Call for WURA Nominations Coming

Dear Valued Member of WURA:

Interim Vice-President Jake Soderlund and I want to give you a “heads-up“ regarding a forthcoming Call for Nominations and Volunteers for WURA Executive and Committee positions for the coming year -- 2022.

Recent developments at Laurentian University, where a public insolvency was treated as a commercial bankruptcy, has made WURA more vigilant in monitoring retiree pensions and benefits. WURA’s Pensions and Benefits Committee has representatives on key University committees and continues to provide oversight on this situation. You may find the work of this Committee particularly interesting. Likewise there are WURA committees dealing with the allocation of six scholarships to qualified and needy students, securing university supports for members who wish to continue their research activities, maintaining our members’ internet access, as well as creating communication platforms and social programs for an environment where in-person contact is difficult or impossible. In short there is a lot of important work to do and WURA needs talented people to continue to do it.

We can honestly say that over the pandemic-blighted past year and a half, the Executive Committee and a number of function-specific committees have worked enthusiastically to keep WURA relevant to its members, a number of whom do not live in close proximity to the campus. From this experience we believe that we can continue to use technology to integrate physically distant members into our decision-making processes and are committed to extend the range from which our leadership historically has been recruited. For those of you not living close to Windsor, that you may not be able to attend meetings in-person should no longer be a barrier to considering putting your name forward for leadership positions.

There are significant challenges (as well as opportunities) in WURA’s future and we are hoping for a great response to the Call for Nominations and Volunteers from the Nominations Committee which you will be receiving in September. When that Call arrives, please give more active participation in WURA activities your full consideration.

 Roger and Jake