PHAS-Roles

Please edit and add more details to the entries below.

Service Roles on the Preference List

• Articulation:
  • works with colleges and universities to establish UBC transfer credit for courses taken elsewhere
• CAP Councillor:
  • liaison between UBC Physics and Astronomy and the Canadian Association of Physicists
• CAP Exam and International Physics Olympiad:
  • creates, distributes and grades the CAP Exam for high-school-physics students across Canada (January-April);
  • selects students, organizes International Physics Olympiad study camp at UBC (end of May),
  • works at International Physics Olympiad (July)
• Committee on Initial Appointments (December-March)
  • Develops recommendation for appointments in job searches in concert with Open Hiring Committee
  • Assesses and recommends appointments of Adjunct, Affiliate and Honorary Professors
• Comprehensive Exam:
  • polls department members for questions for the comprehensive exams
  • creates the comprehensive exams (April and August)
  • grades the comprehensive exams
• Curriculum
  • Coordinates and proposes changes to the PHAS curriculum in coordination with innovations committee, Faculty of Science and other departments
• Demonstration Room
  • Supervises the demo room
• External Review
  • Coordinates the PHAS external review in Spring 2025
• Faculty Award Nominations
  • Selects and develops nomination materials for faculty awards with the Associate Head for Faculty
• Graduate Admissions (December-January)
  • Reads and grades graduate student applications, typically over the Winter break (December)
  • Assesses the graduate student demand from supervisors in various fields (December-January)
  • Meets to develop a ranked list of applicants and recommend offers (January)
• Graduate Mentors
  • Each mentor is assigned a cohort of incoming (and current students if they want to participate) and meets with them as a group in the Fall and Spring: informal, takes them for coffee.
  • The mentor is also available for consultation as needed.
• Graduate Recruiting (February and March)
  • Organizes the graduate recruiting open house during the first or second week of March
• NSERC USRA Selection (January-February)
  • ranks NSERC USRA applicants
• Merit (May)
  • Read faculty activity reports and assign merit according to the principles outlined by the Faculty of Science
• Open Hiring (December-March)
• Outreach
• Physics Olympics (January-March)
  • plan, prepare and coordinate the physics olympics that take place at UBC on the first or second Saturday of March
• Service Assignments (June-July)
  • Gathers service preferences for the new academic year (June)
  • Recommends service assignment for the upcoming academic year (July)
• Teaching Assignments
  • Gathers teaching preferences for the new academic year (January-March)
  • Recommends teaching assignments for upcoming Winter and the following Summer Term (March-April)
• Teaching Innovations
  • Makes strategic decisions to improve our teaching effectiveness
  • Coordinates applications and departmental contributions for teaching grants
• Teaching Peer Review
  • Assesses teaching auditions of faculty job candidates (February-May)
• Workload Document
  • Develop a workload policy according to the principles outlined by the Faculty of Science