Dear Faculty of Arts,
As we prepare to spring forward this weekend, we reflect on two years ago when we were about to cross an unknown threshold into the pandemic and the Great Pivot. This spring, there is a feeling of renewal. The more time you spend on campus, the more occasions there are for bumping into smiling colleagues and students …
Is it really you?
Has it really been two years since we last saw each other in real life?
How are your students enjoying being in class?
They are thrilled!
And in these moments, you notice that everyone seems taller, bigger, and oh so three-dimensional! Yes, moving away from two-inch squares on a screen during a Teams meeting or Zoom session to three dimensions makes life all that more vibrant.
Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Next week’s Arts Speaker Series: Please join us next week for the next installment of the Arts Speaker Series: “Student Panel on Approaching Gendered Media”. A discussion between Jacqueline Walker, KPU Student, Clarissa Dixon, UBC Student and Sara Turcios, KPU Graduate will take place on Wednesday, March 16 from 1-2pm. Student presenters will begin with a discussion of the impact of gendered media on youth, highlighting best practices for approaching this issue. In the second half of the talk, presenters explore common social challenges faced during encounters with unhealthy media representations. The panel will engage with topics such as gaslighting, setting boundaries and promoting critical engagement as it pertains to the consumption of gendered media.
Please see the link below for the Microsoft Teams event. We look forward to seeing you there!
Click here to join the meeting
Future Arts Speaker Series: The next iteration of the Arts Speaker series is fast approaching. Each Arts Speaker Series talk showcases innovative and original creative endeavors, research and scholarship activities, is one hour-long (30 minutes for presentation and the rest of the time for discussion/questions) and will either take place online or in a blended version. Proposals for the 2022-2023 Arts Speaker Series should be 250 words long and be sent to Nancy Norman at: nancy.norman@kpu.ca and before March 31st, 2022.
TFA Workshop for KPU Employees: Fundamentals of Anti-Racism: A Free Workshop with Shanique Kelly – March 21, 2022, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PST (Registration Required) KPU’s Task Force on Anti-Racism is proud to present this opportunity for all KPU employees. Fundamentals of Anti-Racism is an immersive and in-depth workshop that exposes our complicity in racist power structures that exist all around us. This workshop is both personal and political: an exploration into bias, systemic oppression, language, cultural appropriation, and intersectionality. Participants gain a deeper understanding of the manifestations of racism from systems of power to workplace microaggressions and most importantly gain the skills to speak up and combat racism in their communities. To register, please email tfa@kpu.ca with subject line: “Please register me for March 21 workshop with Shanique Kelly.” Please use your KPU email ID to register. Please email as early as possible, but no later than March 17th. A Zoom link will be forwarded to all registered participants 24 hours prior to the workshop. For cyber safety reasons, the link will be sent to KPU email IDs only. Please do not share the link with anyone outside of KPU.
Coffee with Leadership – AIV Sharing and Other Matters: We’ve been receiving some requests lately for dialogue and clarification around how the Dean’s Office handles academic integrity cases. By happy coincidence, the next Coffee with Leadership is at 10:30-11:00 on Monday – please feel free to join us on Teams to chat about this, or any other matters you’d like to share with the Dean Team. Click here to join the meeting We look forward to seeing you!
Arts Undergraduate Research Courses: If you have an idea for research or have a scholarly endeavor underway, we invite you to engage students in your work! Involving students in these projects is a great way to deepen the quality of the educational experience of our students! Contact Wade.Deisman@kpu.ca or Anne.Lin@kpu.ca for more information. The deadline is March 29, 2021.
Resources for Faculty, Students, and Staff
Faculty Handbook Reminder: We wanted to inform all new faculty members, as well as provide a reminder to continuing faculty, about the existence of the following two resources:
- Faculty and Instructional Staff Handbook
- The handbook brings together many resources that can help make your academic year as smooth and efficient as possible.
- The link to the handbook can be found here: https://kpuemp.sharepoint.com/sites/fh/SitePages/Home.aspx
- Resources for Faculty tab in SharePoint
- The tab brings together many Faculty of Arts specific resources
- The link to the tab can be found here: https://kpuemp.sharepoint.com/sites/arts/resourcesforfaculty/SitePages/Home.aspx
Student Services looking for Student Feedback: Student Services is revising their online orientation course for international and domestic students and they’re looking for current students to share their wisdom with incoming students. Here’s the invitation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/175x-LM9RZkDTSJP6k89sZ87jb36luXUrafjaWYvCMYU/edit#
For additional information, please contact Education Studies faculty member Candy Ho at Candy.Ho@kpu.ca.
Join The Network: The Arts Research, Scholarship and Creativity Network is growing, and is open for enrollment for faculty and for requested enrollment for students! Currently, there are already 60 Network members! This inclusive Network aims to support faculty, students, and staff who are engaged in, or wish to become engaged in, research, scholarship, and creativity. The Network aims to provide a clearinghouse of resources; to facilitate mentorship connections; to promote collaborations and encourage synergies; to stimulate innovative thinking; to foster collegiality; and to raise awareness about the ways that research, scholarship, and creativity contribute to educational excellence. Email ArtsNetwork@kpu.ca for instructions on how to join.
Curious about COIL? For those interested in learning more about Collaborative Online International learning, please visit the Faculty of Arts SharePoint site, under Events: here. The office of Global Engagement is also planning on hosting an event about COIL on March 24th. More information to come! If you are interested in teaching a course as part of COIL for the fall, please contact Shelley.Boyd@kpu.ca before April 30th.
Spring into the weekend,
Greg, Billeh, Wade, Danny, and Shelley
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