Professor Susan Vail named associate vice-president teaching & learning

Vice-President Academic & Provost Patrick Monahan made this announcement yesterday:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Susan Vail of the Faculty of Health to the position of associate vice-president teaching and learning in the Office of the Vice- President Academic & Provost, for a three-year term commencing July 1, 2011.

Susan VailProfessor Vail will continue the crucial work initiated in this portfolio by Professor Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt, AVP academic learning initiatives. As we move forward with our goal of enhancing all aspects of the quality of our students’ experience at York, this portfolio will take on even greater importance.

Right: Susan Vail

Professor Vail will play a key role in leading, supporting and facilitating initiatives to advance institutional priorities, arising from the White Paper and the new University Academic Plan, in relation to teaching and learning, the student experience, and community engagement. In so doing, she will work with recipients of funding from the Academic Innovation Fund to foster development and implementation of their projects and to promote collaborative approaches and the sharing of ideas arising from these initiatives.

As AVP, Professor Vail will work closely with colleagues in the Provost’s Office, and with the Vice-President Students, the Faculties, and the Colleges, as well as with faculty and students, to promote quality and access. She will also provide academic leadership to units within the portfolio including the Atkinson Centre for Mature and Part-time Students, the York-TD Community Engagement Centre, and the Centre for the Support of Teaching.

Professor Vail brings a wealth of experience to the position of AVP T&L. She has been at York for more than 20 years, and since 2007 has served as associate dean student and curricular affairs in the Faculty of Health. In that capacity, she oversaw the development of the Faculty’s first strategic plan and has led initiatives to put that plan into action, including the development and implementation of systemic approaches to the integration of eLearning, experiential education and the first year student experience into the curricular and co-curricular fabric of the Faculty, as well as strategies to support faculty members’ professional development.

Previously she served as director of undergraduate studies in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science and she continues to serve as coordinator of the school’s Sport Administration Certificate Program. She holds undergraduate degrees in sociology and physical and Health Education from McMaster University, an MA in social psychology of sport from the University of Western Ontario, and a PhD in education administration from the University of Ottawa. Her research is in the area of sports participation, promotion and policy. She is a skilled facilitator and strategist.

I am extremely pleased and grateful that Professor Vail has agreed to bring her skills, experience, and dedication to the teaching and learning enterprise to the Provost’s Office to take on these important responsibilities that will be of enormous benefit to the entire institution and in particular our students. I look forward to working with her in this new capacity.

Finally, I want to thank the members of the search committee that advised me on this key appointment – Amir Asif, Rhonda Lenton, Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt, Rob Tiffin and Marla Chodak – for their collegial approach and thoughtful guidance.