Adjuncting for Life: The Gendered Experience of Adjunct Instructors in Ontario

The market-based imperatives driving economic growth in Western societies have, in ways, both been acknowledged and implicitly used to reorient public institutions - academia dramatically so. This article deals with upending of post-secondary academic hiring priorities, and the impact on the adjunct or sessional lecturers implicated in the change. Over half of the courses offered by academic departments and programs in Ontario, Canada, are now taught by part-time faculty members (Pasma & Shakes, 2018). Their use in post-secondary education is underpinned by a notion of just-in-time course delivery in a free market of untenured PhD holders. This study assessed 26 adjuncts in Ontario, Canada, equally divided between male and female. It found working conditions, development of research dossiers, and health and work-life balance to be characterized by gendered differences and hardships. Although the hardships of post-PhD adjunct work have been abundantly documented, this work brings to light components of the experience that have not been previously studied, most significantly, its health effects and gender nature. It concludes with policy recommendations to support adjuncts in Ontario and beyond, including mentorship, longer term contracts, institutional research funding, extended health benefits, and affordable childcare.

The Holiness and Other Stories

This dissertation is a collection of an introductory essay and ten original short stories written and submitted to fiction workshops in the PhD program at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers

Labour Market Policies in Denmark and Canada: Could Flexicurity be an Answer for Canadian Workers?

AbstractThe labour market in Canada is changing. Over the past decades there has been an increase in the number of precarious workers on short-term, part-time, contracts; jobs are created and lost, as employers deem necessary. As a result of these shifts in the organization of work, many workers are now forced to hold multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. This move away from long-term employment has created a situation where the majority of Canadian workers can no longer expect their employer to provide predictable support and security for them. At the same time, under the current Employment Insurance (EI) laws, they cannot expect support from the federal government either. How can workers gain some immediate protection through expanded social welfare programmes? With more and more workers, especially women, racialized workers and lower income people relegated to precarious employment, we must question current social policy. If, as it appears, EI does not work, we must strive to implement a viable alternative. Could an alternative system be modeled on the flexicurity system now in effect in Denmark? This paper draws on Nancy Fraser’s criteria for social justice for the globalized worker, to assess the ways that flexicurity could improve the security of the Canadian worker by offering alternatives to participation in the market nexus

Motherhood and Unemployment: Intersectional Experiences from Canada

Motherhood is central to women’s lived experiences. It affects women’s ability to integrate into the labour market, particularly the primary labour market, which has more secure and better-paying jobs. The Canadian government’s employment and childcare policies assume that women can actively choose when to enter the labour market. But women do not have free choice regarding either social reproduction or wage work. The insufficient federal childcare program (Little, 2004; Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010) along with work interruptions and job choices linked to childcare (Krahn, Lowe, & Huges, 2008) are barriers that push women toward precarious employment in the secondary labour market of low-paid, part-time, and temporary jobs. These policies leave few choices for women; only women in upper socioeconomic strata have adequate resources and choices related to their employment (Little, 2004). Employment challenges are compounded for women who have intersecting identities pertaining to factors like gender, motherhood, marital status, socioeconomic status, age, race, and immigrant status. This qualitative study uses an intersectional approach to explore the lived experiences of 26 unemployed women from diverse backgrounds in two Canadian cities and the challenges they face. The study found that neoliberal policies have resulted in a lack of  support for unemployed women with respect to Employment Insurance, health care, childcare, job training, and the labour market, leading to employment precarity and consequently inferior living conditions and jeopardized health, with a greater impact on mothers and women with specific intersecting identities. This paper proposes policy modifications to improve the situation of unemployed mothers.RésuméLa maternité joue un rôle important dans la vie de beaucoup de femmes. Elle peut avoir un impact important sur l’intégration du marché du travail , particulièrement le marché du travail principal, qui donne accès à des emplois mieux rémunérés et ayant une plus grande sécurité d’emploi. Les politiques de l’emploi et de la garde des enfants du gouvernement canadien présupposent que les femmes peuvent choisir quand elles intègrent le marché du travail. Cependant, le programme de garde des enfants fédéral inadéquat (Little, 2004; Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010), ainsi que les interruptions de travail, et les choix d’emploi reliés à la garde des enfants (Krahn, Lowe, & Huges, 2008), demeurent des obstacles qui poussent les femmes vers des emplois précaires offerts dans le secteur secondaire d’emploi : emplois temporaires, à temps partiel et à faible rémunération. Ces politiques donnent donc moins de choix pour beaucoup de femmes; seules les femmes appartenant à la strate socioéconomique élevée se trouvent avoir des ressources adéquates et des choix reliés à leur emploi (Little, 2004). Les enjeux reliés à l’emploi se trouvent être  exacerbés pour les femmes qui, de plus,  ont des identités multiples relatives au genre, à la maternité, à l’état civil, au statu socioéconomique, à l’âge, à la race, et au statu d’immigrante reçue. Cette étude qualitative utilise une approche intersectionelle pour explorer les expériences vécues de 26 femmes de diverses origines et sans emploi, dans deux villes canadiennes, afin de mettre en évidence les obstacles auxquels elles font face. Nous concluons que les politiques néolibérales ont eues comme résultat un manque de support pour les femmes sans emploi en ce qui a trait à l’assurance emploi, à la santé, à la garde des enfants, à la formation professionnelle, et au marché de travail. Ceci  a mené àla précarité d’emploi, et par conséquence,  à des conditions de vies inferieures et une santé compromis pour ces femmes. Le plus grand impact se trouve être pour les femmes ayant des identités multiples. Cet article suggère et défend des modifications aux politiques existantes afin d’améliorer la situation des mères sans emploi.Mots-clefs : maternité; travail; chômag

