CSSH Newsletter

College Dean's Message

Help shape the stories that connect CSSH — and please read this special edition to the end to understand why your perspective matters in what we build together.

tân'si, nitôtêmak,

Earlier in my term, we introduced the idea of strengthening the ways we make sense of — and communicate — the breadth of teaching and research taking place across the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. This fall, co-sponsored by CSSH and the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), we will take the next step by developing a core set of shared narrative lenses for the College, shaped by perspectives from across Arts, Business, Education and Law.

Why are we doing this? Two reasons:

1. To tell bigger, more connected stories about the impact of CSSH.
   We have some of the most powerful storytellers on our campuses. By connecting perspectives from across faculties, we can tell richer stories about the people working on shared questions and challenges. These narrative lenses will help us see connections across our intellectual diversity and faculty boundaries — rather than categorize them — so that collaboration across disciplines increasingly becomes a matter of course — and our collective impact becomes greater.
    
2. To turn connections into opportunities — backed by resources.
   The lenses will help connect people working on related questions and create a starting point for cross-faculty research and teaching opportunities. I have already secured soft commitments for potential seed funding and, possibly, facilitated support to help promising collaborations that also require time and effort get started.

How will this work?

Starting this Sept. and over the course of six weeks, I will host a series of facilitated conversations with experienced co-facilitators trained in the ORID model from the Faculty of Native Studies: Dr. Shalene Jobin, Dr. Matthew Wildcat and Dr. Renee McBeth.

Rather than dividing the sessions by faculty, we have chosen to organize them by role:

• Administrative & Operational Systems

• Academic Community

• Teaching & Learning Community 

• Leadership & Strategy

This structure reflects the range of strategic, academic, operational and student-facing perspectives we want represented.

The goal is not to arrive with the answers already determined. We need your experience and expertise to help identify the connections that can better describe — and potentially strengthen — our collective work.

Get involved — your voice will impact our direction

Complete this short Google form to find the session that will benefit most from your expertise and experience — and register to participate.

To support the facilitation approach we are using, each session is limited to 50 participants. Additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list, and if interest suggests we need more opportunities for participation, we will add sessions at the end of the series.

In my presentation for the vice provost and dean position, I said that I did not need everyone to believe wholeheartedly in the college model. I simply needed people to suspend their disbelief long enough to see what we might be able to do together.

Nearly one year into this position, I have been deeply gratified by the trust people have placed in the College Office and in me as I have learned to navigate the complexities of the One University Model, the role of CSSH within it, and the possibilities we have yet to explore.

Building these narrative lenses is one example of what the college structure can make possible.

I thank you for lending your expertise — and your labour — to this initiative. I look forward to building this with you.

— Chris Andersen and the College Office team

These sessions are co-sponsored by CSSH and KIAS. The Dean’s Office for each faculty will sponsor one session each, the College Office will support another, and an additional gathering will be supported through the Vice-Provost and College Dean’s discretionary funds. 

Each session will include food from a local caterer selected by the session’s sponsor.