Dear colleagues,
Tuesday was Groundhog Day. Happily, those alliteratively-named luminaries Shubenacadie Sam, Wiarton Willie, and Manitoba Merv all agreed that an early spring beckons. True, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil dissented, but unlike his Canadian colleagues, he probably gets his information from Fox News.
Tuesday was Groundhog Day. Happily, those alliteratively-named luminaries Shubenacadie Sam, Wiarton Willie, and Manitoba Merv all agreed that an early spring beckons. True, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil dissented, but unlike his Canadian colleagues, he probably gets his information from Fox News.
Speaking of Canadian groundhogs, Canucks of “a certain age” may enjoy revisiting this Hinterland Who’s Who, which contains many interesting facts about these charming creatures. Of course, in today’s internet age, the National Film Board no longer monopolizes groundhog footage – witness the massive social media following of those loveable rascals, The Chunks.
CLOSING DATES/TIME-SENSITIVE ITEMS
Digging into Service: Do you have a colleague who exemplifies service? Nominate them for The Dean of Arts Service Award! This new award will be presented annually to recognize outstanding service by faculty members in the Faculty of Arts. All faculty who teach primarily or exclusively in the Faculty of Arts are eligible. Nominations are open until March 15.
Time and Again: February is, of course, Black History Month. To learn more, and/or to participate in Black History Month events from across the country, please see the following links provided by the Task Force on Anti-Racism: Black History Month Resources and Black History Month Events. We’d love to hear about the activities and projects you’ve developed to help your students engage with Black history in Canada (or elsewhere) during this Covid period. If you find a free moment, and would like to share, please send a brief description to greg.millard@kpu.ca, or shelley.boyd@kpu.ca, or wade.deisman@kpu.ca. We’ll share some highlights in a future Update.
EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS
No Time Like the Present: The Task Force on Anti-Racism has still more resources and events to offer. See the list of forthcoming anti-racism events external to KPU here, along with this guide to upcoming KPU events. Featured next week is Treating Stories with Care: A Workshop on Appropriation, Ethics, and Telling Your Own Stories, a workshop for faculty with Shane Sable on February 11th (3:00-4:30). Be sure to pencil that in! And as part of the BIPOC Webinar Series, the Task Force will be hosting a Workshop on Fundamentals of Anti-Oppression, with Udokam Iroegbu, on February 18th, 10:00-12:00.Diving deeper than your typical diversity and inclusion event, this workshop will give participants the opportunity to explore systemic oppression, social justice, privilege, identity and allyship through a variety of engaging activities. Register here.
RESOURCES
Putting Students in Clover: The Committee on Arts Faculty and International Student Success has recently revised Achieving Student Success, a seven-page booklet designed to assist international students in acclimating to the Canadian postsecondary experience. It’s attached. Please feel free to add this to your course websites, and to share it with your students.
Care for the Chucklings: As the semester builds, so do stresses, and – perhaps now more than ever – the risk of real distress. Also attached to this email, therefore, is the Students in Distress document, which we last circulated in Fall 2020. For less extreme (but still serious) cases, the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities offers an array of supports to help deal with very challenging students. And because care for the self is just as important as care for our students, please remember, you always have access to a suite of wellness supports afforded by our Employee and Family Assistance Program.
The pandemic can sometimes have us feeling like Bill Murray, trapped in one big, extended Groundhog Day – with each day blurring into the next, and our sense of time askew. It looks like we’ll all be stuck “woodchucking” in our burrows a while longer, but we look forward to the end of hibernation, and that prophesied early spring.
Best,
Diane, Wade, Shelley, and Greg
“Groundhog Day” by Chris Piascik is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Photos, in descending order: “Groundhog Day” by Cornelia Kopp is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0; “Groundhog” by tachyondecay is licensed under CC BY 2.0 ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog#/media/File:Groundhog-Standing2.jpg; “Groundhogs” by Brookhaven National Laboratory is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; “Groundhog Day” by Chris Piascik is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Comments by Greg Millard