Goals, Objectives, Strategies

  1. Strategic Area of Focus:  Relationships with Arts & Science and Cross-College Visibility of STM Faculty Achievements (Academic & Institutional Outreach)
     

    Goal Statement: By 2015, we will have a strong and vibrant relationship with Arts & Science achieved through increasing opportunities for interaction as well as better communication about the work of STM.

     

    Objective: To strengthen relationships with our Arts & Science colleagues.

    Strategies:

    • Organize round tables & faculty presentations including STM and A&S members and invite A&S member to be a respondent.
    • Invite colleagues from the U of S to give a formal talk about their research.
    • Invite colleagues with whom we are building a relationship to have lunch at STM and informally discuss their research and/or their programming (e.g., goals, needs).



    Objective:      To increase and maintain visibility of STM faculty accomplishments in the areas of teaching (including graduate supervision), research and community service.

    Strategies:

    • Highlight STM faculty and their achievements in teaching (including graduate supervision), research, and community service through our College home page.
    • Profile our faculty in an annual research report which we send to our corresponding university departments (CUD's) and to A&S Deans, Provost, and President.
    • Promote our faculty achievements through on/off campus channels (media).
       
       
  2. Strategic Area of Focus:  Scholarship in Service of the Community
     

    Goal Statement: By 2015, STM will be known for its commitment to scholarship in service of the community and will reward/recognize faculty who are active in community service.  (Many examples could be cited of STM faculty using their scholarly expertise in service of a community beyond the university campus. A recent example illustrating this kind of scholarship in service of the community can be found in Dr. Darrell McLaughlin's employing a student in 2010 through the Student Summer Works program as a Local Food Security social research assistant. The student will work with other members of the Children Hunger Education Program Community Garden (CHEPCG) team in the operation of a community garden.)

     


    Objective:  To better comprehend local community needs and to identify College commitment to these needs. 

     

    Strategies:

    • Raise the profile of our Engaged Learning Program (Community Service Learning) by organizing a panel session of faculty members who have been using CSL in their courses.

     

    Objective:  To expand our understanding and vision of scholarship in service by exploring alternative models of faculty engagement.  (For a current example see Wade, A. & Demb, A. (2009).  A conceptual model to explore faculty community engagement. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Spring, 5-16)

    Strategies:

    • Organize a campus workshop with an external speaker who can present on models of faculty engagement that directly connect teaching, research and service functions.

     

    Objective:  To formalize mechanisms for recognizing excellence in service, including   scholarship of engagement.

    Strategies:

    • Provide assistance to those who wish to submit a dossier on service for the purpose of a career related decision (e.g., merit) by providing models of how to showcase superior work in service.
    • In collaboration with the Professional and Community Service Committee revise the terms of reference of the Margaret Dutli Award, to recognize the scholarship of engagement, including the reinstatement of a monetary prize as part of the award.
       
       
  3. Strategic Area of Focus:  Distinctive Programming
     
    Our distinct areas of programming are: STM Philosophy, Catholic Studies Minor, Jewish and Christian Origins Minor, and Classical and Medieval Renaissance Studies (CMRS) in partnership with Arts and Science. We have two new minors that are at various stages of development and approval including a Minor in Social Justice and the Common Good and a Ukrainian Studies Minor. In addition we have a group of faculty currently discussing Canadian/Prairie Studies as a possible programming area. It is also important to note that a key area of distinctive programming at STM is our multi-pronged program in Community Service Learning.


    Goal Statement:  By 2015, we will have strong and distinctive offerings within our overall Academic Program.

    Objective:  To continue to develop, and monitor program initiatives distinctive to the College (e.g., interdisciplinary). 

    Strategies:

    • Support faculty participation in curricular Community Service Learning (CSL) by providing grants of different types (e.g., small instructional grants to those who wish to design or redesign a CSL course; small research grants for those who wish to engage in research as part of the CSL experience created in a course).
    • Identify all distinctive programs and document their needs, such as resources, administrative support and library collections and services.
    • Explore the creation of an STM Distinctive Programs Committee made up of the chairs/coordinators of each distinctive (and/or interdisciplinary) program. This committee would facilitate communication between the chairs and coordinators of each of the distinct programs and would report to Faculty Council.
    • Build an STM learning community program for our first year students that extends the model currently in use at the University of Saskatchewan by engaging faculty members to work collaboratively within the community "cluster" of courses (e.g., a professor in English working together with a professor in Philosophy to deliver their own first year courses to a targeted learning community).
    • Develop a teaching fellowship for a visiting scholar who has ties to the Basilian tradition. This scholar may be drawn from a range of fields relating to the academic program of STM and with interests that intersect with the issues that are central to the Basilian vision. This scholar would join the College for at least one term during the academic year.

     

    Objective: To promote our distinct programs and courses.

    Strategies:

    • Highlight our distinct programs and courses through our College home page.
    • Profile our distinct programs and courses in an annual report which we send to our CUD's and to A&S Deans, Provost, and President.
    • Promote our distinct programs and courses through on/off campus channels (media).
       
