Archive for Kwantlen
Fall term …
… starts today at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I have 85 new students, and life is very good.
Teaching
This week I start my twenty-first year of teaching at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Artificial Intelligence technology like ChatGPT has required that I prepare a layer of adaptations to my curriculum this semester. It will be a new experience and perhaps a fun one.
I started university teaching forty years ago, at Stanford – as a graduate student TA in Larry Friedlander‘s famous Shakespeare class. Heavenly bliss (and no personal computers, let alone no internet). I went on to create and teach my own classes there.
Before Kwantlen and after my initial Stanford years, I had taken a couple of lengthy breaks from teaching but stayed in the same mental neighbourhood (writing, editing, mentoring, and publishing). I have always known what I wanted to do.
Arley
My Kwantlen colleague Arley McNeney was a visionary who welcomed all manner of detail with a humbling level of attentiveness and who accepted everybody, and she made the people around her better. Such a strong good spirit.
Almost all of our interactions were via correspondence or social media, though I finally met her at The Commodore in Vancouver back in 2019. She was there for the headlining Mountain Goats, me for Lydia Loveless, who opened for them.
From our school’s announcement:
It is with profound sadness and a deep sense of loss that we share the passing of our friend and colleague, KPU instructor, Arley McNeney (Cruthers). Arley was a mother, a sister, a daughter, and a friend. She was a highly respected instructor and beloved colleague to those who were fortunate to collaborate and work alongside her. She was a decorated Paralympian and parasport athlete, a talented writer and novelist, an unending builder of community, an advocate for inclusion and disability justice, and a creative linocut artist.
Arley instructed business communications, public relations, and entrepreneurial leadership at KPU. However, her journey into becoming an educator was winding: in 2001 she joined the Canada women’s national wheelchair basketball team and won gold at the Wheelchair Basketball World Championship the next year. She was the recipient of BC’s Premier Athletic Award for New Westminster and in 2004, she was named to Team Canada’s national wheelchair basketball team to compete at the 2004 Summer Paralympics where she helped the team win bronze. In 2006, Arley was named to Team Canada for the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship. In 2014, Arley received the BC Wheelchair Basketball Society’s Coach of the Year award.
Not only was Arley a successful athlete and coach, she was a former communications/marketing/PR professional for parasports, the founder of an adaptive soccer team that uses disability justice principles, and the author of four novels. Arley’s first novel was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Foundation. She attended the University of Victory and earned an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Arley was an innovative leader in open education, Open Educational Resources (“OERs”), and open pedagogy. In 2019, Arley presented an open-licensed game developed by her applied communication students that focused on instructors developing compassion and empathy for students struggling with (unaffordable) textbook costs and the role OERs can play in supporting students’ well-being and success. Arley’s work was pivotal in the open education movement and the continued work in the area of Zero Textbook Costs (“ZTCs”). That same year, Arley was awarded for Excellence in Open Education by BC Campus.
In addition to being widely recognized as an advocate in the areas of open education, Arley was a tireless scholar and advocate in the areas of decolonization, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), anti-racism and anti-oppression, and disability justice. She collaborated with colleagues across KPU through her work as an Open Education Teaching Fellow, decolonization and Indigenization faculty champion, and disability justice activist. She was an early leader and mentor in developing Open Educational Resources at KPU, and published Business Writing for Everyone in 2019, an inclusive guide to writing in the workplace that has since been adopted, adapted, and remixed by KPU faculty and countless educators around the world. She was regularly consulted on questions of accessibility and UDL in course design and program review, and her expertise and the generosity with which she shared it, are irreplaceable. In recognition of her contributions to supporting social justice, in 2021, Arley was an inaugural recipient of KPU’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion awards.
Arley’s focus on supporting students in all aspects of their lives from UDL to food security was unparalleled, and her supportive, non-judgemental, and student-centred approach to teaching and focus on student success, has inspired us to do our best in our work at KPU.
