October 18, 2010

Academic Plan

The Academic Planning Committee has been meeting since the beginning of the semester. Its objective is to produce an academic plan that will establish how we become “Canada’s number one undergraduate university by every measure related to student success and satisfaction.” More generally, its mission statement is “The purpose of this committee is to establish what kind of university Mount Royal wants to be, how it will get there and what are the measures of success. It will establish the general mission for academic affairs at Mount Royal and will develop specific goals to enable us to fulfill that mission. The Academic Plan will provide the framework for the future development of the institution.” The committee’s charter is posted on mrfa.net under MRU Documents.

A call for any individual or group within the university to make a submission to the Academic Planning Committee has gone out. Submissions should normally be no more than two to three pages in length and must be received by Diane Carpenter by Monday 15 November. You may also meet with the committee to discuss your submission.

MRFA Executive Visits to Departments

The MRFA Executive is organizing visits to all departments to discuss issues related to the Collective Agreement and any other matters of interest to faculty. We hope to have two or more members of the Executive attend for 30 minutes of a meeting to which all members of the department have been invited. We will distribute information prior to the meeting, in order to make the best use of the time.

October General Meeting

The major items of business will be discussion of the draft Executive goals for 2010-2011 and review and discussion of draft revisions to the Ethics Bylaws. I hope you will be able to attend.

Under Western Skies Conference

This conference, subtitled “Climate, Culture, and Change in Western North America” was held at Mount Royal University from Wednesday to Saturday of the past week. The conference was an eclectic mix of environmentalism and environmental and cultural topics viewed through the lens of a wide range of academic disciplines. It was an ambitious conference, with six keynote speakers – from Canada, the United States, and India – and parallel sessions of five or six streams. I attended as many sessions as I could and up until the last day wouldn’t have been able to pick a highlight because there were so many. But now I can say that it was the keynote address of Dr. Vandana Shiva and her contributions to the Legacy of Ideas Public Roundtable on Saturday

This conference represents an important step in our growth into a university. Many people contributed to making it a success, especially Rob Boschman who envisioned the conference two years ago and took the lead in making it happen. Many Mount Royal faculty presented and our students contributed in significant ways too - there were four on the organizing committee, a couple presented, and many attended.

Gerry

Dr. Gerry Cross

President,

Mount Royal Faculty Association

Ph.  (403) 440-6191