Dear colleagues,
I am delighted to announce that Ralph Young, CEO of Melcor Developments, has been elected as the University's 20th chancellor by the Senate today. He will be officially installed by Lt. Governor Ethell during the 3 p.m. June 13 convocation ceremony. As many of you know, Mr. Young is an alumnus and is already one of our greatest champions, so it is wonderful that he will be able to enhance his work connecting the university to the community in this new role as chancellor.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as chancellor these past four years. I know that Mr. Young will be an outstanding ambassador for the University of Alberta, and I hope he enjoys it as much as I have.
Details about Mr. Young are in the story online now.
Sincerely,
Linda Hughes
Chancellor
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
New TED-Ed site assists classroom use of video
Here's an item from The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog that might be of interest to instructors who use or want to use video in their classrooms. New TED-Ed Site Turns YouTube Videos Into ‘Flipped’ Lessons reports that the nonprofit TED organization unveiled a new website today, TED-Ed, to help professors use videos as a truly interactive feature in the classroom.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Advisory Review Committee for Provost/VP Academic invites feedback
As previously noted, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Carl Amrhein has advised me that he would like to stand for a third term of office. In consultation with the Chair of the Board of Governors, I have established an Advisory Review Committee for Provost and Vice-President (Academic).
UAPPOL provides members of the university community the opportunity to contribute to the process. Individuals are welcome to express their views on the priorities of Provost and Vice-President (Academic), including current issues, leadership, and the future direction of the Office of Provost and Vice-President (Academic).
In order to facilitate the committee's work, I encourage you to send your comments and/or suggestions, in confidence, by 4:30 pm, Friday, May 4, 2012 to:
President Indira Samarasekera
c/o Jackie Wright, Secretary to the Advisory Review Committee
3-1 University Hall
email: jackie.wright(at)ualberta.ca
All submissions shall be in writing and must include a written or email signature. Non-tenured faculty, staff, and students may request that their submission be passed to the committee anonymously. Responsibility for the administration of the review process is housed in the Office of the President. Membership of the Advisory Review Committee is posted online.
Indira Samarasekera, OC
President and Vice-chancellor
UAPPOL provides members of the university community the opportunity to contribute to the process. Individuals are welcome to express their views on the priorities of Provost and Vice-President (Academic), including current issues, leadership, and the future direction of the Office of Provost and Vice-President (Academic).
In order to facilitate the committee's work, I encourage you to send your comments and/or suggestions, in confidence, by 4:30 pm, Friday, May 4, 2012 to:
President Indira Samarasekera
c/o Jackie Wright, Secretary to the Advisory Review Committee
3-1 University Hall
email: jackie.wright(at)ualberta.ca
All submissions shall be in writing and must include a written or email signature. Non-tenured faculty, staff, and students may request that their submission be passed to the committee anonymously. Responsibility for the administration of the review process is housed in the Office of the President. Membership of the Advisory Review Committee is posted online.
Indira Samarasekera, OC
President and Vice-chancellor
Friday, April 13, 2012
Update on the reimagine, rethink, reinvigorate initiative
The initial response to our initiative to reinvigorate, rethink, and reimagine the University of Alberta has been great. There have been nearly 220 suggestions in a little more than two weeks since the project was launched, with a flurry of almost 100 of those coming in the first 24 hours. Clearly there was some pent up desire to share ideas on how we can do things differently and make the most of our resources.
Those who have made suggestions so far fall in every category:
58 support staff
51 undergrads
44 faculty
26 administrators
25 grad students
10 other (mostly identifying as APOs)
There have been many outstanding and thoughtful ideas. I am inspired by the many heartfelt comments found in the suggestions and the passion that so many of you have expressed for your university.
At this point there are some clusters or themes that are emerging. In no particular order, the areas that have garnered the most suggestions are:
The website will be open to suggestions through the end of this month, so please do share your ideas if you have them. We will share suggestions with the community in a way that protects the identity of those who submitted them since they did so with the expectation of privacy. Some steps will be taken immediately and other options will be longer-range; we expect to have a report and some go-forward plans by this fall.
