Tag: Teaching and Learning

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Dancing without borders: workshop teaches Chilean dance

National Dance of Chile BANNER

By Elaine Smith

It’s likely that only a small percentage of Toronto residents could show you the steps to the cueca, the national dance of Chile that is performed at festivals and social gatherings, but a group of York University undergraduate students has swelled those ranks.

Department of Dance students in Professor Bridget Cauthery’s Big Dance Small Space course are now familiar with the cueca, thanks to a globally networked learning (GNL) workshop they attended along with students from SUNY Buffalo State in New York this past summer. GNL is an approach to teaching and learning that enables people from different locations worldwide to participate in and collaborate on knowledge-making processes and concrete research projects. It provides cross-cultural opportunities for students who might not have the opportunity to study abroad, a benefit in today’s global economy.

“The GNL exercise grew out of a connection I made with Joy Guarino, a dance professor at SUNY Buffalo State,” said Cauthery. “We both taught similar courses for non-majors that focused on the globalization of dance and the recognition of cultural dance practices within our own diasporic families and communities.”

Guarino was a proponent of GNL, and the pair discussed bringing their students together online. They had a few brainstorming meetings and decided to offer their students a workshop in cueca, since Cauthery had a teaching assistant from Chile, Sebastián Oreamuno, who was versed in in the dance.

The course was developed during the pandemic and has been taught online, so the workshop this past year brought the York students together in the studio on campus for the first time, along with Oreamuno, a PhD candidate in dance. The students from SUNY gathered in the Student Union on the Buffalo campus and participated via Zoom.

“There was a bit of a learning curve,” said Oreamuno, who simplified the steps for the workshop. “The dance is performed in 6/8 time, which isn’t a musical signature that’s prevalent in western dance.”

First, he had them listen to the rhythm of the dance and asked them to clap it. Next came the steps, done to a pulse rhythm. He worked with the students on a 30-second sequence of seven steps based on the rhythm. At the end of the 45-minute session, everyone performed it together.

“It was fun,” said Oreamuno. “The students in the York studio definitely enjoyed it; I felt the energy coming from them. The professor in Buffalo sent me a message saying her students enjoyed it, too.”

Cauthery said, “Folk dances lend themselves well to community engagement and connection, and this was a good first attempt, given our reliance on the technology. Next time Joy and I run our courses, we hope to make this a cross-border experiential learning opportunity. We could also have a reciprocal exchange between our programs.”

She is also further considering integrating the collaboration with Guarino and SUNY Buffalo State into something more long-term and with a larger scale; for example, collaborating together on choreography and sharing dance knowledge.

The GNL project also reflected one of York’s dance program’s larger goals: to globalize its offerings by teaching beyond the western canon.

“We want to focus on making connections through dance and dances that represent some aspect of heritage and identity,” Cauthery said. “By sharing that, we can build a bridge of understanding and respect, and create an equitable ecosystem of dance. These may be bold goals, but dance can be a way to bring people and ideas together.”

The GNL team will be hosting an information session for York faculty members on Monday, Feb. 26 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Register here.

Faculty of Science students, profs awarded for excellence

At the Faculty of Science’s annual honours and awards ceremony, several faculty and students received awards – including an inaugural one – recognizing their contributions in teaching and educational leadership.

The ceremony is organized every year to celebrate students, instructors and researchers who received awards and scholarships between September 2022 and August 2023 – as well as giving the Faculty a chance to bestow a few awards of its own.

This year, around 400 postdoctoral fellows and undergraduate and graduate science students were recognized by being given a chance to come up to the event’s stage at the Second Student Centre, on York’s Keele Campus, to be congratulated and applauded by their peers, supporters and mentors.

The event’s masters of ceremonies were Associate Dean of Students Michael Scheid and Associate Dean of Research and Partnerships Vivian Saridakis, who also announced the recipients of the Faculty of Science Excellence in Educational Leadership Awards – an inaugural award category – as well as the Excellence in Teaching Awards and Excellence in Research Awards.

The recipients of these awards were:

Excellence in Educational Leadership Award, Faculty category
Associate Professor Amenda Chow, Department of Mathematics & Statistics; and Chair and Associate Professor Vera Pavri, Department of Science, Technology & Society.

Excellence in Educational Leadership Award, Graduate Student category
PhD students Laura Keane and Yohana Solomon, Department of Mathematics & Statistics.

