Hiring Sessional Instructor Appointments
Canadian Sessional Hiring Process
Recruiting and Hiring Process
Once the Department has determined that a Sessional appointment is required, the following process should be completed in order to recruit for and hire the successful applicant in PeopleSoft.
The circumstances under which a Term Certain (Sessional) appointment is appropriate are limited to the following:
- when the appointment is to replace a continuing staff member who is on leave or on another assignment of duties, or in an emergency
- when a person with the desired qualifications for an approved Continuing, Contingent Term, or Limited Term appointment is not available at the time the Term Certain appointment is made
- when the duties connected with the appointment are for a limited period and are expected to be no longer required thereafter
- when the appointment is for a pilot or developmental project
- when the appointment is needed to accommodate unexpected enrolment increases
- when the funds supporting the appointment are only temporarily available to the Faculty or department;
- in order to enable the offering of a course or group of courses in an area outside of the expertise of current continuing staff
- when it has not been determined that a course or group of courses will be offered on a regular annual basis
- in order to accommodate a staff member visiting from elsewhere
- in order to integrate members of the professional community into the academic program of a Faculty or department as part of a continuing affiliation
- such other circumstances as may be mutually agreed between the Parties (Board of Governors and The Faculty Association)
- to provide teaching experience for a registered graduate student (one course per semester for a maximum of two semesters in total)
The circumstances under which the appointment is appropriate shall be included in the letter of appointment for every Term Certain appointment. Term Certain appointments shall be for one or more periods of specified duties within a total duration of twelve (12) months or less. An individual staff member may hold more than one Term Certain appointment concurrently in different Faculties and where this occurs, separate contracts may be created for the duties in each Faculty. Where the duties of the Term Certain appointee are primarily related to teaching, the appointment shall ordinarily be made as a Sessional Instructor [CA 23.2/23.3/23.4].
Sessional Instructor opportunities should be posted on the department or equivalent website for a minimum of ten (10) work days [CA 23.5].
To request an opportunity is posted to the UCalgary Careers website, Submit a Job Opening Request (JOR) for a Sessional Instructor and attach the associated job posting.
Once the recruitment process is complete and you have selected a successful candidate, the Template-Based Hire (TBH) should be initiated. Once the template is complete it should be 'Saved for Later' and the Sessional Instructor Contract letter should be printed, modified as required and sent to the successful candidate.
Once the offer has been signed and returned, along with the Academic Staff Personal Information form, the hire should be completed by submitting the Template-Based Hire form for approvals and then processing the hire in Human Resources PeopleSoft.
How to Process/Hire a Sessional Academic using the Template-Based Hire:
Once the person and job record have been created in the Human Resources PeopleSoft system, the new Sessional Instructor should be sent their Employee ID (UCID) and a welcome email, including the employee's UCID number and a link to the New Sessional Instructor Checklist. This page outlines all those activities new staff should do to get prepared prior to their first day and then get started once they arrive.
It is imperative to ensure an efficient onboarding experience and that all access required to do their job is provisioned in as timely a manner as possible. An Onboarding Coordinator checklist outlines all of the activities that the department should complete and when they should be completed.
Non-Canadian Sessional Hiring Process
Non-Canadian sessional instructors cannot be hired through the TBH process. These hires are completed in collaboration with Labour Relations and must be approved by the Provost and Vice-President (Academic).
Frequently Asked Questions
A current Sessional staff member or an individual who has held a Sessional appointment within a specific department or equivalent (for non-departmentalized Faculties), earns the Right of First Refusal when the following conditions are met:
- Has held a sessional appointment within the past five academic years;
- Has taught a minimum of 7 HCEs at the University over their service period;
- Is qualified (per qualifications stated in sessional posting); and
- Has a good record of performance in their previous appointment(s).
When there are two or more qualified Sessional staff members who are candidates for a posting who have right of first refusal and have substantially equal assessments, the appointment shall be offered to the candidate with the most experience relevant to the course at the University.