So to those of you who have submitted ideas, thank you. On behalf of the umbrella committee and the working committees, I appreciate your creativity, candour, and passion. Keep those good ideas coming.
Sincerely,
Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
Those who have made suggestions so far fall in every category:
58 support staff
51 undergrads
44 faculty
26 administrators
25 grad students
10 other (mostly identifying as APOs)
There have been many outstanding and thoughtful ideas. I am inspired by the many heartfelt comments found in the suggestions and the passion that so many of you have expressed for your university.
At this point there are some clusters or themes that are emerging. In no particular order, the areas that have garnered the most suggestions are:
- technology to reduce paper (e.g. electronic time sheets, committee materials, syllabi)
- flex-time options for staff
- pay freezes and pay cuts, mostly for senior administrators, but some suggestions for scaled cuts based on salary, and pay caps for full professors since mandatory retirement is gone
- teaching-track or teaching-focused options for professors
- online teaching elements, including online courses and online lectures with professors focused on small group or discovery learning
- shared and/or centralized staffs, e.g. similar departments sharing a finance/HR person
- optimization of existing technology (broader use of PeopleSoft modules, better training on PeopleSoft, better integration of PeopleSoft with BearTracks, fewer telephone landlines, more/better staff training for Office suite, streamlined financial processes
- technology solution for program tracking for students to see what they’ve completed and what they still need
- FEC process: does it need to be annual? Is it required for a single increment (versus 0, .5, 1.5 or 2.0)? Or is there a better way?
- RSO process streamlining, especially setting up research accounts
- switch from defined benefit to defined contribution plan
- provide opt-out options on health benefits, especially when spouses both work here
The website will be open to suggestions through the end of this month, so please do share your ideas if you have them. We will share suggestions with the community in a way that protects the identity of those who submitted them since they did so with the expectation of privacy. Some steps will be taken immediately and other options will be longer-range; we expect to have a report and some go-forward plans by this fall.
So to those of you who have submitted ideas, thank you. On behalf of the umbrella committee and the working committees, I appreciate your creativity, candour, and passion. Keep those good ideas coming.
Sincerely,
Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
Colleague advice: How to write an anonymous peer review
Our colleague, Kevin D. Haggerty, professor of criminology and sociology and editor of the Canadian Journal of Sociology, has an advice column online this week in the Chronicle of Higher Ed: How to Write an Anonymous Peer Review.
He begins: "Writing anonymous peer reviews is an academic 'black art.' Such assessments are vital to scholarly publishing but we receive no formal training in how to write one..."
He begins: "Writing anonymous peer reviews is an academic 'black art.' Such assessments are vital to scholarly publishing but we receive no formal training in how to write one..."
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Research on boys' literacy
The following post is from Faculty of Education professor Heather Blair in relation to comments elsewhere in Colloquy asking about affirmative action in admissions for boys or enrichment programs for boys in reading and writing. Her research pertains to literacy in boys.
I did a 6-year study with a group of early adolescent boys in Alberta and have lots to say on this topic. During the past 10 years there has been some concern over how boys present their literacy practices and how that is or is not reflected in current standardized tests. Their scores may be lower than the girls' in this area, but that is not to say that they are not developing as readers and writers. It may just be different from the girls.
As teachers and parents we know that generally boys are drawn to non-fictional texts and some kinds of fiction, such as science fiction and fantasy over others. They also prefer to write in these genres. In my view boys are literate in multiple ways--particularly so in the 21st-century/ digital/ new media environments--and these will serve them well in the long run. Still, the question remains: Do the provincial tests assess these literacies or should other assessment tools be used that will get at the boys' strengths?
I think there is a place for focusing on different needs for boys and girls in classrooms, but I do NOT believe that the problem lies with the boys. It's not like there is something wrong with boys that we have to fix. By having programs such as enrichment programs for boys in reading sends boys the wrong message. We need instead to focus on their strengths and think about what new literacies they have and how to have them connect their understandings of these literacy processes.
