More emergency aid for students; updates on research and tenure

Update on research at McMaster

Research on campus continues to be restricted to only that which has been deemed essential — primarily COVID-19-related. In a letter to the McMaster research community, the acting vice-president, research, Karen Mossman, has shared details and encouragement about the benefits of McMaster’s new fundraising campaign, which she says, “will support a broad range of research that will aid society in dealing with pandemics in the immediate and longer term.”

Read the full letter on the VPR’s website.

Research funding

The federal government announced $1.1B in additional funding to support a research and medical strategy to fight COVID-19. The strategy is broken down between research into the development of vaccines and other treatments, clinical trials and testing and modelling of COVID-19 — all aspects which support work currently being conducted at McMaster.

McMaster’s COVID-19 Fund is also raising money to provide immediate funding to support discoveries and advances in McMaster’s COVID-19 research.

Tenure clock extension

In recognition of the extraordinary circumstances that we are currently facing with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, a motion to extend the academic tenure clock by one year for all probationary faculty members (Tenure track, Special, and Teaching track) will be going to Senate Executive next week and to the June Board of Governors meeting.

The motion was discussed with the McMaster University Faculty Association and has been approved by the Senate Committee on Appointments. Read the full, draft policy on the Secretariat’s website.

This extension is to recognize the effects these extraordinary pandemic circumstances are having on the ability for faculty members to execute their research and clinical scholarly activities, in addition to the need to adapt our teaching methods and course delivery while social distancing requirements are in place.

HR help during COVID-19

Human Resources has released a new, completely updated Supervisor’s Guide to help managers navigate the COVID-19 situation in this transformed work environment. The new Guide includes guidelines for work adjustments, updated scenarios for the range of issues emerging, and supports for supervisors.

HR has also released Guidelines for Conducting Virtual Interviews and Resources for Engaging Your Team during COVID-19

Student support

The federal government has announced $9B in funding programs to help support post-secondary students and new graduates impacted financially by COVID-19 — from compensation for summer jobs that have disappeared, to funding for volunteer work, to support for student researchers.

McMaster has established a COVID-19 Student Emergency Relief fund to provide immediate assistance to our students. The fund supports students in need, providing food and shelter for vulnerable students, repatriating Mac students studying abroad, helping students who are caring for dependents.