As the summer break rushes past, four new deans have arrived ready to work at the University of Lethbridge, taking on new roles during a historic shift that also sees a new president and chancellor.
The Faculty of Fine Arts, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Education and Faculty of Education all see new leaders heading into the 2023/24 school year. An administrative turnover of this size has not been seen at the University of Lethbridge in over three decades, but the new deans say all is good on campus. However, an amalgamation of events has meant the previous four years have been turbulent at the university by some accounts. This is due to the COVID pandemic, the union strike, budget cuts and more, although one of the new deans says the light is at the end of the tunnel.
Dr. Harold Jansen, the new dean in the school of liberal education, is also the new university librarian – sort of. He spent the previous two and a half years running the library as “interim university librarian”, though the former has been dropped as he doubles up with the role of dean as well.
Even with his newly acquired schedule that is already chalk full, Jansen says he is excited about his job and the fact that the school is seemingly turning a page with other people now feeling genuinely excited about what the future holds.
“We’ve been through some really, really difficult times and there are still wounds and scars from that,” said Jansen during an interview in July. “But I really do feel that we’ve turned a corner and there are some really bright and exciting days ahead.”
He says the new leadership is propelling the optimistic feeling around campus since the fresh faces could quite possibly mean fresh directions for the institution.
“It’s always good to get new ideas and new perspectives,” said Jansen.
This thought was shared by a new member of the University of Lethbridge staff, Dr. Lisa Starr, who says although she had not experienced the recent years in Lethbridge, she’s feeling the positive attitude throughout the halls, even if she is personally less optimistic than Jansen.
“People do feel a sense of hope,” said Starr during an interview at the university in July. “I’m always a bit cautious because there’s a certain type of emotional trauma that exists because of some of these things that have happened, you see that with COVID, and it would be foolish to think that’s just disappeared now.”
Even so, she says the higher emphasis on wellness has encouraged a healthier population at the university which will, in time, bring a better future.
“Not only are we aware of the different mechanisms and pathways for support, but people are taking advantage of them,” said Starr. “They’re recognizing that they have to prioritize their health and wellbeing in order to be successful.”
Starr is the new dean for the faculty of education and her career began by teaching in grade school in British Columbia before she worked abroad and eventually in post-secondary administration at McGill University in Montreal.
She says her time spent teaching and researching in foreign nations such as Kuwait, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Mongolia saw her grow significantly as both a teacher and a human being.
“I’ve travelled to lots of places but so have many other people, but I think it’s living in other places where you’re actually embedded in a culture that is different than your own and having to reconcile the tensions of what it means for me to be Canadian,” said Starr.
She says her experiences teaching and living across Canada, coast to coast, have also enabled her to understand the complex cultures within our country as well.
This has translated to Starr hoping to see more inclusivity and Indigenous promotion at the university and Canada at large.
She says the objectives often set by universities and other organizations are noble but the methods of achieving those goals have not been as well thought out.
“I think one of the fatal mistakes that sometimes institutions make is kind of dropping in to fix a problem and then pulling back out,” said Starr. “Historically that’s been the approach and it’s not desired and not always that successful.”
As a result, she says she hopes to immediately begin working with those in Lethbridge to ensure the university can bring the highest level of quality education that is possible.
“The first thing that I would like to do is really get out into working with community partners, whether they be our Indigenous partners, some of our school partners and really listen to what’s happening,” said Starr. “Education is unique in that we can’t exist without that connection to the field.”
Sharing Starr’s desire to see inclusion and community engagement rise to the top of the University of Lethbridge’s agenda is the new dean of the faculty of fine arts, Dr. Heather Davis-Fisch.
The renowned playwright, who comes to Lethbridge from the University of the Fraser Valley, has taken over the fine arts department and she says inclusion is beyond important for her personally.
“I think the things that I would probably be bringing to the role, that I don’t think is a new direction but probably an extension of work that’s already happened or has already started to happen, is work around equity, diversity and inclusion,” said Davis-Fisch in an interview in July.
She says she wants to improve access for students while simultaneously creating a more diverse student population.
Furthermore, Davis-Fisch says it is important that this idea of inclusion kicks off for students from before they officially enroll at the university all the way until they flip the tassel and graduate.
“The other thing I’m really interested in promoting is Indigenization and the decolonization of the university,” said Davis-Fisch.
She says this means working more closely with Indigenous offices on campus, engaging with the Blackfoot Confederacy and simply taking feedback from Indigenous people on how to improve the university.
Davis-Fisch says the promotion of inclusion and Indigenous welfare on campus are the foundation in which she will work from as dean of the faculty of fine arts.
Many of these ideas that could be set in motion from the deans are arguably useless if not distributed across the university for all students in every department to access. This is where the idea of liberal education comes into play and Jansen is not the only one familiar with its importance.
Dr. Jon Doan, the new dean of the faculty of health sciences and faculty member of the university since 2005, says he has remained at the school for so long because of the holistic education provided through liberal education.
“While we do have our different faculties and our different orientations, we’re a collaborative university across the board and I’m just going to continue that collaboration,” said Doan in an interview in July.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities defines liberal education as “an approach to undergraduate education that promotes integration of learning across the curriculum and cocurriculum, and between academic and experiential learning, in order to develop specific learning outcomes that are essential for work, citizenship, and life.”
The University of Lethbridge website says the objective of liberal education is to create better, more prepared students for the future.
“(Our objective is) to develop transdisciplinary learning and thinking skills to enable individuals to contribute to their communities at all levels.”
Doan says this idea creates a more creative environment which promotes growth and the University of Lethbridge does a fantastic job with it while other universities do not provide such a well-connected school.
“Other institutions may not have that same kind of networking and so that really encouraged me to stay here,” said Doan.
As the hard work continues and the fresh semester dawns, the new deans are ready for the challenges ahead.
“I think it’s an exciting and interesting time,” said Jansen.
With all four deans officially stepping into their new roles on July 1, they’ve had the summer to prepare for the fall term.
Comments