The Presidential Commission on Employment Equity (PCEE) was established by the Senate of the University of Windsor in November 1988, in accordance with the President's Four-Point Positive Action Plan for Achieving Equity in Hiring Women Faculty.
PCEE's mandate and membership was amended in 1992 to include the other designated group members, Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities and persons with disabilities. The University has added a fift designated group member, sexual minorities to its mandate.
PCEE has been in effect for more than two decades. While accountable to the President of the University, the PCEE is currently chaired by Ms. Kaye Johnson, Director, Office of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility (OHREA), and other academic members that also include designated group members. For a list of the current PCEE members contact the Faculty Recruitment Coordinator. Questions concerning the PCEE or other equity related questions contact the Chair or the Faculty Recruitment Coordinator.
PCEE monitors all aspects of regular faculty and academic administrative appointments and reviews procedural irregularities.
Appointments and search committees must obtain PCEE approval for the position advertisement, the shortlisted candidates and the recommended candidates. All applicants for academic positions at the University of Windsor can be confident that their applications will be treated fairly and equitably by the University of Windsor.
It should be noted that PCEE meets every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. to review files. PCEE submits their comments and/or approval shortly after each weekly meeting.
PCEE requires that the Chair/Head submit for review the shortlisted candidates' Curricula Vitae (CVs), letters of application, letters of reference submitted by the referees and not the candidates, other related documents, and additoinally a pre-interview quantitative grid. The grid is required in order for PCEE to make an informed decision, and to understand how the Appointments Committee evaluated and ranked the shortlisted candidates. The Chair/Head must also comment on how the Appointments Committment applied Positive Obligation toward the designated group members.
Definition of Positive Obligation:
When a candidate is a member of an under-represented designated group, and is in the pool of candidates acceptable for recommendation, and is approximately equal to the other acceptable candidates, then the candidate from the under-represented designated group(s) shall be recommended. When determining approximately equal, consider each committee member’s scores for each candidate, rather than the total group average for each candidate., in order to decide the shortlisted candidates (usually three) to bring on-campus for an interview.
When PCEE identifies candidates that were close to the higher ranked candidate and are a member of the five designated groups (Aboriginal, visibile minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and sexual minorities), PCEE may recommend to the Appointments Committee to include them to the shortlist for consideration if they deem the candidate equal to the the higher ranked candidate.