Arley sought to truly understand and engage her students, co-creating empowering learning opportunities with them each semester, and often bringing food to share in the classroom. She was incredibly generous with her time and energy, supporting students and colleagues alike, and sharing her expertise and teaching resources freely.Arley’s legacy is immeasurably rich and will continue through the inspired work of her friends and colleagues, and the thousands of students she taught. Her work and contributions embody the highest values of our university’s motto, and are something we should all aspire to: “through tireless effort, knowledge and understanding.”
The outpouring of emotion and admiration on Twitter has been really something. I am at a loss for words, mostly, or at least for the adequate ones. My colleagues have helped me out in that respect. Melissa Ashman’s thread is close to perfect:
It’s a sweet gig!
Applications for two full-time regular faculty positions in my department – Applied Communications – are being accepted until February 10. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to apply. This is the link to the job posting. Kwantlen Polytechnic University is a fine place to work.
Fall teaching
I’m all revved up, for two professional communications classes (a requirement for students seeking their BBA’s in business) and one forlornly named “Technical Report Writing” class (primarily for students in the social sciences, but all are welcome). Over my August break, I made a few nifty revisions to the curricula.
Apropos: To those friends whom I tried to impress, earlier this summer, by claiming that the word “nifty” derived from “magnificent” – I apologize. The evidence wasn’t as solid as I had thought!
Summer teaching
This weekend I will be fine-tuning teaching notes for next week’s classes.
At Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the summer term is starting. I’m teaching third-year courses: Technical Report Writing and Advanced Professional Communications. I’ve made a couple small changes in the curriculum to streamline my students’ efforts (I hope). This will be the first semester since spring 2020 I’ll be meeting students face-to-face in a classroom. I doubt my mask will conceal my real excitement. I am truly thrilled.
On Monday I will be visiting, via Skype, a classroom at Brooklyn College. The class: “Parapsychology: A Critical Examination” (PSYC 3585). I’ve been an invited guest to this class since 2017. I discuss what it was like to be part of organizations that promoted skeptical interpretations of paranormal and psychic phenomena back in the 1980s and 1990s. The students and I always have really wonderful back-and-forth discussions.
I am blessed to have my gig.
The new term
My term starts on Monday (delayed a week because of Omicron). I can’t wait. This has been too long of a break, considering. I had to cancel a trip to Portland because of an eye operation, and then a visit from my partner and her daughter because of our crazy weather. It would have been a complete bust without a stack of books to read!
This semester’s classes are both for third- and fourth-year students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University: ‘Advanced Professional Communications’ and ‘Technical Report Writing.’ Very oddly, it seems, this latter class has become hugely popular in the last year or so; thirty people are on the waiting list. Technical Report Writing is no breeze!
Solidarity
Kwantlen Polytechnic University president Alan Davis sent out this message to faculty and staff today:
KPU is honouring the lost Indigenous children and survivors of residential schools by participating in Lighting the Country Orange from September 27 to October 1. The orange lighting displays are featured at KPU’s Surrey and Langley campuses every evening this week. You can see pictures of the lighting display on the KPU News Flickr channel. My thanks to Facilities Services for making this happen.
Lighting our Langley and Surrey campuses orange is a display of solidarity with Indigenous communities. But on the first national day for Truth and Reconciliation it is important for those of us who are uninvited settlers in this land to do more than simply acknowledge the profound loss of life and culture and ways of being as a result of colonization. We must take time to listen, read, and learn in partnership with Indigenous peoples to figure out what actions are needed for true justice to be served and for true healing to begin.
Indigenous Services at KPU has compiled the following selected list of virtual and in-person events on September 30 recognizing the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation:
• Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc calls on people worldwide to drum simultaneously for the missing children of Indian Residential Schools at 2:15pm PT. Learn the Secwepemc Honour Song and join Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Drum for the Children.
• Squamish Stories with Kung Jaadee – 8-8:45am PT (virtual)
In this live storytelling performance, Kung Jaadee will share her telling of Squamish legends popularized by Indigenous activist and poet E. Pauline Johnson’s book, Legends of Vancouver. The legends she’ll share may include Siwash Rock; the Two-headed Sea Serpent; Two Sisters (The Lions mountains); and how the Squamish People Came to Be.