In our language and literacy education teacher preparation at the U of A we discuss topics such as these. In my "Teaching reading in the elementary school" course for example, the class works with one child to look at the child's reading practices--including his/her digital reading practices. We then think about what we've observed and what that means for the boys and the girls. We talk about the boys developing literacies and how to assess their growth.
Literacy is a very gendered phenomena, and we as teachers and parents need to recognize this and think about how we provide a well rounded literacy experience for all of our youth.
If you are interested in reading more about my research on the topic, I suggest the following pieces:
Heather Blair, PhD
Professor, Elementary Education
Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
I did a 6-year study with a group of early adolescent boys in Alberta and have lots to say on this topic. During the past 10 years there has been some concern over how boys present their literacy practices and how that is or is not reflected in current standardized tests. Their scores may be lower than the girls' in this area, but that is not to say that they are not developing as readers and writers. It may just be different from the girls.
As teachers and parents we know that generally boys are drawn to non-fictional texts and some kinds of fiction, such as science fiction and fantasy over others. They also prefer to write in these genres. In my view boys are literate in multiple ways--particularly so in the 21st-century/ digital/ new media environments--and these will serve them well in the long run. Still, the question remains: Do the provincial tests assess these literacies or should other assessment tools be used that will get at the boys' strengths?
I think there is a place for focusing on different needs for boys and girls in classrooms, but I do NOT believe that the problem lies with the boys. It's not like there is something wrong with boys that we have to fix. By having programs such as enrichment programs for boys in reading sends boys the wrong message. We need instead to focus on their strengths and think about what new literacies they have and how to have them connect their understandings of these literacy processes.
In our language and literacy education teacher preparation at the U of A we discuss topics such as these. In my "Teaching reading in the elementary school" course for example, the class works with one child to look at the child's reading practices--including his/her digital reading practices. We then think about what we've observed and what that means for the boys and the girls. We talk about the boys developing literacies and how to assess their growth.
Literacy is a very gendered phenomena, and we as teachers and parents need to recognize this and think about how we provide a well rounded literacy experience for all of our youth.
If you are interested in reading more about my research on the topic, I suggest the following pieces:
- Blair, H., & Sanford, K. (2008). Game Boys? Where is the literacy? In K. Sanford & R. Hammett (Eds.), Boys, girls, and the myths of literacies and learning. Toronto, ON: Scholars Choice Press.
- Blair, H. (2007). I used to treat all the boys and girls the same: Gender and literacy in adolescent literacy. In B. Guzzetti (Ed.), Adolescent Literacy (pp. 189‑204). Westport, CT: Praeger Press.
- Sanford, K., Blair, H., & Chodzinski, R. (2007). A conversation about boys and literacy. Teaching and Learning, 4(1), 4-14.
- Blair, H., & Sanford, K. (2004). Morphing literacy: Boys reshaping their school-based literacy practices. Language Arts, 81(6), 452-460.
- Blair, H. (2000). Genderlects: Girl talk in a middle years language arts classroom. Language Arts, 77(2), 315-323
- Blair, H., & Sanford, K. (1999). TV and zines: Media and the construction of gender for early adolescents. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 45(1), 103-105.
- Blair, H. (1998). They left their genderprints: The voice of girls in text. Language Arts, 75(1), 11-18.
Heather Blair, PhD
Professor, Elementary Education
Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
HD for Blackstock, Explorers Medal for Currie
Faculty of Extension associate professor Cindy Blackstock will receive an honorary degree from
the University of Northern British Columbia in recognition of her
long-time advocacy for Aboriginal children. Dr. Blackstock, a native of
Prince George, BC, is also executive director of the First Nations Child
and Family Caring Society of Canada. She also serves as a Trudeau Scholar Mentor for the Trudeau Foundation. Dr. Blackstock and CEO of the Vancouver
Olympic and Paralympic Games, John Furlong, will receive honorary
degrees during May 25 convocation ceremonies.
