Dear Faculty of Arts,

The falling leaves drift by my window 

Those autumn leaves of red and gold… 

Yes, it’s officially autumn! Brisk evenings make a perfect frame for a moment that feels both wistful and exhilarating, with the groves of academe being, paradoxically, in full bloom. 

And speaking of fall, the song ‘Autumn Leaves’ (quoted above) was composed by Joseph Kosma in 1945, with lyrics added by Jacques Prévert (‘Les Feuilles Mortes’) and later by Johnny Mercer in English. Apparently, there are about 1400 (!) versions. Here, for your Friday delectation, are seven all-time classic interpretations, chosen after painstaking study by the Dean Team following an extensive, worldwide canvassing of the musicological community. 

Vote for your favourite version here! We’ll report back on the findings in the next Update. 

“The Falling Leaves” by Stanley Zimny (Thank You for 52 Million views) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

UPCOMING EVENTS  

Enabling the Autumn Seed: Next week will mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Indigenous Services has curated a list of resources and events here.

Fall reads – book club honouring Lee Maracle: The Arts Research, Scholarship and Creativity Network is delighted to announce that a special book club is being formed to honour, celebrate, and commemorate the life and literary career of the Indigenous author Lee Maracle. Born in 1950 and a member of the Stó:lō Nation, Lee Maracle wrote and published more than 15 books, including novels, non-fiction, poetry, and collaborative works. She was one of the inaugural faculty members in KPU’s newly-established Indigenous Studies Department. The trenchant quality of writing, her willingness to stand in defiance of colonialism, and her capacity for truth-telling had a path-breaking impact on Canadian literary culture and thinking. Her work remains timely and compelling, and her legacy as an Indigenous writer continues to reverberate today. The reading group, which will meet virtually on a monthly basis beginning in October, will begin with My Conversations with Canadians. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to join! More information, with details about meeting times and reading materials will be coming soon.

“Autumn” by Ramón Peco is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace: Everyone is invited to join FINA’s Amy-Claire Huestis and collaborators for a compelling, site-specific community piece for choir and dance. MOTHLIKE/silvery-blue celebrates kinship with birds and the interconnectedness of all things. The event takes place this Saturday, September 24th – tomorrow! – at Brunswick Point (Hwlhits’um), at the end of River Road in Ladner. Various elements unfold from 1:00-7:00, with choir, dance, and flag-carrying slated for 4:30-7:00. For more, including an amazing video starring Amy and her collaborators, click here.    

Every leaf a flower: Works by of our much-beloved, and much-missed, FINA colleague Kira Wu, as well as FINA ceramics superstar Ying-Yueh Chuang, are part of an installation in the temporary outdoor exhibition ‘Panoply,’ at Darts Hill Garden in South Surrey. Organized by Z.inc Artist Collective, the exhibition includes 14 installations by 16 artists spread out in 7.5 acres of a spectacular garden. This weekend is the last chance to see these remarkable works: Darts Hill Garden, 1633 170 Street, Surrey, Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm. Don’t miss it! 

INFORMATION ITEMS AND RESOURCES 

The Fall Harvest: Applications for the Fall 0.6% PD call for applications are due before Monday, September 26, 2022. For more information about this fund, including what can be claimed, click here. We wish all applicants every success with their projects! 

“#leaves cover the sidewalk. #fall #vancouver” by jonrawlinson is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Changing Colours – updates to Class Lists: IT recently made changes to the ‘class list’ function, and we’ve had some inquiries about how to access class lists as a result. Please see the attached Faculty Guide for downloading class lists, and click here for a how-to guide on exporting student email addresses from Moodle.

A strong beleaf in student privacy: Folks are sometimes tempted to ask students to purchase textbooks or other course materials outside of the KPU Bookstore. However, doing so entails a legal obligation under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of BC (‘FIPPA’) to complete a Privacy Impact Assessment reviewing how these outside organizations protect and manage students’ personal information. Click here for more information on this important requirement.

Early Alert turns over a new leaf: As you know, the Early Alert Referral System is a key cog in assisting struggling students. Please make use of it as challenges emerge early in the semester. Meanwhile, KPU is revising the input form, and Central Academic Advising is seeking faculty help to submit one or two mock Early Alerts in our test system (not live) with the instructions attached to this email. Testing should not take more than 15-20 minutes and will help to ensure we can make this transition smoothly and continue supporting students in need. Please submit any feedback about the form, its use, or the instructions, by October 7 to earlyalert@kpu.ca

“EFFF D HEY. Ci-1950 EDITH PIAF 79.5X120 A.JORIO” by estampemoderne.fr is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

A short Fall needn’t be a shortfall! – a note on ‘compressed’ courses: Arts has been experimenting with more ‘intersession’ – a.k.a. ‘compressed’ – courses, in which the same learning outcomes are delivered in seven weeks, with six hours of class time per week, rather than the usual 14 weeks. This can offer students an exciting learning option, but it’s important to adjust our pedagogical strategies in light of the compressed schedule (as opposed to, say, simply cramming a 14-week course syllabus into seven weeks).  Please see p. 12-15 of this article for guidance as to best practices for a compressed course schedule. 

Please keep in mind, as well, that a compressed schedule also means compressed demands on instructors during those seven weeks! Best practice, therefore, would be to schedule no more than two courses per intersession for any given faculty member. 

To everything there is a season: The call is out for applications to the Associate Dean of Arts positions starting in January 2023! Have you ever considered academic leadership? If so, please give serious thought to this rare opportunity to serve colleagues and to help shape the future of our Faculty by joining the Dean Team. Click here for more info.

“Falling Again” by thorinside is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

No blustery days, please: We always fret a bit that the Arts Distribution List might become a source of frustration for folks who already have very full inboxes. If you have a non-urgent item to share, please consider sending it along to your associate dean for inclusion in the Friday Update, rather than feeding it directly to the Distribution List. We hope that consolidating items in these Updates helps to prevent the Distribution List from feeling like a constant November drizzle. Thanks!  

Arts faculty are, of course, the real legends of the fall, veritable leaf-blowers blasting the leaves of ignorance! We wish you all a restful and revitalizing first weekend of autumn; and remember, there are only 90 days until the Winter Solstice, when – as the song says in a rather more lachrymose context – ‘the days grow long’ once more.

All our best,

Shelley, Dana, Billeh, Wade, and Greg