President’s Message

August 2023  

As we anticipate the upcoming academic year, I trust that everyone has been enjoying a summer filled with chances for leisure and reconnecting with others. As I take on the role of ASPA President for the 2023-2024 term, I want to extend my genuine gratitude to our outgoing President, LaVina Watts. Her outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to enhancing the ASPA reputation and elevating the standing of all members have been truly commendable. LaVina is consistently supporting me, whether it was addressing minor operational queries or tackling significant questions about the interpretation of articles in our collective bargaining agreement. Continue reading

Happy September and beginning of term!

I’m very excited for everyone’s return to campus! The hallways are once again filled with students, staff and faculty and it’s so nice to see.  Although the mask mandate is no longer in effect, masking is still highly recommended - especially while indoors. 

Welcome week is going to be quickly upon us and with that we are once again having the Joint Unions Pancake Breakfast. This annual event is something I am personally looking forward too!  It’s a wonderful opportunity to get together to see friends and colleagues (some in person for the first time in many months!).  This year it will be held September 8^th in the bowl from 7:30 am – 10:30 am. Continue reading

Hello everyone!  

I’m very excited to share that ASPA and CUPE 1975 have joined together and approached The Canadian Mental Health Association to develop a partnership to support and create awareness for our members who have been struggling with mental health challenges the last number of months. Continue reading

Hello everyone and happy holidays! Now that we find ourselves at the end of another term of mostly working remotely, I am sure many of you may agree that we are all hoping 2022 brings us closer to something a bit normal – even if that is a new normal. With the new vaccine mandates for campus, extension of the provincial masking policy to the end of January, and compliance requirements here on campus, it is looking as this will be another long and weary winter. And, as we have throughout all of this, we are doing this together – so you are not alone!  Continue reading

Summer greetings to all my fellow ASPA members! My name is LaVina Watts and at the May 2021 ASPA executive meeting I was selected to be president for 2021-22. I am so honoured to be able to serve you in the role of President. Being your Vice-President over the past 3 years, I made some meaningful connections with the University leadership and I hope to bring that experience and knowledge to the role of president and to serve you and your interests. I am also very happy to share that your current Vice-Presidents are Chris O’Grady and Erin Walling.  I am thrilled to be working with both of them and I know they will work hard for each of you.

I wish to thank Curt Larson for his leadership over the past 2 years, as well as his previous time as president. He made some incredible strides during his term of office and I hope to keep that momentum going. Continue reading

The ASPA AGM was held on Wednesday April 21, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom. Last year when I wrote my annual report to the membership the COVID-19 pandemic was still in the early stages and we certainly didn’t know what we know today and I think many of us, myself included, felt we would be back at work in the fall of 2020. Little did
we know that more than a year later most of us would continue to work remotely and many restrictions would still be in place. But we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, with vaccines being approved (4 so far) and an increasing number of vaccine
shots available in the province. I know this has challenged all of us as we have had to deal with stress, anxiety, depression, and grief when we lost loved ones to the pandemic and were not able to grieve together. I encourage everyone to seek out help when you need it and encourage everyone to reach out to friends and family to keep
those connections strong and support each other and when it is your turn to get the vaccine to sign up. Continue reading

January 2021

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope everyone was able to get some down time over the extended break we had this year as I know we all needed and deserved it after the year we just went through.

The U of S has announced that spring and summer classes will continue to be offered mainly online and that most of us will continue to work from home full or part time depending on our jobs. ASPA has not been given any further information on when the campus might be returning to more in person instruction and opening up offices again other than what was contained in President’s Stoicheffs’ message this month which indicated they will be making a decision on the fall term in May, 2021. Continue reading

We are over halfway through term 1 of the 2020-21 academic year and more than 8 months along dealing with the pandemic with most of us still working from home. As I am writing this the province is experiencing rising COVID-19 positive cases across the province with Saskatoon being particularly hard hit. The province also has announced mandatory mask wearing in all public indoor spaces for the city until at least November 28, something those of you that have been coming on campus have been doing since the beginning of September. I hope all of you are keeping well and taking the time to stay healthy both physically and mentally, as the stress and anxiety of the pandemic, working from home, social isolation, etc. can be overwhelming at times. Remember to make the effort to reach out to talk to people and access the many resources we have available to us through programs like the employee and family assistance program or just talking to a trusted co-worker or friend to get a different perspective on an issue that you may be dealing with. Continue reading

Written by Curtis Larson, September 2020

Fall officially arrives next week but I think many of us thought it arrived a couple of weeks ago when it hit -6C overnight. The warm weather has come and gone and the new academic term has begun. It will definitely be a different academic year with the hybrid approach to program delivery, but we are all back providing the support and coordination to make it happen. Continue reading

Happy New Year to all of you and I hope you were able to have some down time over the break and recharge as we head into another year!

In January our treasurer Garett Federko was successful in obtaining another position on campus but unfortunately it is an exempt position so he has had to step down from the executive. We will miss Garett’s expertise with our finances and his insight into all the items we discussed as an executive as he brought a valuable point of view to ASPA. I want to thank Garett for all of his work with us and wish him the best in his new position! Continue reading