Excellence in Teaching Award, Junior Tenure Stream Faculty category
Assistant Professor Stephanie Domenikos, Department of Science, Technology & Society.

Excellence in Teaching Award, Contract Faculty category
Sessional Assistant Professor Charlotte de Araujo, Department of Biology.

Richard Jarrell Award of Excellence for Teaching Assistants
Recent MSc graduate Amanvir Virdi, Department of Biology.

Early Career Research Award
Associate Professor Elizabeth Clare, Department of Biology.

Established Research Award
Professor Randy Lewis, Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Excellence in Graduate Mentorship Award
Associate Professor Iain Moyles, Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

For more details about the awards and a full list of recipients, view the ceremony program booklet.

Teaching Commons seeks presenters for upcoming TiF conference in May

Speaker giving a talk in conference hall at business event. Audience at the conference hall.

By Elaine Smith

With a new vice-provost teaching and learning and an interim director of the Teaching Commons in place, York University’s annual Teaching in Focus (TiF) conference this May will have a slightly different look and feel, and a theme reflective of the times.

Mandy Frake-Mistak, the Teaching Commons’ interim director, and her team are seeking presenters for the two-day conference, which will be held in person this year on May 8 and 9. The theme for this year’s conference is Engaged Teaching in Times of Crisis and proposals are due on Feb. 29.

In addition to crisis-related presentations, there are opportunities for presentations about Academic Innovation Fund projects and experiential education/work-integrated learning. Presenters may speak individually, in teams or as panel members, and all faculty and graduate students are encouraged to consider taking part.

“Based on feedback from the Task Force on the Future of Pedagogy, we know that faculty members want more opportunities to communicate about what they’re doing in the classroom, and TiF will continue to be a great place for that to happen,” says Chloë Brushwood Rose, vice-provost teaching learning. “However, we also want to offer opportunities for conversations around philosophical and critical issues in teaching and learning, not only about practices. We want to highlight people who are thinking in interesting ways and from a range of perspectives about teaching and learning, especially in complex times.”

People are grappling with conflicts in the classroom and conflicts in the world simultaneously, explains Brushwood Rose. The role of the University, she believes, should be to provide a space to talk about pedagogy more broadly.

Frake-Mistak shares that view.

“When we see crisis on a global scale, we can’t help but bring it home, and it shapes how we process information and our dealings with our peers,” she says. “We are trying to support people through this. It’s one thing to share resources, but what about what happens in the classroom?”

And that is where TiF comes in.

The conference will also feature TiF Reads, a panel reminiscent of the popular Canada Reads competition on CBC Radio. Presenters can champion a teaching- or learning-related book, journal article or other resource that inspired them during the past year and attendees will vote for a winner.

“TiF has been a mainstay on our calendar since 2013 and we want to champion it so it is continually growing and getting better,” says Frake-Mistak. “We want to recognize the community who have dedicated their livelihoods to teaching and learning; there are so many unsung heroes. It’s an opportunity to bring people together to champion teaching and learning and propel it forward.”

Brushwood Rose agrees.

“We look forward to TiF being as well attended and energizing as ever.”

Take this opportunity to fill out a presenter’s application form.

Passings: Pat Rogers

passings

Pat Rogers, a former York University faculty member, died on Jan. 21 at the age of 78, after a hard-fought battle with cancer.

Pat Rogers
Pat Rogers

Known to many as “Dr. Pat Rogers,” a title she would often roll her eyes at, she had a remarkable academic career that spanned several institutions and many roles.

Born just after the war, in Woking, England, to a Scottish mother and a Welsh father, Rogers spent her early years in Belfast, Northern Ireland, followed by Cardiff, Wales, before embarking on a mathematics degree at the University of Oxford – and being one of few women in her class of ’65.

While pursuing her PhD at the London School of Economics, she taught at North London Polytechnic, Goldsmiths’ College and the University of London’s Bedford College, and then relocated to Canada to become a faculty member in mathematics and education at York University in Toronto.

After being tenured as a full-time professor at York, Rogers became the founding director of the Centre of the Support of Teaching, and her legacy in that role remains in the form of a plaque in Vari Hall’s Seminar Room 3003. In keeping with what her former colleagues describe as her boisterous teaching style that demanded chairs and tables be moveable to encourage discussion, the plaque honouring her is the only thing in the room that is bolted down.

