September 22/95

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

Bill Schermbrucker, Committee Chair

Faculty Development Days Well Attended
Attendance was high at the various FD Days events
last May and through August. There were over 300
individual registrations for events and workshops
provided free by the Faculty Development
Committee. The On-Line Research Skills session
given by Librarians George Modenesi and David
Lambert (Pt.1) repeated to a full house in August.
Part 2 given by Annette Lorek and Maureen Witney
filled the lecture theatre. George and David are
updating the booklet handed out at the workshop to
include instructions on access to the UNCOVER
database (a table of contents of 15,000 periodicals
from 1989 to the present) and to the REVEAL
alerting service which allows specific tables of
contents to be delivered to your e-mail doorstep.
This’ booklet will be co-published by the Library and
the Faculty Development Committee, and distributed
to all areas of the College. The Multimedia
presentation by Liz Hammond-Kaareema also filled
the lecture theatre, and was very exciting (but
brought on conversations about early retirement!)
Liz has indicated that she is willing to come again
next year. Soon, I will be sending you a brief
questionnaire and evaluation form, so please be sure
to fill it out and send it back to me for the guidance
of your committee in planning this year’s PD events.

Instructional Skills Workshop a Go
Margot Rawsthorne ran a successful JSW in August,
with six participants. The evaluations show that
while the work was no picnic, the lunches were
greatly appreciated, as was Margot’s leadership
(oops! "facilitatorship"). Expect the next JSW in the
spring. It’s not only a good way to discover new
teaching techniques, but a pleasant opportunity to
meet colleagues from other departments.

Conferences & Research: Round The Map
Despite its very limited budget, the Faculty
Development Committee was able to contribute to
faculty engaging in research and conferences as
widely as ever before, and most reports are already
in. Rick Brewster presented a paper at the British
Combinatorial Conference in Stirling, Scotland, and
came back bursting with enthusiasm (and has now
joined our Committee). In Montréal, Leslie Baker
wrestled productively with "Maintaining the
Momentum" of Eldercollege, and Ed Lavalle ran the

AGM of CLERA, and gave a paper at the Learneds.
In Prince George, Towser Jones and Robert
Campbell seem to have experienced a coming of age
of B.C. History, in a highly participatory conference
with some prominent names in the field, and visited
a HBC trading fort. Annette Lorek and Sidney
Myers from the Library went to California and came
back more confident and knowledgeable than before
about using Innovative software, and refining our
implementation. Also in California, Mark Battersby
engaged in more Critical Thinking, and ran a well-
attended workshop for Cap Faculty in August. Sue
Gardner in Philosophy was accorded guru treatment
in Australia, and her paper was solicited for
publication in the Australian Journal of Creative &
Critical Thinking. Melanie Fahlman-Reid completed
coursework for Certification in teaching ESL and has
been appointed a Reader for a TOEFL test, which
will take her to San Francisco twice a year for
standardization conferences. Lyne Gareau went to
Indiana and boned up on Language Lab technology.
Not to mention all the stuff that went on locally, from
Bill Murdoch’s movement workshop, to Jan
Westendorp’s SFU imaging workshops, to Brian
White’s kayak training etc. The Committee also gave
a grant to assist Dorinda Neave in Art History to
spend five weeks in May/June in Japan, at Aichi
Gakusen, and research Contemporary Performance
Art by Women Artists. Not many PD reports begin
with a haiku from Basho:

Quietness...

On the wall, where hangs a painting,

A grasshopper chirps.

Fall Grant Applications

The Fall Deadline for application for Research and
Conference Grants is Friday, October 6th, 12 noon.
Application forms should be photocopied out of the
Faculty Development Handbook (Fall 1993) available
from your Coordinator. You can also obtain the
form from me (voicemail 2411). (Note: The
Committee does not normally fund research and
conferences which should be  departmentally
funded--though it may contribute to them. Shouldn’t
every department have a PD budget?)

Faculty Development Committee: Rick Brewster,
David Browne, Louise Cantin Orr-Ewing,
Charlene Hill, David Jones, Scott MacLeod.

@nformer