History

After fifty years of leadership and engagement, CUFA BC now represents more than 5,500 faculty members, academic librarians, lecturers, instructors, and other academics at five research and doctoral universities in British Columbia, including University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, University of Northern British Columbia, and Royal Roads University.

Our origin story, however, is humble and built on the passion and collaboration of university faculty who wanted to improve the quality of education and funding at BC’s universities.

CUFA BC started in 1971 as a meeting between elected leaders of the faculty associations at BC’s four (at the time) universities: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, and Notre Dame University (no longer operating).

The leaders met to discuss matters of common interest as the Coordinating Committee of the BC Faculty Associations. The value of such coordination was recognized early on and the faculty associations decided to establish a more formal organization through which they would work together and present the expertise of university faculty to the provincial government and the public.

By March 1973, the first constitution and by-laws were adopted by the four faculty associations creating the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC. In April 1982, CUFA BC was formally incorporated as a non-profit society. CUFA BC began modestly. The organization was run by volunteer faculty association leaders until 1987 when an office was established at University of Victoria and the first permanent staff member was hired. Five years later, the CUFA BC office moved to Vancouver where it remains today.

Today, CUFA BC is a respected authority on post-secondary education issues in British Columbia. We continue to promote the value of high-quality post-secondary education; academic freedom; university governance; academic labour relations; and research and teaching to the provincial government and wider public. We produce timely research on a variety of subjects, including university governance, government policies, trends in funding and developments at research universities, and policy analyses. Learn more here: www.cufa.bc.ca/research-issues.

Current President Dr. Daniel Laitsch, Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University, is the 37^th President of CUFA BC. Annabree Fairweather is the fourth Executive Director.

Meet the current CUFA BC Executive at https://cufa.bc.ca/about/staff-board