Rogers left York in 2000 to pursue two terms as dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor, where she helped develop community-focused programs and where she was consistently energized by a group of academics who remained her good friends. She ended her career as associate vice-president of teaching and learning at Wilfrid Laurier University.

During her career, Rogers was the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship, an award she helped establish as president of the Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education. She was also the first Canadian and the first woman to be a appointed as the annual Pólya Lecturer for the Mathematical Association of America.

Diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2021, Rogers continuously impressed her family, friends, and many health practitioners with the tenacious and spirited way she battled it – the same tenacity and spirit that made its mark at York University and beyond.

CHREI workshops to spotlight anti-racism and Black inclusion

group of diverse York students

Engaging in the work of equity and inclusion requires reflection and capacity building, which is why in celebration of Black History Month, the Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion (CHREI) is offering a series of four workshops (three in English, one in French) throughout the month.

Titled “A Spotlight on Intersectional Anti-Racism Work and Black Inclusion,” the series is tied to CHREI’s ongoing Rights, Equity, Decolonizing, Diversity & Inclusion (REDDI) Mini-Series of workshops. Those who attend three sessions can receive a special course certificate.

The ongoing workshop series focuses on various themes and topics covering human rights, equity, diversity, and inclusion and is open to all faculty, staff and students at York University. Sessions are interactive and instructor-led by members of the CHREI education team.

Acknowledging and Addressing Racism
Feb. 5, 1 to 2:30 p.m.

This workshop will help participants gain an understanding of how to recognize racism, how it can manifest and its impacts. Participants will learn strategies to address barriers to inclusive spaces and become familiar with relevant tools, policies and legislation.

Register for the Acknowledging and Addressing Racism workshop.

Black Inclusion: Historic and Current Efforts to Dismantle Anti-Black Racism
Feb. 14, 1 to 2:30 p.m.

This session will follow the birth and development of anti-Black racism globally and locally, and the efforts to dismantle it. Through case studies and scenarios, participants will gain tools to respond to anti-Black racism in effective and sustainable ways.

Register for the Black Inclusion workshop.

Do the Work: Intervening on Racism
Feb. 26, 10 to 11:30 a.m.

This workshop will be highly participation-based and will ask attendees to design strategies and tools to intervene in moments of racial discrimination, harassment and microaggressions. Prior familiarity with these concepts is recommended.

Note: Participants are strongly encouraged to participate in at least one of the workshops above before attending this session.

Register for the Do the Work workshop.

[En Français/In French] Reconnaître et aborder le racisme
29 février, 10h00 à 11h30

Cet atelier aidera les participants à comprendre comment se manifeste le racisme, et quels sont ses impacts. Les participants découvriront des stratégies visant à éliminer les obstacles aux espaces inclusifs et s’exerceront à interrompre les commentaires racistes.

Register for the Reconnaître et aborder le racisme workshop.

Visit the REDDI Workshop Series website for more details.

Faculty of Health helps students take their learning global

airplane landing at dusk banner

The world, as the saying goes, is a classroom, and a special award from the Faculty of Health is making it easier for students to access it. The Global Health Travel Award provides students with funding to help cover travel and accommodation expenses, empowering them to pursue global learning opportunities that can make an impact on their academic and career paths.

The Global Health Travel Award is among several opportunities the Faculty of Health extends to support its students looking to pursue global learning, and it ties to the University’s larger active efforts to reduce financial barriers to international experiences for students, encouraging the development of global citizenship, interpersonal skills, adaptability and more.

The award is given to Faculty of Health undergraduate students who want to complete a global health project as part of a single-term (11-week) international placement that meets the requirement of their academic program.

During the Winter 2024 term, nine students will be able to travel to countries such as Jordan, Ghana, Kenya, Denmark, Germany and Belize thanks to the award. They will gain experiences echoing those of the following current and past students from the Global Health Promotion & Disease Prevention program within York’s School of Global Health whose journeys illustrate the impact the international opportunity and award can have.

Autumn Langford, current student

Langford, who will be graduating following the completion of her practicum, recently won the travel award to journey to Kenya to focus on HIV prevention, particularly among adolescent girls. There, she’ll observe and seek to understand how Kenyan communities address health issues, acknowledging the unique differences from handling HIV in Toronto.