• XWEÝENE:MSTA:M ?ƏKWƏSQWEL, SEÝEḾ – Vancouver Art Gallery, Noon PT (in-person)
Co-created by Tsatsu Stalqayu, Mortal Coil and Butterflies in Spirit, Xweýene:msta:m ?əkwəsqwel, seýeḿ (translation: call to witness / listen to respected one) is a performance to honour Orange Shirt Day.
• Skookum Surrey National Day for Truth & Reconciliation – Holland Park, near the fountain, 2-4pm PT (in-person)
An afternoon of stories, tea, bannock and drumming will be held rain or shine. Wearing orange shirts and bringing drums is encouraged.
• Beyond Orange Shirt Day – National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, 10:30am CT (virtual)
Survivor Phyllis Webstad speaks live on the NCTR Youtube page.
• Reconciliation and Me – APTN, 11am ET CT MT (broadcast)
Sarain Fox leads a meaningful conversation on truth and reconciliation with five youth allies.
• Walk for Reconciliation – Grand Chief Bernard Charles Memorial Plaza, White Rock, 1-2:30pm PT
The Semiahmoo First Nation is hosting ‘Walk for Reconciliation’ on Thursday, September 30th 2021 for Truth and Reconciliation Day to honour the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.
Salut, Kwantlen!
My university‘s beer-brewing program gets another accolade. From the Aldergrove Star:
Student brewers at Langley’s Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) campus have tied for second place overall in the top brewing schools in North America. KPU also won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal in the 2021 U.S. Open College Beer Championship (USOCBC) this month.
Competing against 11 other colleges and universities from Canada and the United States, KPU won gold in the American Amber/Red Ale category for Birra Rossa, brewed by then first-year students Michael Hodgson, Peter Bartnik, and Donghwan Chang.
The two silver medals were awarded for KPU’s Noble Steed Coconut Porter brewed by second-year students and now graduates Emily Comeau, Rebecca Deil, and Alex Paul in the Hybrids Coconut category; and for the Pale Ale in the American Strong Pale Ale category brewed by then first-year students Jacob Wideman, Colton Yakabuski, and Donghwan Chang. KPU won bronze for the Helles Lager brewed by Kayla Gibson, Wakana Sakurai, Philip Chrinko, and Kevin Reid during their first year of study. …
Alex Paul, a recent KPU brewing grad now working at Mariner Brewing in Coquitlam said their team was “blown away” to win a medal for their signature recipe beer, Noble Steed. “This was our capstone brewing project, so Rebecca, Emily and I were fully responsible for creating the recipe, brewing, analysis, and quality control, as well as being involved with marketing and sales of our beer,” says Paul. “It’s so cool that it won an award and we really appreciate all the amazing support of our instructors to help us get to where we are.”
Fall semester!
Classes at Kwantlen Polytechnic University start this week. One of my three courses was going to be face to face. Unaccountably, though, the province required that students be vaccinated to enter any room on campus EXCEPT the classrooms, so I moved that class to an online platform for everybody’s peace of mind and safety (the administration gave a green light to all faculty for that). I was truly hoping to step into a classroom again. (I am a lot funnier in person – I try to graft Johnny Carson onto Professor Kingsfield while talking about not necessarily enchanting topics.)
At any rate, I’m looking forward to meeting my new students in our online environment. I am very grateful I have this blessed gig.
7 Sept. – New guidance from my university today: “Individuals can remove their masks while actively consuming food or drink when seated in classrooms.” Pot luck time!
The sustainable tomato
I love teaching at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I have so many colleagues (students, too) who explain the mysteries of the world to me. In today’s Canada’s National Observer, for instance, Dr. Michael Bomford, who teaches in my school’s prestigious Sustainable Agriculture program, clues me in on the topic of tomato provenance:
“A tomato grown in a Mexican field and trucked north is about six times more climate-friendly than one raised in a Canadian gas-heated greenhouse.” How come? “In B.C., we’ve opted to use Dutch-style heated greenhouse systems … extremely high-yielding systems if you look at the output per square meter of the greenhouse itself. The problem, of course, is that the energy input that is going into that system is also massive,” Bomford explains.
