Candidates: FSA Elections 2020
In this year’s election FSA members have the opportunity to vote for a candidate to represent their interests on the FSA Board of Directors for the position of Vice President and for the remainder of two 2019-21 Directors-at-Large terms.
Voting is open Noon, April 24 until Noon, May 8, 2020.
Nominations Received
- Nominations were accepted from March 27th until April 15th
- We received one (1) nomination for one (1) President position
- We received two (2) nominations for one (1) Vice President position
- We received three (3) nominations for two (2) Director-at-Large positions
Meet the Candidates
- You can hear from the candidates at the All-Candidates Meeting which will take place as part of the FSA General Meeting on April 22nd.
- Please take the time to read over the candidate statements (below)
- Vote starting on April 24th until May 8th
- Electronic voting information will be sent directly to members on April 24th
- If you do not receive your voting instructions please let us know.
- Voting will be managed by a 3rd party (Simply Voting).
- To see the full election timeline for 2020 please click here.
We also encourage members to review our vision, mission, values, and key priorities when considering their selections. Questions can be directed to the Chief Returning Officer, William Oching through fsa@bcit.ca.
Candidate statements below are those of the individual candidates and do not represent official positions of the FSA.
Candidates: Vice President
Two (2) candidates for one (1) position.
Please take the time to read both statements in preparation for voting.
Shannon Kelly
I am very excited to be nominated for FSA Vice President. I am in my fourth term on the FSA Board of Directors and I am honoured to receive the nomination from our President, Colin Jones.
Prior to the arrival of COVID-19, we had a lot of important tasks ahead of us, and now with the arrival of this pandemic and how it is reshaping our work and our province, these tasks have become more pressing. We need strong, experienced FSA leadership and a well informed, involved membership whose ideas and needs are heard and integrated into our strategies going forward.
As members we need to see and understand the “big picture” of how the moving parts of our great organization can work together to influence our employer to gain better working conditions. And we need to see and understand how our organization is embedded within provincial structures and mandates which now, more than ever, directly affect us.
I came to BCIT in 2002, teaching in Part-Time Studies and Day School, and I have never considered working anywhere else. I immediately felt at home here, with valued colleagues, inspiring students, and exciting work to do. As an instructor and Program Head in the Communication Department, I have been involved in our collegial governance from the beginning, frequently calling on our managers to consult with departments on academic matters — a key and extraordinary right in our Collective Agreement.
On the FSA Board, I am the Policy Trustee, keeping me in touch with the policies and practices that directly affect our operations, and I am also the Board Liaison for the FSA’s three Member Caucuses: the FSA’s Caucus on Applied Research and Advanced Studies (CARAS), the FSA’s Equity Caucus, and the FSA’s Caucus on Part-Time Studies (COPTS). As a Program Head pushing for best practices for fair treatment of my peers who teach in PTS, I would like to see greater gains in working conditions for PTS faculty.
I hope you will agree that big picture thinking, which comes from talking to our members from all over BCIT, in your respective Schools, divisions, departments, programs, and employment categories, is key as we work collectively to tackle the many changes and pressures we are facing, especially now with the added impact of COVID-19.
In these unprecedented times, we the members, we the educators, we the subject matter experts, must take the lead in the conversations about how things change for BCIT going forward. Rather than being led passively, we need to set our own direction together and contend with the fact that we are embedded within larger sectors and mandates in BC which are now also rapidly shifting. A strong, focused, responsive, and operationally sound FSA will help us succeed together as we navigate these waters.
Ken Zeleschuk
I would like to ask for your support in the upcoming FSA Election April 24th-May 8th for the position of Vice President.
As a currently serving FSA board member, I have had the privilege of collaboratively working with an excellent caliber of quality directors and FSA staff to meet our strategic direction in serving members careers, rights and excellence in education.
My BCIT community involvement since graduating from the Civil & Structural Engineering program with applied industry experience includes serving on EDCO, OH& S, the Emergency Response Team (ERT), Employee Engagement Committee, Super-PD Committee, IEG, Research Committee and numerous departmental roles. Currently, I oversee and administer a stable and growing PTS Civil Engineering program for industry professionals
I would like to pursue:
- advancing employment benefits to our members through strong labor relations;
- monitoring post-secondary benefits and remuneration nationally (current, retired and PTS members);
- serving the membership through promoting communication feedback on member-driven initiatives;
My community and volunteer service background includes currently serving as a Council Director with ASTTBC (30+ year member); not-for profit charitable organizations, Canadian Blood Services, UGM Community Outreach – downtown east side, Scouts Canada and Leader Impact leadership development.
Having graduated with an MBA with studies in strategic leadership, management, coaching, human resources, change management and sustainability complements the personal aptitude that I will bring to the position.
Thanks for considering my nomination, I will continue to work hard to earn your approval.
Candidates: Directors-at-Large
Three (3) candidates for two (2) positions.
Please take the time to read all statements in preparation for voting.
Joe Boyd
I have been at BCIT since 2007, working in the Applied Research Liaison Office (ARLO) as Research Liaison. As Research Liaison, my role is one of helping to connect research-interested people internally within BCIT – faculty, researchers and students – and externally with industry and funding partners, facilitating the development of applied research projects, and reporting the results. It’s a fascinating role, everything from helping give out funding for projects on various BCIT committees (IRC, IDC, IMF) to representing BCIT and applied research at the BC Tech Summit and Small Business Information Expos.
