Learning

Mar 14

Tools that help us talk about impacts in the humanities

Tim Kenyon, Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Arts, Research, University of Waterloo; member of the Federation’s Impacts Project Advisory Group

On February 8-9, I was very happy to meet with colleagues at the University of Manitoba, during a visit organized by the Institute for Humanities. In presentations and discussion sessions, we covered topics relating to the measurement and appraisal of humanities research. A summary of some of the themes raised in those discussions follows.

When asked to provide evidence or descriptions of research impact, humanities researchers typically face two related difficulties. The first is the prevalence and influence of research metrics that do not capture humanities research accurately; the second is the difficulty of proposing characterizations of research impact that do capture humanities research accurately.

We discussed ways in which both difficulties can be addressed through an open,...

Mar 13

Parochialism and protectionism are the enemies of enlightenment: President Deane

This article was published in McMaster Daily News on February 28, 2017.

By Dr. Patrick Deane, President and Vice-Chancellor, McMaster University

On January 27, 2017, the White House issued its now notorious Executive Order: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States. As I write this, the order has been blocked by the courts and theoretically citizens of the seven Muslim-majority countries targeted by the ban are able to enter the United States as before. A new Executive Order is said to be imminent, however, so it is reasonable to assume that in one form or another discrimination on the basis of faith or ethnicity will continue to be an element in US immigration policy under the present administration.

That the issuing of the Executive...

Jan 31

The Federation pilots a new webinar service for members

Eveline Oulton, Member Relations Officer, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

As the Federation’s staff member dedicated to improving the membership experience, I am always on the lookout for new and better ways of delivering value to our membership. Last year’s member survey turned up a number of new ideas for Federation initiatives — as surveys are wont to do — including one around offering additional member learning opportunities.

And so the idea of a webinar learning series was born— focused on member priority issues, complimentary and facilitated by the Federation.

In January, we launched the new service, calling it “webinars for members.” Our first webinar was on membership recruitment and retention strategies for associations members. It attracted almost 50 registrants from across the membership and featured insight and discussion of the Canadian Sociological Association’s successful strategies for member recruitment and...

May 17

Some reflections on the founding of Canada

Guy Laforest, Professor, Departement of Political Science, Université Laval

This blog was published on Guy Laforest's website on May 15th, 2016

« The 1864 Conference of Québec 150 years later : understanding the emergence of the Canadian federation ». Such is the title of a collection of essays, edited by Eugénie Brouillet, Alain-G. Gagnon and myself, that just got published in French by Presses de l’Université Laval (https://www.pulaval.com/produit/la-conference-de-quebec-de-1864-150-ans-plus-tard-comprendre-l-emergence-de-la-federation-canadienne). This book is part of a...

Aug 25

We Are Coming Home: Repatriation and the Restoration of Blackfoot Cultural Confidence

Robert R. Janes, independent scholar

We Are Coming Home: Repatriation and the Restoration of Blackfoot Cultural Confidence (Athabasca University Press) is an unusual book in the museum world – not only because it’s about the unconditional return of sacred objects, but also because five of the eight contributors are Blackfoot ceremonialists or spiritual leaders. Although the idea for the book was the result of a restaurant conversation, it is actually the culmination of an evolving, 10-year relationship between the Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Alberta) and the four First Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy – a process of reciprocity, deepening understanding, and mutual appreciation. The...

Jul 14

Des nouvelles méthodes d’apprentissage pour « Imaginer l’avenir du Canada »

Jo-Anni Joncas, doctorante en Administration et évaluation en éducation à l’Université Laval et reporteure pour l’initiative Imaginer l’avenir du Canada organisé par le CRSH et l’ACES

Pour continuer à prospérer au XXI^e siècle, le Canada doit être proactif et réfléchir collectivement à ses possibilités d’avenir afin d’être en mesure d’anticiper ses besoins comme société et en matière de connaissances, ainsi que les enjeux auxquels il pourrait devoir faire face. C’est pourquoi l’initiative « Imaginer l’avenir du Canada » a été organisée par l’Association canadienne pour les études supérieures (ACES) et le Conseil de recherche en sciences humaines (CRSH) du Canada. Six questions ont été identifiées pour mettre en lumière les défis que le Canada devra relever dans un contexte mondialisé en...

Jun 18

On National Aboriginal Day, what does reconciliation mean to you?

Jean-Paul Restoule, Associate Professor of Aboriginal Education at OISE/University of Toronto

Remember when National Aboriginal Day was called National Aboriginal Solidarity Day? Just weeks after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report, we would do well to consider the critical role solidarity plays in reconciliation.

Achieving genuine reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada is a responsibility we all share. We can’t wait for our governments or our administrative heads to make change. ...

Apr 7

L’avenir de la recherche au Canada

Fernand Gervais, Administrateur, enseignement et apprentissage, Fédération des sciences humaines

Vous avez peut-être entendu parler de l’initiative récente de l’Association canadienne des études supérieures (ACES) et du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines (CRSH) qui inviteront 20 étudiants de divers établissements universitaires pour discuter de l’avenir de la recherche au Canada. Ce projet fait partie de l’initiative Imaginer l’avenir du Canada.

C’est à mon sens une excellente idée. Les séances de rencontre permettront aux participants d’exposer leurs idées sur les grands défis de demain, et d’exprimer les besoins de la société en rapport avec le développement de la recherche. Partir du point de vue de ceux et celles qui en seront les principaux acteurs dans le futur au Canada est...

Apr 1

Celebrating 50 Years: our 50th birthday and our 50th Congress!

Linda Gerber, President, Canadian Sociological Association

The roots of the Canadian Sociological Association are found in the Anthropology and Sociology Chapter of the Canadian Political Science Association, which was established in 1955. By the early 1960s, Chapter members were discussing the possibility of establishing a journal and a separate association. The first issue of the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology was published in February 1964 as the Official Journal of the Anthropology and Sociology Chapter, for it would be 1965 before the separate Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) was established, with headquarters at what is now Concordia University in Montreal. By 2007, sociologists and anthropologists had gone their separate...

Feb 18

Once Again, Without Data

Jason Haslam, President, Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE)

It has become a common complaint, across the board, that statistics relating to Canadian higher education are sorely lacking or, when they do exist, are misleading–ACCUTE past-president Stephen Slemon has written about this matter on this very blog. Whether it’s in terms of faculty hiring (and of what sorts), student outcome, or relative growth in funding and expenditures between capital projects, administration, and teaching, we’re operating with few details, and often with far fewer facts to work with than our American cousins have at their disposal. Of course, we can still learn from some of those American data points, but we do have to keep the multiple different...

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