“Very often, the argument is made that if we had (more) local heated greenhouses, we’re going to cut down on fossil fuel use associated with trucking or shipping food from distant locations,” he said. “Yet when you run the numbers, you find that the energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with trucking or shipping is far less than the local production of a product in a heated greenhouse.”
“I think the reality is that it’s going to be hard to find a truly sustainable tomato in January in B.C. or anywhere in Canada,” he said. “But food miles are a poor indicator of sustainability, what I’d like to see is production systems that are truly a part of the place where they exist — and that doesn’t necessarily mean that all our food comes from right next door.”
Somehow I missed this
My fine university has an O.R.G.A.S.M. lab. (It’s a clever acronym for Observations and Research in Gender and Sexuality Matters.) Its director and principal investigator, Cory Pedersen, is a really sharp person and a beloved professor and mentor. Here’s a short article published today describing research the lab did on inferences people make regarding body shape and sexual traits.
No ICE
Several former students of mine work (or have worked) for Vancouver-based Hootsuite. I’ve used Hootsuite Academy materials in my digital-marketing classes at Kwantlen. So I’m very glad the company has terminated its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I imagine social-media managers around the globe would have dropped the platform otherwise – and that some of my students might have abandoned ship as well.
Kwantlen beer
My university’s Brewing and Brewery Operations program, which offers “the only brewing diploma of its kind in BC and [is] the first brewing program in Canada to be recognized by the Master Brewers Association,” seems to have a masterful PR operation going on. I get more news alerts about Kwantlen beer than I do about any other part of Kwantlen Polytechnic University (our horticulture initiatives are right up there, though). Anyways, here’s our new brew (4.2% abv):
Class Act uses boysenberry purée, a new version of Amarillo hop called Lemon Candy, and a brand new hop blend, HS-1228, to create a dry-hopped kettle sour that is loaded with flavour. The massive HS-1228 and Amarillo dry hop additions provide deep pineapple, mango and lemon aromas, while the boysenberry adds a bright red hue and juicy fruit flavour.
Students
Yesterday and today I have been viewing short videos that students in my three summer classes made about their projects. This has been the first time I have seen their faces or, for most of them, heard their voices. It has been an emotional experience.
Summer Semester
I meet three groups of new students starting on Monday – a third-year class and two first-years. They are all online, “distant learning” endeavours. I’ve done a bunch of online courses in the past – it took me a couple of semesters before they were truly “robust” – so I am not climbing the learning curve the way some of my colleagues are.
That said, everything is nonetheless different for *all* of us, and in my interactions with my new students – as well as with my old colleagues – I am trying to focus on being extra-courteous to everyone.
Some help for Kwantlen students during the pandemic
A message from my university:
The Kwantlen Student Association [KSA] has donated $100,000 in emergency funding for students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. To match this generous gift, KPU will also donate $100,000.
“The KSA always strives to represent its students, and we hope that with this donation, we can give students financial assistance to reduce financial hardships they might face due to COVID-19,” says David Piraquive, president of the KSA.
The funds will be available from March 30 to any student registered for the Spring 2020 term. Students are eligible for up to $250.
“During these unprecedented times, many people will face financial hardships and this includes KPU students. We are deeply grateful to the KSA for this generous gift, and we are proud to partner with them in this effort by matching their donation. Our collective efforts will help our students financially as they try to navigate the current situation,” says Dr. Alan Davis, president and vice-chancellor of KPU.
For students who require more emergency funding, there are other grants and bursaries available to students who meet specific criteria. For more information about student financial aid and to apply, visit kpu.ca/awards.
Additional message tweeted me from KPU:
Students can begin applying March 30, closer to the end of day. There will be a form on http://kpu.ca/awards. For more information please contact the student aid office.
I’ve sent this out to all my current students directly – and posted the message here for my former students who follow basil.ca.
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