Congratulations to our esteemed colleague, biological sciences professor Phil Currie, on his latest honour, the Explorers Club Medal, presented at a NYC gala last month. This award puts him in rare company with the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary, Neil Armstrong and "Roy Chapman Andrews, the American explorer — and supposed inspiration for Indiana Jones — who first sparked Currie’s interest in dinosaurs," according to a story today in the Edmonton Journal. It is hard to overstate the influence Dr. Currie has had on dinosaur research and public education about dinosaurs, including helping to create the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller.
Congratulations to our colleagues, both of whom are living the University of Alberta promise of "uplifting the whole people" through knowledge.
Congratulations to our esteemed colleague, biological sciences professor Phil Currie, on his latest honour, the Explorers Club Medal, presented at a NYC gala last month. This award puts him in rare company with the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary, Neil Armstrong and "Roy Chapman Andrews, the American explorer — and supposed inspiration for Indiana Jones — who first sparked Currie’s interest in dinosaurs," according to a story today in the Edmonton Journal. It is hard to overstate the influence Dr. Currie has had on dinosaur research and public education about dinosaurs, including helping to create the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller.
Congratulations to our colleagues, both of whom are living the University of Alberta promise of "uplifting the whole people" through knowledge.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Information Technology Awards deadline May 7
Unfortunately there were some communication problems (my fault) and many people were not notified about this year's Information Technology Awards.
THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MONDAY, MAY 7, 2012.
The Office of the Vice Provost and Associate Vice President (Information Technology) sponsors five awards to recognize the outstanding efforts of the university's talented information technology faculty, staff and students:
The Information Technology Distinguished Career Award recognizes one non-academic or academic person for their outstanding contributions to advancing the University's IT agenda. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Leadership Award recognizes one non-academic or academic person for demonstrating outstanding technology leadership to their unit and/or their contributions to the campus community. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Innovation Award recognizes one non-academic person, one academic person, or one team for their innovative use of hardware and/or software technology in support of research, teaching, administration and/or the campus experience. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Project Award recognizes a team effort (composed of students, non-academics, and/or academics) to successfully deploy a major IT project with significant impact to the IT environment offered by a unit or to the campus. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Unsung Hero Award recognizes a non-academic staff member who has made a significant and largely unrecognized contribution to the quality of the IT environment offered by a unit and/or to the campus. Two awards are given annually.
The University of Alberta has many excellent IT staff across the University, and we encourage you to consider making a nomination. More information can be found online.
Questions can be sent to vpit@ualberta.ca.
Thank you,
Jonathan Schaeffer
Vice-Provost and AVP, Information Technology
THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MONDAY, MAY 7, 2012.
The Office of the Vice Provost and Associate Vice President (Information Technology) sponsors five awards to recognize the outstanding efforts of the university's talented information technology faculty, staff and students:
The Information Technology Distinguished Career Award recognizes one non-academic or academic person for their outstanding contributions to advancing the University's IT agenda. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Leadership Award recognizes one non-academic or academic person for demonstrating outstanding technology leadership to their unit and/or their contributions to the campus community. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Innovation Award recognizes one non-academic person, one academic person, or one team for their innovative use of hardware and/or software technology in support of research, teaching, administration and/or the campus experience. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Project Award recognizes a team effort (composed of students, non-academics, and/or academics) to successfully deploy a major IT project with significant impact to the IT environment offered by a unit or to the campus. One award is given annually.
The Information Technology Unsung Hero Award recognizes a non-academic staff member who has made a significant and largely unrecognized contribution to the quality of the IT environment offered by a unit and/or to the campus. Two awards are given annually.
The University of Alberta has many excellent IT staff across the University, and we encourage you to consider making a nomination. More information can be found online.
Questions can be sent to vpit@ualberta.ca.
Thank you,
Jonathan Schaeffer
Vice-Provost and AVP, Information Technology
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