       
  4. Strategic Area of Focus:  Supporting Research
     

    STM has taken a number of steps in recent years to support faculty in their research programs. In 2006 it created an Academic Administrative Assistant position; this position was revised and most recently filled in 2007.  New tenure-stream faculty are provided with start-up research funds and are assigned a reduced teaching load in their first year.   In December 2009 a new policy on teaching assignment was adopted by Faculty Council, which allows reductions to teaching load based on research activity. The College's Seed and Research grants have also been modified to be more flexible and accessible. A new policy is being developed to establish a publications fund at STM, subject to approval in 2010-11.  The College maintains a webpage devoted to faculty research, which includes a list of recent publications, a featured researcher, and the Faculty Seminar series. 

    Goal Statement:  By 2015, we will support teacher-scholars in developing and publishing their research, especially research that is peer-reviewed and/or relates to interdisciplinary and distinct STM programming.

    Objective:  To support faculty in their individual research projects. 

    Strategies: 

    • Encourage all faculty to meet with the Academic Administrative Assistant to identify, prioritize and support their research needs.
    • Post unpublished STM faculty conference papers and other research communications on STM website upon request of author.
    • Organize workshops featuring successful grant holders.
    • Explore the creation and support of voluntary research/writing work groups.  (Writing groups are currently meeting among members of CMRS at the U of S and they are modeled on the Agraphia group at the University of North Carolina.  CMRS writing groups have had great success, with all of our members having achieved the writing goal they set for themselves in the first meeting.  Examples of writing goals were; to write every day for an hour, to finish an article before the summer, to complete revisions on a book manuscript.  See Paul J. Silvia How to Write a Lot:  A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. (2007).)

     

    Objective:  To strengthen distinctive STM program areas we will support faculty research that contributes to further development of these program areas.  (This objective is not intended to deprive ongoing research projects of internal funding.)   

    Strategies:      

    • Explore through the Research Committee the feasibility of prioritizing projects related to STM distinctive program areas in the allocation of STM Seed Grant funding.
    • Beginning with a Catholic Studies conference in 2011, organize conferences highlighting our distinctive program areas.

     

    Objective:  To facilitate collaborative research projects, whether new or existing, in which STM faculty work with other STM faculty, U of S faculty, students, and other research communities. 

    Strategies:            

    • Encourage faculty to identify a research project on which they are collaborating or would like to collaborate and invite others to participate.
    • Explore through the Research Committee the feasibility of prioritizing collaborative projects in the allocation of STM Seed Grant funding.
       
       
  5. Strategic Area of Focus:  Excellence in Teaching
     

    Goal Statement:  STM faculty will continue to be committed to excellence in teaching, as well as learning, in a collaborative, scholarly relationship with students and faculty, as expressed in our Foundational Statement.
      

    Objective:  To support the teacher-scholar model, we will recognize and promote the outstanding work of faculty in the areas of scholarship and practice of teaching.
     
    Strategies:

    • Create an STM Excellence in Teaching Award with specific terms of reference.
    • Explore and identify methods to recognize excellence in teaching at STM beyond a single award. For example, recognize faculty who incorporate their scholarship into their teaching.

     

    Objective: To facilitate professional development in the area of teaching.
      
    Strategies:

    • Establish a fund for faculty to attend workshops on teaching and/or to undertake research projects in the scholarship of teaching and learning.  ("Today, the scholarship of teaching and learning can be broadly defined as a type of scholarship in which faculty study the impact of their own teaching practice on student learning, respond to the results, and disseminate their findings" (Christensen Hughes, 2006, "The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Canadian Perspective", p.1; http://www.stlhe.ca/pdf/SoTLCanadianPerspectiveJan06.pdf). Moving beyond the use of evaluations (peer, student) for the purposes of personnel related decisions like tenure and promotion, the scholarship of teaching and learning focuses on evaluation with the goal of understanding how students learn and whether our individual approaches to teaching are working (e.g., evaluating new techniques). A part of the scholarship comes by way of the fact that the faculty member seeks ways to disseminate findings.)
    • Facilitate round table discussions on teaching with invited guest speakers or participants. This will include the pedagogy and practice of teaching, as well as a focus on First Nations and international students, including students in distress and other identifiable groups.
    • Facilitate instruction in, and assistance with, building teaching portfolios.

     

    Objective:  To commit to high quality teaching and learning together with our students by  ensuring that the Shannon Library has the necessary academic resources in place.

    Strategies:

    • Maintain access to required academic resources such as current and relevant books, journals, databases and supporting technologies.
    • Evaluate existing collections, and consider library resources required when new academic programs are developed.
    • Preserve library resources which provide adequate space for collections, processing, research and study, circulation and reference service, technology access, confidential consultation, and storage.
    • Create opportunities for new faculty to meet with the Library Director to determine and accommodate their library needs regarding collections, instruction and service.