Langford credits the bursary for being pivotal to the opportunity because she is juggling part-time work to cover her other expenses. Without it, her Kenya plans might have faced a financial roadblock. It covered essential needs and unforeseen expenses, such as mandatory immunization for global travel, ensuring her health and safety during the stay.

Daniel Ramlogan, alumnus

Ramlogan saw his academic journey at York culminate with a global health practicum in the Middle East. With the $5,000 of support from the award, he was able to travel to Amman, Jordan, to pursue a placement with the Jordan Health Aid Society International.

The relief from financial concerns, which he describes as a significant weight lifted off his shoulders, allowed Ramlogan to fully engage in the cultural and learning experience. In the process, his passion for research and program development were sparked, resulting in two successful projects: workshops on gender-based violence and sexual health in Amman, and a grant for the Za’atari refugee camp’s medical facilities. Recognized by the Jordanian government and donors, Ramlogan’s contributions continue to positively impact lives, even after his departure.

Mahilet Girma, alumna

The funding Girma received from his award allowed her to travel to Brazil to pursue an opportunity to work with MSF (Doctors Without Borders). There, she played a key role in crafting a training module for community health workers, and she emerged from the experience more confident and with more polished social and professional skills. Her journey wasn’t just an academic and professional, though – it ignited personal growth.

To learn more about awards issued, visit the Global Learning website.

Osgoode student lawyers save family from deportation

Statue of justice

With only 11 hours to spare, two student lawyers from Osgoode Hall Law School’s Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) saved the parents of a York University student from family breakup and deportation to Colombia, where they faced potential danger or even death.

When second-year student Brandon Jeffrey Jang and third-year student Emma Sandri learned on Dec. 18 that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had ordered the parents of a fellow student to be deported on a Colombia-bound plane on Jan. 18, they worked tirelessly over the winter break to prepare about 1,000 pages of legal submissions to stop it – on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Osgoode students Brandon Jeffrey Jang (left) and Emma Sandri (right).
Osgoode students Brandon Jeffrey Jang (left) and Emma Sandri (right).

The student’s father became a target of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the early 1990s when he was a candidate for the country’s Liberal Party, actively working to prevent youth from joining the paramilitary organization. After several threats and acts of physical violence, the family fled to the United States. They returned to Colombia seven years later, but remained in danger and fled again, eventually making their way to Canada in 2009. With the Colombian peace process currently faltering and FARC still a viable force, the family believes their safety could still be threatened if they return to their home country.

The couple’s adult son is a student in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science and their daughter is set to graduate from Queen’s University and plans to study medicine. The son and daughter, who already have permanent residency status in Canada, faced being separated from their parents as well as possible academic repercussions if the deportation had gone ahead as scheduled.

The CLASP team’s request to save this family from deportation was initially denied by the CBSA, so they filed two supporting applications with the Federal Court, under the supervision of CLASP review counsel Subodh Bharati. On Jan. 17, just one day before the scheduled deportation, they appeared in person before a Federal Court judge in Toronto to make their case for the family – and they succeeded.

The parents – who have become actively involved in their Toronto community, volunteering during the pandemic, for example, to deliver food to house-bound, immune-compromised residents – expressed their gratitude to the CLASP team in an emotional email.

“Thank you very much for all the effort that you put in our case,” the mother wrote. “I don’t have enough words to express what I feel right now and to say thank you. You are the best lawyers that Toronto has.”

Their joy was shared by Jang and Sandri.

“We were just so happy,” said Jang about hearing news of the successful stay application. “We’ve built a close connection with the family and we’ve all worked extremely hard on this case.”

Jang said the experience has confirmed his desire to pursue a career in immigration law – and this summer he will work for Toronto immigration law firm Green and Spiegel LLP.

Sandri said preparing hundreds of pages of court applications in a month was a tremendous challenge, but learning that the family can stay in Canada as a result of their efforts was a huge relief and incredibly rewarding.

“It was difficult, in terms of wanting to put out our best work in such a limited time span,” she explained, “and we really felt the pressure of the fact that these people’s lives were possibly at stake.”

As they waited for the court decision, she added, “we both couldn’t sleep because we were thinking about what’s going to happen to this family and we were really stressing about that.”

In the wake of the court decision, Bharati said, the parents can now obtain work permits while they wait for the Federal Court to hear judicial reviews of previous decisions that rejected their applications for permanent residency status.

