Message from TRUFA’s President-Elect

Dear TRUFA Members,

On April 24, 2019, in our Annual General Meeting, I accepted the nomination to become President of the Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association (TRUFA) and today I am working hard to take over this role in July 1st, 2019. I am very grateful for Tom Friedman’s mentorship.

This year, I was awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (S&A), in the Faculty of Arts. I was hired in a Tenure-Track tripartite position in S&A in 2015, after 10 years of working for TRU in several contract positions in this department as well as in the Philosophy, History and Politics (PHP) and in the Journalism, Communication and New Media (JCNM) departments. I have held sessional, continuing sessional, as well as bipartite Limited Term contracts; so I have intimate knowledge of all the faculty positions that TRU has to offer. Throughout this time, I continued to do research and involved my students in this work. My research and writing are very important to me (social and political theory, cosmopolitanism, and equity, diversity and inclusion training), and I will continue to do this work also as a faculty member of our TRU community.

I have served TRUFA as a member of our faculty association since 2010, when I was sessional faculty for Arts in a couple of departments and had feelings of disempowerment in a precarious job situation. I went to TRUFA looking for a venue that would give me voice and support, and I found this and a devoted group of friends and colleagues who work hard for all of us. I am grateful for the amazing team of faculty members who serve in all the various TRUFA positions and committees.

Back in 2010, I served as a member in the Non-Regular/Contract Faculty Committee and the Equity Committee. Eventually, I became co-chair of the Non-Regular/Contract Faculty Committee, April 2012 to 2014 and was co-chair of the Equity Committee since 2013 until this year, 2019. I have also served in the TRUFA Executive Board as the Non-Regular/Contract Faculty Representative, 2012 to 2014, the Research and Scholarship Representative, 2017-18 and Equity Committee Co-Chair, 2012 to 2019. I have served in the Salary and Working Conditions Committee as Non-Regular/Contract Faculty Representative, 2010 to 2014 and then as ArtsRepresentative 2014 to 2020. I became the Performance Review Coordinator for this committee in 2013 and have fulfilled this role until this year, 2019.

TRUFA work has always been an important part of my service to the TRU community. I think that TRUFA is more than a bargaining unit, it looks after our relationship with our employer and supports and promotes the interests of our members. As TRUFA President, my door will always be open for each one of you as members of our faculty association. I promise you I will do my best in serving in my new role and in promoting faculty interests in unity and solidarity.

Hope you have a wonderful academic year 2019-2020!

Mónica J. Sánchez-Flores