McMaster teaching stream faculty celebrate new path to tenure

A policy change that gives teaching stream faculty the same tenure status as their research stream colleagues was celebrated recently at McMaster, along with the people whose advocacy and persistence helped make it possible. 

“We don’t often mark policy changes with celebrations,” Maureen MacDonald, provost and vice-president (Academic) said to the crowd gathered on the sunny patio of The Buttery restaurant, outside Alumni Memorial Hall. “But maybe we should start.” 

The policy in question is the McMaster University Revised Policy And Regulations With Respect To Academic Appointment, Tenure And Promotion, more commonly known as the Tenure and Promotion Policy or the “Yellow Document,” a nickname that dates back to when it was printed on yellow paper.  

Institutional policies are not usually the stuff of celebrations. But for McMaster’s teaching stream faculty, the latest revisions represent an important step toward greater career equity. 

When the updated policy came into effect on July 1, more than 100 teaching stream faculty members became tenure-track or tenured.  

Previously, faculty in the teaching stream could achieve “permanent” status, while their colleagues in the research stream were eligible for tenure. That distinction created career inequities, including differences in job security and in the rights and privileges associated with tenure. 

The change recognizes that teaching is an academic career, one that requires expertise, scholarship, and a deep commitment to advancing student learning.  

“I don’t think that anyone who drafted the original policy anticipated how amazing the people who chose this career path would be,” Kim Dej, vice-provost, Teaching and Learning, told the teaching stream faculty gathered for the celebration.  

“While on paper you are predominantly educators, you are all outstanding scholars who move forward the interconnected research and teaching missions of McMaster University.”  

A long journey 

The revisions provided the newly tenured and tenure-track faculty members a clear reason to celebrate, but the policy changes that made it possible have a much longer history, one shaped by collegial governance, thoughtful dialogue and sustained advocacy. 

As Dej put it, “this has been a long journey.”   

Efforts to better recognize teaching stream faculty contributions in policy date back to 2014, when a set of recommendations was made, but revision efforts fizzled out.  

In 2022, conversations about teaching stream career equity were reignited through the joint committee between the McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) and the university administration. A Working Group was established to review the Yellow Document and recommend revisions.  

This time, detailed feedback from teaching stream faculty helped keep the process going. 

“When the Working Group gathered, we surveyed all of the teaching stream faculty and met with many of you in small focus groups. We had over 80% participation in the survey,” Dej said. 

The responses made clear that teaching stream faculty were committed to their work as educators and to improving working conditions and career opportunities for their colleagues. 

“These people are engaged,” Working Group member Emad Mohammad recalled thinking as he reviewed the survey results. “They care about what they do.” 

Tenure equality 

One of the most significant recommendations to emerge from the process was the move from “permanence” to “tenure.” More than a change in terminology, the revision means that teaching stream faculty are now eligible for the same rights and privileges associated with tenure as their research stream colleagues.  

Deputy Provost Matheus Grasselli, who worked closely with incoming MUFA President Michelle Dion to carry out line-by-line edits to the policy, described the change as a matter of “tenure equality.” 

Extending tenure to teaching stream faculty is a matter of principle, he said.  

“Tenure is a position of freedom based in academic expertise. Nowhere in that definition is that freedom is limited to research activities.” 

Looking ahead 

Not all of the Working Group’s recommendations are reflected in this summer’s revisions. “The work is not yet finished,” MacDonald told the gathering. 

Outgoing MUFA President Bhagwati Gupta emphasized the Association’s commitment to addressing outstanding recommendations in the upcoming academic year. At the same time, he described the current policy changes as one of the greatest accomplishments of his time with MUFA.  

“It was also the first time I had read the Yellow Document in such detail and so many times,” he added with a chuckle. 

With dozens of newly tenured and tenure-tracked faculty members from across campus in attendance, the impacts of the revisions — as a concrete acknowledgement of teaching stream contributions, accomplishments, and experiences — were clear. 

As MacDonald reminded the crowd, “significant moments deserve celebration.” 

“Even if they are about policy.”