With the students’ time at CLASP nearing an end, Jang and Sandri expressed special appreciation for Bharati’s guidance and trust.

“All of our experiences at the clinic leading up to this case prepared us for the uphill battle we confronted when fighting for this family,” said Jang. “The result was a total team effort on everybody’s part and it was all worth it.”

Bestselling author to share publishing secrets at upcoming event

Pile of books

If you’ve ever fantasized about becoming a published author, or are simply curious about how the book industry works, you won’t want to miss this upcoming event. On Wednesday, Jan. 31, York University’s Writing Department and Creative Writing program are hosting a talk and Q-and-A session with Cody Caetano, a literary agent and award-winning Indigenous author whose bestselling debut memoir, Half-Bads in White Regalia (Penguin Random House Canada, 2022), won the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Prose in English.

Cody Caetano
Cody Caetano

Caetano, who is of Anishinaabe and Portuguese descent and is an off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation, holds a master of arts in creative writing from the University of Toronto, where he wrote his memoir under the mentorship of Indigenous Canadian writer and academic Lee Maracle.

The highly successful memoir that resulted, Half-Bads in White Regalia, was longlisted for the 2023 Toronto Book Award, the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and Canada Reads 2023. It was also named one of the best books of the year by the Globe and Mail and CBC Books.

To make his career trajectory even more impressive, Caetano was writing his bestselling debut memoir while working his way up the corporate ranks in the publishing industry, from his entry-level role as contracts administrator to his current job as a literary agent at the CookeMcDermid agency.

At this in-person event, the author and agent will speak about how to break into the book publishing industry and the challenges and rewards of being an author while also working a day job. After his talk and Q-and-A, he will read from his forthcoming novel and sign copies of his memoir.

The event will take place in the Harry Crowe Room, 109 Atkinson Building, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Registration is not required and all York University community members are welcome to attend.

Call for applications, nominations for head of Stong College

Stong Residence

The Faculty of Health at York University invites tenured faculty members who are passionate about advancing student success and building a sense of community to apply for the position of head of Stong College.

Reporting to the dean of the Faculty of Health, the successful candidate will provide administrative and educational leadership and contribute to inspiring learning, leadership and citizenship within an engaged and diverse community of students, staff, faculty, fellows and alumni at Stong College. The head of Stong College works in partnership with the Calumet & Stong Colleges’ Student Success team, including the head of Calumet College, to enhance the experience of Faculty of Health students and support both the Faculty of Health Strategic Plan and the Calumet & Stong Colleges’ Strategic Plan. Stong College is affiliated with and serves the students in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health.

The role

The Head of Stong College contributes to an engaged community by working collaboratively with students, staff, faculty, fellows, key campus partners (e.g. Division of Students), and alumni to build and maintain a vibrant, diverse and inclusive community. The colleges play a crucial role at York, and the college head position requires a commitment to the University, Stong, and Calumet Colleges and, most importantly, the desire to enhance the lives of students and to strengthen the student experience.

The college head actively engages within the colleges’ community by supporting and attending key colleges’ community events and meets regularly with college-affiliated student organizations, staff, units and key campus partners throughout the academic year. The college head role provides a faculty member the opportunity to provide strategic vision and mentorship, and contribute to supporting the success of students and enhancing their experience at both the Faculty and university levels.

The successful candidate will be committed to enhancing the student experience, through the delivery of student-centred programs and services, and to engaging members of the York University community as well as the wider community. They will engage and support students of diverse heritage and backgrounds, including: equity-deserving, under-represented, international, first-generation, 2SLGBTQIA+, mature and part-time, place of birth, etc. The college head will support the University’s commitment to decolonizing, equity, diversity and inclusion (DEDI) through the development and implementation of initiatives designed to foster inclusivity and sense of belonging.

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual who is passionate about advancing student success and contributing to building a sense of community among students, staff, faculty members, fellows and alumni. College heads receive a stipend, course release and sabbatical top-up.

Application/nomination process

Tenured faculty members interested in becoming the head of Stong College can apply directly. Members of the York University community who know a tenured faculty member who would make an exceptional college head are welcome to submit a nomination.

