College Dean's Message

Dear College Community,

What an eventful and busy month April has been for the College. As we start to look towards Spring term, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on all the crucial work you’ve done over this past term. Please know that your efforts are the pulse of this institution as we support students to achieve their goal of a world-class education.

I want to offer my sincere congratulations to Dr. Vikas Mehrotra who was appointed as the new Dean of the Alberta School of Business. Vikas brings a wealth of ideas and initiatives to the role, including increasing the investment in experiential learning and expanding the School’s presence and reputation globally so that graduates of the program continue to be in high demand in key industries worldwide.

I must also acknowledge the tremendous efforts of Kyle Murray whose leadership guided the School through many formidable challenges, including during the pandemic. I know Kyle is looking forward to returning to research and teaching and directly connecting with students once again. Thank you Kyle for all that you’ve accomplished over these past years to ensure the Alberta School of Business achieves its pursuit of excellence.

For those of you who haven’t met Kerrie Johnston, our College General Manager, I hope you take a moment to read Kerrie’s Q&A and learn more about the functions of this important role.

Sincerely, 

Joseph Doucet

College Information

Getting to Know... Kerrie!

We had the chance to chat with our College General Manager (and behind-the-scenes superhero) Kerrie Johnston! Scroll down to learn about her role, what inspires her career and the best gift she's ever received.

How long have you been with the University of Alberta?

Since 2009. I have been fortunate to work in the Departments of Psychology and Chemistry, the Faculty of Science, and now the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Can you walk us through a day in the life of the College General Manager?

My days are wonderfully varied and no two are the same. 

My primary function is operational leadership, to coordinate and support the delivery of services across our College. This role sees me bridging the issues of our front-line academic units with those of the university-wide centralized services, as well as building the College offices. This essentially means I spend my days in meetings at all levels, planning and trying to find ways to use our resources to the best effect. The hard work of making it happen at the College is done by the Directors and Coordinators in our Offices of Education and Research, and our new II&EDI Officer, with the aim of providing simple, useful, streamlined and practical services to our Faculties so they can focus on the important functions of teaching, research, creativity and community engagement.

What inspired you to enter this role?

My love of this institution and its place in our world. UAlberta is my alma mater, and I believe deeply in the fundamental place of education in our society and – just as strongly – in the need to foster and nurture the creative and inquisitive spark that drives human ingenuity. We are busily reimagining how we go about supporting the vibrant and vital work that is being done here and I love having a role in shaping that.

Lastly, what was the best gift you have ever received?

A trail cam. Our yard backs onto a green space and my husband set up a camera (fondly called the BunnyCam) so I can watch the porcupines, flying squirrels, jackrabbits, coyotes and occasional deer wander past. I grew up running around in the woods so I delight in viewing the wildlife.

College Updates

Position Announcement

Please welcome Tim Ira, our inaugural Indigenous Initiatives and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Initiatives Officer.

Tim is a proud UAlberta graduate (Education) who has been leading work in this space since his undergraduate days on the Student's Union. While there, he led the New Student Orientation program, launched the University's Co-Curricular Record and was appointed as the first chair of the Fall Reading Week Programming Task Force. He fostered a collaborative approach to operational and learner-supportive work during his time there and was welcomed back to undertake contract work with our Dean of Students office over the last 18 months, focusing on inclusion, anti-racism and mental health.

Over the last several years, Tim has been leading NAIT's 2SLGBTQIA+ initiatives, working with a wide range of senior leaders and service areas to transform policy, support curriculum mapping and enhance well-being programs. He is co-author of NAITs EDI Strategy and its EDI Lens Toolkit. He was entrusted with several successful projects such as their IT self-identification, Pride Week, sexual violence prevention and that institution's first attempt to integrate anti-racism and anti-colonial approaches into their work.

We are excited to have him in this role!

Office of Research

Office Updates

SKIPP's Indigenous-Engaged Researcher Database Project

The Office of Research would like to ensure that our College is aware of an initiative from the Situated Knowledges: Indigenous Peoples and Place (SKIPP) network. 

Roots of Change aims to transform connections between Indigenous communities and UAlberta. Part of Roots of Change starts with creating a comprehensive researcher database of all UAlberta Indigenous-engaged research for scholars, students and community members to explore. Click here to access a form that solicits information that will assist in establishing this database. 

If you do not wish to complete the form but would like your information included, please email skipp@ualberta.ca. For more information about the Roots of Change project, you can visit the Roots of Change section of the SKIPP website.

Research Calendar

Have you ever wanted a go-to place to find out specific deadlines (such as research grant submissions) and relevant events for our broad College community? We are excited to introduce a new addition to our College's website!

Check it out here.

Updating Information

We would like to encourage all staff and faculty to take a moment to update their contact information and biography (including most recent research and/or teaching) on the UAlberta Directory. It's easy to do, so please allocate some time to do this.

Office of Education

Office Updates

Hiring Announcement

The Office of Education is excited to welcome Fatma Mohammed as a Scheduling and Timetabling Coordinator.

Fatma brings with her many years of experience from her previous role as an Undergraduate Medical Education Program Administrator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology here at the U of A. Fatma joins scheduling team members Gayeung Doan and Melissa Schafer, and Christine Whelan, the Academic Integrity and Discipline Coordinator.

Welcome to the team, Fatma!

College News

Are you keeping up with the latest College news? Please visit our College News and Notices page as we highlight some of the amazing people, research and success stories in our College.