I have been the Tech Rep for ARLO since I started, and was an FSA Director from 2008-2010. One of the initiatives I was involved with as Director was the FSA Summit on Research, which was essential in advancing research at BCIT. It ensured we filled our Canada Research Chairs, created the School Research Committees, and led to internal Institute Research Funding. I’ve also been the FSA representative on a number of management selection committees, and am an active member of CARAS and the Equity Caucus. I try not to miss any Diversity Circles events.
An avid cyclist, I connected with the BCIT Bicycling Committee when I first started at BCIT and am now chair of the committee, and a member of the BCIT Green Team Executive.
A lot of my work and volunteering at BCIT has involved learning about the Institute and being part of the BCIT community. There’s so much to learn about BCIT, and so many communities within the larger BCIT community. I believe the FSA plays an essential role representing and advocating for better working conditions for all FSA members in a way that builds a stronger BCIT community, and would like to be part of this as a Director. I believe my BCIT experience and desire to learn more would serve me well as a Director, and help me serve all members. I have an obvious interest in improving conditions for applied research, and a strong interest in equity-related issues, which are becoming increasingly important.
Improving working conditions for members has been a concern for some time, for all members, but the changes in learning forced on us by the novel Coronavirus have taken working conditions into a new realm. The FSA will play an essential role in ensuring teaching and learning at BCIT is the best it can be for FSA members and students.
Tom Lane
My name is Tom Lane and I am seeking your vote for the position of FSA Director-at-Large.
I have been an instructor at BCIT for over sixteen years. For the first five years, I worked solely as a PTS instructor on monthly contracts, part-time at first and then full time. I then taught as a regularized faculty in a cost recovery program, and for the last five years in a “normal” day school program: Computer Information Technology. I was “lead instructor” for the cost recovery program and am currently Program Head for my program. As a result of working under these varied conditions, I am acutely aware of the workload issues for both regular and PTS faculty, full and part-time instructors.
Beyond instruction in my program, I have acted as a Technology Support Liaison at the LTC – I collaborated with faculty in putting courses online. I worked with faculty in many programs, from Nursing to Food Safety to Business. I know that being an instructor is different in each field, and that the specifics are important. The faculty in each discipline are best equipped to make decisions about the policies and implementations in their area.
I am active in collegial governance at BCIT as a member of the SoCAS School Quality Committee, vetting curriculum proposals and changes. As a member of the Educational Technology and Learning Design Committee I am working to bring an instructor perspective to the educational technology decisions that BCIT makes on our behalf. Through this participation I have come to appreciate the realities of balancing instructional work with committee membership and the workload implications that institutional decisions imply.
I have been a FSA Tech Rep for three years and appreciate the role of the FSA, and the various ways that each of us as members can contribute. Based on this understanding I think that I have a lot to offer you and the FSA at the current time.
I think that my role as Director-at-Large would primarily be representing members and acting as a conduit for their concerns and proposals. Acting as a proxy and ultimately accountable to the membership.
With that in mind I can offer concrete proposals. Examples include:
Having having taught in a flipped curriculum program (Computer Information Technology) where a portion of content is delivered asynchronously over the web, and collaborating with varied programs in putting their curriculum online, I can help the FSA navigate the current challenges of online delivery.
Practically in the current situation I would propose that the institute issue T2200 Forms to allow faculty to deduct expenses for home work spaces.
I have been following the development and implementation of the new Education Plan and would work to make sure that its implementation doesn’t open up the possibility of greater number of faculty working under PTS-type conditions by advocating that new multi-disciplinary programs be delivered under regular conditions.
Together we can come up with solutions to all the upcoming challenges. Thanks for your consideration.
Judy Shandler
It is a great honour to be asked to put my name forward to sit on the FSA Board in the capacity of a Director-at-Large. I actually feel that I’ve spent most of my life at BCIT as I’ve moved from teaching, to supporting, to the Board of Governors.
I have worked at BCIT since 1988 where I taught AutoCAD for over 20 years. As an instructor teaching both part-time and full-time courses I have become acutely aware of the opportunities, challenges, stressors, and the jubilation that comes with teaching students at such an incredible institution as BCIT.
I started working in IT Services in 2000, supporting the service desk and the multitude of calls and incidents that they deal with on a daily basis. They are truly the heroes in supporting the technology needs for the institution. I quickly moved into my current role as a Business Analyst, which allows me to work with the business side of BCIT. Getting a deeper understanding of the mechanics of this institution and what makes it run.
For the past 4-1/2 years I have worked 50% as the FSA Performance Development System (PDS) Coordinator, supporting Faculty, Specialized Faculty and Tech Staff in rewriting the student surveys, peer reviews, manager reviews, as well as modifying review methods for Specialized Faculty and Tech Staff.
BCIT has been my home for over 30 years, which is why I stepped into the role of Governor on the BCIT Board of Governors in 2018. It has given me even greater insight into the workings, the challenges and the success that BCIT is faced with daily.
As an FSA Tech Rep for IT Services it has given me great joy to support the members within my Department as well as all those members who I’ve worked with in supporting their PDS needs.
As a Director I will listen, learn and be a strong advocate and voice to ensure we are addressing members concerns and the future needs of our union. I am excited to be nominated for the role of Director-at-Large on the FSA Board and look forward to supporting the FSA membership on a larger scale.
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