Applications and nominations should be submitted to Professor Mazen Hamadeh, Chair of the search committee, c/o Lesia Facey, administrative assistant to the search committee, at lfacey@yorku.ca no later than Friday, Feb. 23. Applications are welcome from faculty members from across all programs, schools and departments within the Faculty of Health and the University, and should include:

  • an up-to-date resumé;
  • a Statement of Interest in the Head of Stong College role (maximum two pages); and
  • a brief (one-page) statement of approach to DEDI in an academic environment.

The position commences July 1 for a period of three to five years.

Applicants and nominees who are interested in learning more about the position are welcome to contact Jennine Rawana, head of Calumet College, at rawana@yorku.ca; or Mazen Hamadeh, former Head of Stong College, at hamadeh@yorku.ca.

Faculty of Health continues to advance teaching innovation

Header banner for INNOVATUS

Welcome to the January 2024 edition of Innovatus, a special issue of YFile devoted to teaching and learning at York University. This month we showcase the Faculty of Health and highlight its unique and exemplary approaches to pedagogy.

Innovatus is produced by the Office of the Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning in partnership with Communications and Public Affairs division.

In this issue, the Faculty of Health invites York community members to read stories about how it is leading experiential teaching and learning initiatives that advance strategic initiatives and 21st-century learning in health-related programs.

The work in the Faculty of Health on our newly adopted strategic plan has emphasized a renewed commitment to unique health programming through experiential, accessible education. One of our strategic directions, “Creating Opportunity for Student Engagement and Impact,” will focus on advancing our supports for all students to succeed in their education, with meaningful community engagement through experiential and work-integrated learning (WIL).  

David Peters
Dean David Peters

The recent United Nations’ International Day of Education on Jan. 24 reminds us that inclusive and equitable quality education and fostering lifelong learning are critical to our communities. The Department of Psychology is developing teaching-learning strategies that showcase how equity and success can be planned for first-generation students using research-based modules. This three-year project is led by our inaugural Distinguished Fellow in Learning and Teaching Excellence, a role created to recognize scholarship, innovative pedagogy and expertise in education. In addition, a funded project focusing on WIL for under-represented students aimed to reduce barriers through an initiative that provided Black students with work experiences in applying key skills. 

In the Faculty’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, undergraduate students have community service-learning opportunities for teaching adapted physical activity to high-school students. In the Black Creek and Jane-Finch communities, our undergraduates directly support students who are living with disabilities to compete in their annual Aspire Games, a spring track event held at York University. Our own students help others while applying discipline-specific, evidence-informed knowledge. 

The School of Nursing is taking another approach for strengthening the student experience and is leveraging technology for e-mentoring undergraduate nursing students. Mentoring supports are aimed at helping them face the challenges of transitioning to intense workplace settings and navigate real-world health-care settings. Graduate nursing students participate in providing psychosocial support, career advice and networking. 

Increasing students’ connections to international communities is occurring through course offerings across the Faculty’s five units, such as in the School of Global Health and in the School of Health Policy & Management. Facilitated by our international relations manager, faculty members can develop their capacity for teaching internationally through unique “bootcamp” experiences. Undergraduate and graduate students from across the Faculty of Health gain valuable experience in their area of interest in countries such as Costa Rica, Germany, Ghana and soon Cuba. 

The challenges that our students and graduates face in health care and health-related work settings inspire us to lead through innovative approaches in teaching and learning. We hope you enjoy finding out more about the Faculty of Health and our vision to be leaders and partners for a healthy and just world. 

Sincerely,  

David Peters 
Dean, Faculty of Health 

Faculty, course directors and staff are invited to share their experiences in teaching, learning, internationalization and the student experience through the Innovatus story form, which is available here.

In this issue:

Two Faculty of Health professors champion equity in education 
Psychology professors Julie Conder and Monique Herbert are advancing initiatives that ensure first-generation and under-represented students are gaining the learning and skills they need to succeed.

Hands-on experience brings kinesiology theory to life
Find out how Assistant Professor Stephanie Bowerman helped students learn how to work with disabled clients by turning theory into practice.

E-mentoring a success for nursing students
A three-month pilot project connected nursing students and practitioners to receive e-mentoring that would better prepare them to enter the workforce.

New Faculty of Health website highlights global learning
“Make our world a smaller place by being in it,” proclaims the new global learning page on the Faculty of Health’s website, which looks to further the Faculty’s series commitment to advancing global engagement, one of the University Academic Plan’s six priorities for action.