To obtain a ROFR report, contact hracadem@ucalgary.ca.
For more information Right of First Refusal, see Article 23.12.
A job posting must be put on the department or equivalent website for a minimum of ten (10) work days, except when:
- The Sessional candidate meets all eligibility requirements for the right of first refusal, or
- In urgent situations where a posting waiver is required
A Posting Waiver is required for unplanned leaves of regular continuing academics, such as sick leave, or when unexpected enrollment necessitates additional courses. It may also be needed if there are fewer than 10 days before the teaching starts – in this case an Overload appointment should be considered prior to proceeding with a posting waiver.
To request a posting waiver, contact hracadem@ucalgary.ca as soon as possible.
Requests must include the following information:
- Name and rationale of individual no longer able to the teach course
- Course(s) Name / Number
- Most senior Sessional in the department or equivalent with Right of First Refusal
- Name and rationale of individual the Faculty wishes to appoint
- Additional relevant information of requirements/skills required to teach course
Students enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral program at the University of Calgary may be offered teaching opportunities as a Sessional staff member, for maximum two (2) half-course equivalents during their program. In such a case, the department is not required to post the position and may offer the course to the graduate student. The ROFR of previous Sessional staff members shall not be invoked for these courses.
When completing the sessional contract, select Reason Code (I) to provide teaching experience for a registered graduate student.
For more information, see Article 23.4.
A Sessional staff member shall be paid at a salary rate per half-course equivalent, outlined in Schedule B.
A Sessional staff member’s salary shall be the salary rate multiplied by the number of half-course equivalents which comprise the full extent of the Sessional staff member’s duties. The salary rates indicated are the minimum amounts only; higher salaries may be paid. A Sessional staff member shall not be paid less than they received for teaching the same course or courses offered by the same Department or faculty (in non-departmentalized faculties) in a previous year.
For more information on compensation and step increases, see Articles 1 and 2 in Schedule B.
Sessional staff members receive pay in lieu of benefits in the amount of 4% of salary and pay in lieu of vacation entitlement in the amount of 4% of salary, added to each salary payment.
Sick Time:
Where the total duration of an appointment is greater than six (6) consecutive months, and the extent of duties is six (6) half-course equivalents or more, the Governors shall provide paid sick time as outlined in Article 4 in Schedule B.
Maternity Leave:
Eligible Sessional staff members shall receive Sessional Maternity Leave Top Up Benefits for a period of up to 15 weeks or to the end of their Sessional appointment, whichever period is shorter.
To be eligible for Sessional Maternity Leave Top Up Benefits, the Sessional staff member must:
- meet the requirements for Maternity Leave under the Employment Standards Code (Alberta); and
- be employed under an appointment where the total duration is greater than six (6) consecutive months, and the extent of the duties is six (6) half-course equivalents or more.
For more information, see Article 23.14.
Pension (UAPP):
Sessional academic staff members are required to join the UAPP when:
- the Employee has contiguous terms of appointments (without any break between the appointments) which total at least two years; and
- the Employee has earned in respect of the Employee’s employment with the University of Calgary at least 35% of the YMPE in each of the two consecutive calendar years immediately prior to the date the Employee has met the condition in clause (1) above
For more information, see Article 9 in Schedule B.
Sessional Instructors are eligible for Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER) of $175 per half course equivalent of duties, to a maximum of $1,750 for each academic year (July 1 – June 30).
For more information, visit the Professional Expense Reimbursement website.
A Sessional Appointment may be cancelled in whole or in part prior to the commencement of the appointment term. The cancellation of an appointment offer made less than twenty (20) work days prior to the commencement of the appointment term shall be subject to a cancellation fee of $500 per half-course equivalent.
The cancellation fee shall only apply to that portion of the duties, which were scheduled to coincide with the commencement of the appointment term, and shall not apply to duties which were scheduled at a later date in the appointment term.
To cancel a sessional appointment which has already been hired, submit a termination request.
For more information, see Article 23.10 and Article 8 of Schedule B.