Dear Faculty of Arts, 

The pitter-patter of rain dots November’s streets and skies. The falling leaves are patterning into patchwork quilts, multicolor mosaics, cozy duvets to blanket the damp earth. Meanwhile, autumn’s light grows ever more lambent. Soon it will be time to turn back the clocks and save some of that precious daylight. Winter is just around the corner… 

 Here are the updates from this week… 

UPCOMING EVENTS & INITIATIVES 

Scholarship in the Sunshine: Have you considered applying for the $7000 Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program? It provides grants to faculty in support of 3-8-week-long opportunities to teach or conduct research in Latin America or the Caribbean. Please see the link here for more information. 

Max. $7,000 Funding Available – Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program 

Celebrating the Life of Katie Warfield: An online memorial is being put together to celebrate and honour Journalism and Communication Studies instructor Katie Warfield’s life on the six-month anniversary of her passing; Monday, November 8th.  There will be a one-hour presentation of pre-recorded messages of love and memories from a wide range of people (hopefully including you!) and the memorial will include a slideshow of photos from her life, some poetry (of hers and from others), music, and personal messages about Katie and her amazing impact on us all.  If you are able to attend on Monday, Nov. 8th at 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST (or in Sydney, Australia – Nov. 9 at noon) please RSVP. If you are unable to make that date/time, there will be a recording to be shared following the event. If you are able and willing, please select the way(s) you would like to contribute when filling out the RSVP form. Examples include:  

– Video message (sample questions and guide to follow)  
– Performed music – play music, sing a song, or do a dance  
– Read a poem- we have selected a poem you can help read a stanza from  
– Submit photos and written stories – for slideshow 

A follow-up email with some instructions, more details, dates and how to submit will be sent.  

The Climate Emergency, The World, and Me: Dr. Leonora King (KPU Geog + Env) and Dr. David Sadoway are teaming up to bring an exciting and important rendition of Arts 1100 course this spring. Please share the attached poster with your students. This co-taught course will introduce students to diverse interdisciplinary perspectives from across the Arts, focusing on the challenges of the present climate crisis. Students will examine questions like: Why is climate change happening, and why it is considered an ’emergency’? What does it mean to you, our society, and our world? In Arts 1100 we explore where we fit into this climate crisis, how we might adapt; and, critically, what we can do to effect change at the local, regional and global level. This course is part of KPU’s Climate+ Challenge, which aims to engage more students in learning about climate change.” 

KPU’s Climate+ Challenge!  This project is a KPU-wide initiative that engages students and instructors in learning about climate change, through an empathetic and solutions-oriented lens. The goal is to get more people at KPU talking, learning, thinking about and finding solutions to the climate emergency, and various climate-related challenges. This project is coordinated by Ellen Pond (Policy Studies and Urban Ecosystems) and Tracy Sherlock (Journalism and Communications). Faculty members who want to add climate-change content to their courses can sign up for something as small as having students complete a relevant assignment (resources are available) – or as big as running a whole course dedicated to “Climate+.” If you’re interested in taking part, visit the Climate+ website, fill out the contact form or email Ellen Pond (ellen.pond@kpu.ca) or Tracy Sherlock (tracy.sherlock@kpu.ca).   

Intercultural Teaching Practices Workshop Series: Developing and modelling intercultural capacity has become an important objective for university staff and faculty. This program will provide a foundation for KPU professionals to plan the creation of a classroom culture of inclusion by reflecting on our intercultural capacities, reconsidering inclusive pedagogies for the changing student demographics and revising learning outcomes to support intercultural capacity development for all students. This online workshop series is taking places during these dates and times: November 8, 15, 22, 29, December 6, and 13 at 11:00AM – 12:30PM Register here!  

Taking Flight: In case you missed it last week, Taking Flight -an exhibition featuring KPU Fine Arts grads opened last week at the Deer Lake Gallery. Tying together nature, materials, urban landscapes, and even our interpersonal relationships and their impact on our everyday life, the exhibition highlights the peculiar human condition of reacting, creating, and retelling our experiences. The exhibition runs until November 13th. https://burnabyartscouncil.org/events/taking-flight/ 

Memory Serves: Please join the Indigenous Book Club on November 19 at 3:00PM to meet INDG faculty member Lee Maracle whose work Memory Serves is being featured.  Indigenous Book Club | KPU.ca – Kwantlen Polytechnic University 

Teacher Education Forum: The Teacher Education Forum is being held virtually again this year, on Tuesday, November 23rd, from 1-3 PM.  We’ll be hearing from the programs at SFU, UBC, UVic, and VIU.  Registration is online at www.kpu.ca/education-forum and everyone who registers will get the MS Teams link to the event.  There are so many our students who are looking to become elementary or secondary school teachers, so please spread the word far and wide: there is no seat limit!   

INFORMATION ITEMS 

Tapestries of Light: Over 60 faculty, staff and students came together this morning to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable and innovative initiatives and undertakings in our Faculty regarding research, scholarship and creativity. The event – which featured showcase panels on student creativity and mentorship- also featured the debut of the all-new Faculty of Arts Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Network. Although today marks the official launch day for the Network, more than 40 faculty, staff, and students have already joined. If you are interested in becoming part of this Network, or know of students who might want to avail themselves of opportunities to participate in research, scholarship and creativity, please contact Paul.Fader@kpu.ca for more information. The Network is housed on Moodle (which will be going “live” in the next few days) and integrated with PebblePad profiles. We have attached the PDF that includes both the instructions on how to join and the link for creating your Network profile from the PebblePad template. 

Student Profile in Arts: New infographics have been added to the student profile of Arts students from the 2019/20 academic year. You can view the infographic here. 

Please note, we are planning a “pause” in the Arts Updates for November 26.  While there will be no update emailed Nov. 26, please keep sending your information and we will continue to share the news of the Faculty of Arts. 

Wishing you a great weekend as we fall back! 

Greg, Shelley, Wade, and Billeh