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TEACHING
My first academic appointment, 1976, was with the Department of Education,
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS (January 1976 to June 1983) where I
developed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses on literacy development
and instruction. I served on a number of committees within the Department
and the University. I chaired the Arts and Science Admissions Committee
for three years. I received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor
in 1981. In 1982, I spent six months of a sabbatical at the Faculty of
Education, Indiana University, where I began a career as an academic/scholarly
writer.
My second position was a half-time appointment in the Department
of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS (August,
1983 to June, 1993). (The other half of my time I was an education
consultant.) This appointment involved approximately full time
teaching and research responsibilities (but no service commitments).
I developed and taught a range of new courses over the eleven
year period that I held this position. These courses included:
Writing and Computers, Instructional Processes in Language/Reading,
Theory and Practice of Writing, Curriculum Implementation in
Language Arts, Computers in the Classroom. I was a co-founder
and teaching member of Teaching: A Learning Enterprise
– the summer institute in teacher education at Mount Saint
Vincent University begun in 1989. The focus of this summer institute
has been to help teachers/administrators explore the politics
of schools with a particular emphasis on teacher and school
change. In addition, I worked extensively with the Nova Scotia
Department of Education, and with teachers and school districts,
to develop new literacy programming for the province. While
the ostensible focus of my teaching has been on language and
literacy development in school age children, the teaching has
itself been an exercise in teacher development--the purpose
has been to explore ways of creating learning environments to
facilitate the growth and development of teachers and other
educators.
At the University of Manitoba, I taught a six credit hour course
– Action Research: Educating as Inquiry.
The course invited teachers to examine their professional practice.
I also collaborated with a group of teachers and administrators
in the St. Boniface School Division on Building Supportive Classrooms.
The aim of this research work was to extend teachers' understanding
of literacy learning and to apply their new knowledge in the
classroom. I also initiated and taught the first courses in
the new Seven Oaks School Division Master of Education program
(twenty one teachers and other educators): Teacher Action Research:
Educating as Inquiry.
ADMINISTRATION
I was Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba from September
1993 to end of June, 1996. As Dean, I was responsible for administering
an academic unit consisting of 54 full-time faculty members (plus another
25.6 FTE of sessional instructors), 20 support staff, and approximately
2200 students (undergraduate and graduate) with a $6,300,000 budget. My
activities included managing the daily running of the academic unit, budget
planning and management, strategic planning, admissions, program redevelopment
and new program initiatives, supervision of three associate deans, four
department heads, conflict resolution, all personnel matters in the Faculty,
as well I engaged in liaison activity with the Manitoba Association of
School Superintendents, Manitoba Association of School Trustees, Manitoba
Teachers Society, Manitoba Education and Training, the Walter and Duncan
Gordon Charitable Foundation, and many other professional groups in the
Manitoba education community.
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