The Summer Reads Edition

With sunny skies and balmy breezes in the forecast for the long weekend, many of us will be making plans to head out to the beach, the local pool, or a shady park with a good book close at hand. Whether you are taking a well-deserved break from grading or work-related tasks, or are in the middle of scheduled vacation, some summertime reading is undoubtedly in order! Wondering what to read? Earlier this week we canvassed some of our faculty’s most notorious bookworms to get a sense of some of this summer’s faves as well as some reliable re-reads and old standbys. We were literally overwhelmed with submissions, and so we have only been able to sprinkle a few titles into the update itself (mainly to whet your appetite). An extensive and more wide-ranging ‘Summer Bookshelf’ buffet is appended at the end of this week’s update.

TIME-SENSITIVE ITEMS

Transitioning Summer Research to Fall Semester Teaching: It’s not too late to send in a proposal for the Arts Research courses. If you have a research project underway and would like to involve a KPU student this fall, the Arts Research courses offer students invaluable hands-on experience, for credit. For more info, you can send an email to wade.deisman@kpu.ca .

Behold the Darknet: SFU’s International Cybercrime Research Centre is seeking assistance in the collection of data for a research project addressing online commerce. You are invited to participate in the study on buying habits and trust within online markets. The aim of the research is to build a trust index and threat matrix with the data collected from this survey. If you wish to participate, go the survey monkey link here.

TEACHING RESOURCES

A Quick Read! Tips for Promoting Academic Integrity in Course Planning: Faculty may find the resources and commentary warehoused on the International Center for Academic Integrity website a useful resource well and compass. This recent blog post from that offers advice to faculty on how to embed integrity into their courses throughout the semester. With academic integrity violations continuing to be on the rise across KPU, you may find some of these suggestions useful as you plan for the fall.

A Summer Make-Over! If you haven’t already done so, check out the Teaching and Learning Commons and its recently updated website! Designed for easy navigation, the latest website includes detailed information on a multitude of pedagogical supports and professional development opportunities. Kudos and accolades go out to the entire team in the Commons!

End-of-Summer-Term Support: The keep.meSAFE program is an important support for faculty and staff who work with students and would like to consult with counselors to discuss a wide array of issues including distressed students, grading issues, student conduct, communication, student isolation, and culturally sensitive topics. If you identify yourself upfront as staff/faculty, you can be connected right away and do not need to create a profile.

LOOKING AHEAD…

Long-Weekend Planning for a “Brown Bag Lunch”: Do you have a new research or creative project underway and would welcome some input? Then the Arts “Brown Bag Lunch” series is for you! This series is intended to provide a space for faculty to discuss provisional ideas. If you have ideas percolating over the long weekend and would like to be a presenter for the fall 2021 semester, please email greg.millard@kpu.ca.

Summer Break for the Arts Update: This is a friendly reminder that there will be no Arts Update next Friday, August 6th. Please send us any information items, suggestions, or feedback in time for the next edition, which will resume on August 13^th.

The ‘Summer Bookshelf’ continues on below. We wish you a relaxing and rejuvenating long weekend, spent between the covers, with many sun-drenched pages of a great book!

Diane, Greg, Shelley, and Wade