Welcome Message from the Head

Let me welcome you to our EDST Blog. This is part of a departmental communication strategy that we hope will not only provide news and information but will also serve as a means to build our community.

The EDST Communication Committee is co-chaired by Michelle Stack and Amy Metcalfe. Michelle has taken primary responsibility for improving our website and for external communications to prospective students and professional associations.  For the first time this Fall we advertised our graduate programs and we are in direct contact with the British Columbia Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association (BCPVPA), the Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia (PSEBC) and the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF).  Do check the rejuvenated website with videos and current information on department activities.

Amy has taken primary responsibility for our internal communication with each other, the Emeriti, our alumni and other relevant academic units inside the university.  We invite you to contribute to this Blog with stories about your research, work in the field, and experiences in EDST.  As enough material is accumulated we will transform this into a newsletter-type of publication that will be distributed as a pdf and through a limited print-run under the heading Think Educational Studies.

This will only work if you contribute.  We need summaries of published books, complete theses, ongoing research projects, retirement projects and news of interesting activities from around the globe. We are looking for text but also multimedia materials for our website (e.g., a podcast or a short video about your research).

Our work has been made possible because of the skills of the newest staff member, Adrian Bartel (Web and Database Coordinator).  Other members of the committee include Daniel Vokey who got things running earlier in the term, and PhD students Patrick Radebe and Nora Timmerman. Special thanks to Kalervo Gulson for his work on the Communications Committee in 2010.

If you have ideas or something you want to share please send it to Adrian, and cc Michelle and Amy. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Donald Fisher

Indigenous Education professor opportunity

EDST has a recruitment posting for an Assistant or Associate Professor in Indigenous Education. See the careers section of our website for the full posting.

Elizabeth Etmanski, Vancouver artist featured on Global BC

Congratulations Elizabeth Etmanski and Helen-Kelsey Etmanski. Elizabeth, an artist at Emily Carr was featured prominently in an autobiographic segment on artists with disabilities in celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Elizabeth spoke with humor, pride and her future ahead of her as the next “Emily Carr”. Helen is completing her EdD in our program about the lives of parents of adults with disabilities our government has put into community living supports.

Used with permission from Global TV BC.

Televised episodes such as this only serve to remind us how important the work is that our students are doing often in under-represented areas of social justice in education and public spotlight this work so richly deserves.

Congratulations Elizabeth and Helen… Way to go in our community.

Gerald Fallon joins EDST

Gerald Fallon

Gerald Fallon has joined us as a new faculty member this week. His bio is forthcoming on our website.