Dear colleagues,

One year ago, all our lives changed, all at once. It’s been challenging, exhausting, and even traumatic…but it’s also brought some unexpected learnings and rewards.

In lieu of our usual Update format, we thought it might be more meaningful to honour the remarkable year we’ve shared with a short video message from the Arts Dean Team. Please take a look here.

This is also the moment to celebrate the incredible contributions of Arts staff over the pandemic. Even in the darkest days, the folks below have responded with dedication, resilience, and aplomb. Whether it’s our stellar Advising team…the redoubtable Department Assistants…our wonderful Administrative Coordinators,  Administrative Assistants, Lab Instructors, Fine Arts Associates, and Communication and Events Coordinator…their contributions have been magnificent. So, a hearty “THANK YOU!!” to the following:

Alex Oliphant * Ankita Verma * Anne Lin * Assal Khamsi * Candace McKill * Christina Neufeld *  Christina Taylor * Desiree McLeod * Fernando Cilento * Kirsten Confectioner * Mary Illical * Nadine Ragonjan * Natashia Olson * Teyler Callies * Brandon Justus * Christina Fung * Christina Neufeld * Geraldine Wee * Heather Lippold * Ivy Ng * Jenn Tiles * Jennifer O’Brien * Julia Nobauer * Kristi Collins * Mariko Itano * Naomi Ben-Yehuda * Natashia Olson * Rachel Chan * Robin Curry * Samantha Dutton-Jones * JANELLE STEWART * Terry Sawatzky * Zahra Mohamud

And, of course, un grand chapeau to Christy Jahn, Arts’ Divisional Business Manager, who has done a tremendous job of helping to steer us through onerous times.

A few brief items for the week:

TIME SENSITIVE ITEMS 

An EDI Opportunity: Vancouver Island University has received the Institutional Connection Grant to fund the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Virtual Symposium. KPU was a co-applicant on this SSHRC grant application. For details about the symposium, please see here. To access the keynote, session 1 and 2 on March 24th, please register via this link (please note that other events are accessible to symposium participants only). For further details, please contact Dr. Asma Sayed at asma.sayed@kpu.ca   

Lessons from Liberation: Don’t forget to register for the free workshop entitled “Anti-racism and Lessons from Liberation” – an immersive and in-depth workshop hosted by KPU’s Task Force on Anti-Racism, exposing our complicity in racist power structures that exist all around us. Presented by Udokam Iroegbu, the session will be held on March 24th between from 2-4 PM. To register, please email tfa@kpu.ca with subject line: “Please register me for March 24th workshop with Udokam Iroegbu.” Please email as early as possible, but no later than March 22nd. A Zoom link will be forwarded to all registered participants 24 hours prior to the workshop.

FACULTY REFLECTIONS 

Expert Insight: Colin Ruloff (PHIL) shared with us a short and timely reflection just published in The National Observer. It deals with the important question of why, and whether, to trust experts on Covid. It’s a compelling read, and a great piece to share with friends and wider circles.

And Further Expert Insight: Candy Ho (EDST) built on her experience of teaching EDUC 4100 online in writing this contribution to University Affairs. Kudos, Candy, for these sparkling insights!

REMINDER 

Report those AIVs! Another gentle nudge here, as we head into the semester’s home stretch, on the importance of reporting Academic Integrity Violations through the portal here. Not only does this allow us to track students who are repeatedly violating integrity and therefore warrant special intervention, but it also helps us to uphold students’ rights to due process under Policy ST2. 

Ad astra per aspera! – through adversity to the stars; and may we all emerge from the darkness of this year healthy, inspired, and “apparelled in celestial light.”

All our best,

Diane, Shelley, Wade, and Greg

Photo credit: “Praise” by EL@Seattle is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0