appointed in 2001 following a reorganization of senior administrative portfolios at the university. This saw the incumbent Associate VPA (Osborne) move to the new post of Associate Vice-President, Policy, Equity and Legal, and the mandate of the Associate VPA redefined, shifting from academic employment relations to academic planning and budgeting.

Custodial history

A large number of the files contained in the fonds predate the formal establishment of the Academic Relations Office in 1988. In that year, the new unit assumed responsibility for a number of functions formerly handled by the Assistant to the Vice-Preisident, Academic (Alison Watt). Accordingly a substantial number of pre-1988 files originally created by Watt were inherited by the Academic Relations Office and form part of the fonds.

Scope and content

The fonds consists of records made or received or inherited by the Academic Relations Office in the course of its activities. Activities documented include negotiations and consultations with the SFU Faculty Association (SFUFA) relating to the collective framework agreement; development of faculty salary policy and allocation of faculty salary budgets; the activities of the Salary Equity Study Committee; administrative and record-keeping support for salary review, renewal, tenure, and promotion processes at the university. The fonds also includes a series of files inherited by the Office that were originally created by the Assistant to the VP Academic in her capacity as a university representative on the Executive Board of the SFU Childcare Society (ca. 1984-1987). Records consist predominantly of correspondence, meeting minutes and agenda, reports, and notes and working papers.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The records were transferred to the Archives in 1994 under Unscheduled Records Disposal (URD) 084-94. This transfer was part of a larger project the Archives undertook to appraise, schedule and dispose of records that had accumulated in the University Records Centre through the 1980s and early 1990s.

Arrangement

The material was arranged into series by the archivist. Based on grouping established by the creator. Files within series are arranged chronologically.

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Script of material

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Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Some files may contain personal or confidential information. Access to these files may be restricted as required by law. Files marked 'pending review' must be reviewed by an archivist prior to release, and as a result of the review access restrictions may apply. Please see the file lists and consult the archivist for more details.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

A file list is available.

Associated materials

Records from the period in which the Associate Vice-President, Academic (AVPA) was directly responsible for the Academic Relations Office (1996-2001) were incorporated by the creator into the AVPA's record-keeping system. See fonds F-201 (Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic), series 3-2-1, Associate Vice-President, Academic.

Related materials

Accruals

All accessions have been processed as of February 2006. Further accruals are expected.

General note

Financial assistance for the arrangement and description of the records and production of the finding aid was generously provided by Simon Fraser University's Office of the Vice-President, Academic and Provost (October 2005).