Alliance Building to Create Change: The Women's Movement and the 1982 CUPW Strike

Social movements are significant to change mainstream ideologies and values over what is seen to be critical for society. The women’s movement helped to change ideas about women and their roles in society . One significant change, for more universal maternity, only occurred through the alliance with CUPW. This paper will illustrate that the alliance between the women’s movement and CUPW was significant to change public opinion and help to gain paid maternity leave for the majority of working women in Canada. In sum, the power these two groups generated in alliance produced one of the most important social benefits we currently enjoy as Canadian citizens. As a result, alliances are powerful and should be used to further any movement to towards equality

Maximizing Opportunity, Minimizing Risk: Aligning Law, Policy and Practice to Strengthen Work-Integrated Learning in Ontario

A broad consensus is emerging in Ontario and at the federal level in favour of expanding postsecondary students’ access to experiential or “work-integrated learning” (WIL) opportunities. One of the challenges in implementing this vision is navigating the complex legal status of students as they leave campus and enter workplaces in a wide range of industries and roles. This study aims to support these efforts by mapping the current legal landscape for WIL to identify both risks and opportunities for students, post-secondary institutions (PSIs) and placement hosts alike (referred to collectively in this study as “WIL participants”). It makes recommendations to streamline, clarify and strengthen key legal frameworks and improve institutional practices in managing WIL programs and their legal implications. WIL includes “a variety of applied and work-based experiences through which students are able both to contextualize their learning and gain relevant work experience” (PhillipsKPA, 2014), including co-op, internships and applied research projects. This study focuses on the law with respect to off-campus placements completed as part of a university or college program, as distinct from broader questions about the regulation of internships or training positions in the labour market as a whole. The potential benefits of WIL are often framed in terms of human capital development. WIL is identified as a means of building workforce capabilities, as well as the skills and individual prospects of students as members of the labour force (Australian Collaborative Education Network [ACEN], 2015). However, not all those who have studied WIL are equally convinced of its benefits, at least as it is currently delivered. The human capital perspective stands in contrast with a more critical stream of analysis that associates WIL with the rise of precarious employment. A further concern is that WIL opportunities are distributed unequally among students in ways that reflect and reinforce larger labour market inequities. This report keeps both perspectives in mind and analyzes the legal frameworks surrounding WIL in Ontario to identify ways of ameliorating these concerns and promoting WIL programs that deliver real benefits. The study examines two primary research questions: (1) How are legal issues currently impacting WIL programs in Ontario? (2) What steps could be taken to help legal frameworks and processes align more closely with the goal of expanding the availability of quality WIL programs and opportunities? We addressed these questions through a combination of in-depth qualitative interviews with WIL experts in both legal and non-legal roles and a review of relevant provincial and federal legislation and regulations, as well as legal cases dating back to 1990. We also reviewed secondary literature on WIL in Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. As well, the report analyzes Canadian tax expenditures designed to support WIL to assess the size and scope of tax-delivered investments in these programs

A Comparison of the California Test of Mental Maturity and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children in Four Clinical Groups of School Children

The primary problem of this study was to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and the California Test of Mental Maturity S-F, 1962 Revision, in order to determine whether the two instruments were interchangeable with respect to intelligence quotients for a school-clinical population

A review of current methods for assessing hemostasis in vivo and introduction to a potential alternative approach

A validated method for assessing hemostasis in vivo is critical for testing the hemostatic efficacy of therapeutic agents in preclinical animal models and in patients with inherited bleeding disorders, such as von Willebrand disease (VWD) and hemophilia A, or with acquired bleeding disorders such as those resulting from medications or disease processes. In this review, we discuss current methods for assessing hemostasis in vivo and the associated challenges. We also present ARFI-Monitored Hemostatic Challenge; a new, potentially alternate method for in vivo hemostasis monitoring that is in development by our group

Delay Of Insulin Addition To Oral Combination Therapy Despite Inadequate Glycemic Control: Delay of Insulin Therapy

BACKGROUND: Patients and providers may be reluctant to escalate to insulin therapy despite inadequate glycemic control. OBJECTIVES: To determine the proportion of patients attaining and maintaining glycemic targets after initiating sulfonylurea and metformin oral combination therapy (SU/MET); to assess insulin initiation among patients failing SU/MET; and to estimate the glycemic burden incurred, stratified by whether HbA(1c) goal was attained and maintained. DESIGN: Longitudinal observational cohort study. SUBJECTS: Type 2 diabetes patients, 3,891, who newly initiated SU/MET between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2000. MEASUREMENTS: Subjects were followed until insulin was added, health plan disenrolment, or until 31 December 2005. We calculated the number of months subjects continued SU/MET therapy alone, in total, and during periods of inadequate glycemic control; the A1C reached during those time periods; and total glycemic burden, defined as the estimated cumulative monthly difference between measured A1C and 8%. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 54.6 ± 28.6 months, 41.9% of the subjects added insulin, and 11.8% received maximal doses of both oral agents. Over half of SU/MET patients attained but failed to maintain A1C of 8%, yet continued SU/MET therapy for an average of nearly 3 years, sustaining glycemic burden equivalent to nearly 32 months of A1C levels of 9%. Another 18% of patients never attained the 8% goal with SU/MET, yet continued that therapy for an average of 30 months, reaching mean A1C levels of 10%. CONCLUSIONS: Despite inadequate glycemic control, a minority of patients added insulin or maximized oral agent doses, thus, incurring substantial glycemic burden on SU/MET. Additional studies are needed to examine the benefits of rapid titration to maximum doses and earlier initiation of insulin therapy