The hiring of new instructors is a scandal unto itself.
In April, Tykwinski knew he had to hire someone to replace a full-time instructor who was leaving. I didn’t know it, but Tykwinski also decided that he was replacing me. Tykwinski did nothing to solicit candidates.
- There were no job postings.
- There was no call for applications.
- There were no interviews.
Tykwinski literally handed critical teaching positions to former graduate students and sexual partners of research faculty. This is textbook patronage. Tykwinski failed to consider their interest in teaching and their teaching ability. The University of Alberta searches the globe for the best researchers, yet gives critical teaching positions to insiders because of who they know. This exemplifies how little UAlberta thinks of teaching!
The Collective Agreement and University policies gave existing instructors the right of first refusal when it comes to teaching assignments, and requires the University higher the best. These were completely ignored by Tykwinski.
Tykwinski replaced two full-time instructors with seven part-time instructors. All of the people hired were novices who had never taught large lecture sections before. No-one mentored them through teaching. They were left to fend for themselves, each teaching from 200 to 500 students.
My teaching evaluations were stellar. I was routinely averaging 4.8/5.0 on the numerical metrics.
The teaching evaluations of the seven novice instructors were significantly worse. Two were average and five were below average. Three were below the Tukey fence — they were so pathetic they were statistical outliers. For about 6000 students, their first-year experience was abysmal, thanks to Tykwinski. The quality of instruction was clearly not a consideration in hiring.
Every new instructor struggles. They need mentoring. They need support. These novice instructors received nothing. That said, the instructors need to have an interest in teaching. They need to put energy and effort into engaging the class. They need to share their passion for the subject with their students. All these things I did and taught others to do through the Center for Teaching and Learning, through the department, and privately.
Teaching isn’t a basic job. Teaching is the most critical position at schools and colleges, and equivalent to research at universities. The University of Alberta has forgotten this.
Scientists make discoveries.
Engineers solve problems.
Artists beautify the world.
Doctors keep us healthy.
Teachers enable them all.
Rationalizing(?) the hiring
Tykwinski knew in April that he needed to hire an instructor — another instructor was leaving. This gave Tykwinski ample time to post the job, select and interview candidates, and hire the best. This is institutional policy. Tykwinski failed at every stage: no job posting; no call for applications; no interviews. My suspicion is that Tykwinski, being new to the Department, wanted to ingratiate himself with the research faculty. He did so by hiring the former graduate students and sexual partners of research faculty. Textbook patronage. In doing so, he decimated the first-year program and irreparably harmed the learning of thousands of students.
Tykwinski was a new department Chair. He was an external hire, so didn’t know many/any of the research faculty. “Patronage” is the distribution of jobs and favors on a political basis — to those who are supporters. It is highly likely that Tykwinski was trying to win friends among the research faculty by hiring their students and sexual partners.
Another accurate assessment is that Tykwinski‘s hiring is “incestuous“, which several dictionaries define as ‘excessively close and within a limited group of people’. Tykwinski‘s hiring of graduate students and sexual partners of research faculty was incestuous.
Consequences
I submitted a complaint to Dew before the start of the academic term. In that complaint, I explicitly expressed concerns about first-year instruction and implored him to investigate so that student learning was not negatively impacted. Dew did nothing.
The actions by Tykwinski and Dew show that UAlberta cares little for first-year students. Sadly, this sentiment is echoed by some research faculty, who see 100-level courses as a waste of time and resources. The education literature repeatedly shows that first-year instruction sets the stage and tone for a learner’s entire degree program. Yes, most of the students taking first year courses will not major in that discipline. That makes it all the more important that they leave first-year understanding the importance of that discipline in society.
Critical teaching positions were given to people because they were the former graduate students and sexual partners of research faculty. Textbook patronage.