As university officials prepare to craft the institution’s next four-year academic, operational and budget plans, they have identified four areas in the Strategic Plan (Engaging the Future) potentially worthy of greater priority.
After Friday’s Senate meeting, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Janice Deakin spotlighted a stronger focus on raising the university’s international profile, enhancing the quality of undergraduate/graduate programs, enhancing faculty/staff support and expanding educational reach in the region and around the world.
“We are paying attention to some of the wishes of our government and understanding how we at Western are going to respond to the idea of increased enrolment,” says Deakin. She notea the provincial government’s desire for 70 per cent of all Ontarians to boast a post-secondary education and the accompanying commitment to 50,000 new seats provincewide between now and 2014.
To raise its international profile, Western will look to expand selectively the number of active partnerships with preeminent international research and teaching institutions. That effort will focus on joint/dual degrees for undergraduate/graduate students, along with using the Endowed Chairs Matching Program to attract and retain internationally recognized scholars.
In the area of enhancing programs, the university plans to integrate teaching and research by embedding a research focus into undergraduate curriculum, as well as increase career counseling, professional development and employment search support for all students.
In an effort to increase support for faculty/staff, the university hopes to increase the attention paid to career mentoring for faculty, emphasize staff access to professional development and training, and increase diversity among the group, with the aspiration of surpassing the national averages for representation of certain designated groups
To expand its educational reach, Western looks to increase the number of highly competitive, upper-year entry undergraduate programs that fill distinctive national niches, develop more high-quality professional master’s degree programs in high-demand areas and design/implement a strategy for distant education and online learning to increase participation in these areas.
“This is just to serve notice that we need to think about those things at Western, to commit to the fact that work will be undertaken in respecting and using the processes that exist here for consultation and discussion, but that we will need to work on that as we are also engaging on the next four-year planning cycle,” Deakin adds. “We need to understand where we need to be four years on, with regards to undergraduate enrolment, research intensity and graduate enrolment.”
The art of ranking
With Western’s latest omission from the Times Higher Education’s World University Ranking Top 200 list, some members of the university community have asked the same question: “Why?” President Amit Chakma says while problematic in its methodology, the survey’s results give strong enough reasons not to ignore them.
“I can give you hundreds of reasons why we should be dismissive of this ranking, but let me give you a reason why we shouldn’t,” says Chakma. The president spoke of a friend of the university and how these results are making it difficult for him to convince his son to look at Western as opposed to the University of British Columbia.
While not being on the list needs to be addressed, Chakma admits he has “no hesitation in saying that overall we are better than some of the others that made the list.”
But he quickly adds since Western is not on the list, it is important for the university to understand why it didn’t make the cut. “We shouldn’t ignore it, but we need understand what it is,” he says. “We have to pay attention to these barometres.”
Chair name change
Established in 2002, the Ontario Women’s Health Council has since been succeeded by a new agency, Echo – Improving Women’s Health in Ontario. The Chair in Rural Women’s Health sponsored by the organization has been renamed accordingly. Western and the Ontario Women’s Health Council each provided $1 million toward the program.
Dancing on the move
Initially administered by the School of Kinesiology, dance courses have now been transferred to the Faculty of Music. Dance has been offered as credit courses as a component of the Physical Education program. With a shift in emphasis in the kinesiology program toward a medicine/exercise focus, dance courses have become more peripheral and perhaps less effective as an option in the program.
New scholarships/awards
Sandra Oosterhoff Memorial Bursary. Awarded annually to a full-time student registered in any year in the Faculty of Law, this bursary was established in memory of Sandra Oosterhoff (BA ’61, LLB ’64), whose character and courage in the face of adversity inspired those who knew her. Valued at $800, this bursary was created through Foundation Western by friends, family, classmates and faculty colleagues of her husband, Albert Oosterhoff.
Allen K. Philbrick PhD Scholarship in Cultural Geography. Awarded to a full-time PhD student studying cultural geography, they must be in years two-four and undertaking research on some cultural process or cultural phenomena’s spatial impact on the human environment. The award, valued at $1,000, was established through Foundation Western.
Brian Innes Health Studies Rural Health Award. Awarded annually to an undergraduate student in the School of Health Studies, with preference given to a student who has excelled in the third-year rural health courses. This award, valued at $1,000, was established through Foundation Western in memory of Brian Innes, who was a faculty member in the School of Health Studies.
Men’s Basketball Futures Scholarships. Awarded to full-time undergraduate and graduate students in any year of any degree program at Western (including all affiliate colleges) who are making significant contributions as members of the men’s basketball team. The two awards are valued at $3,500 and $1,500. Western Athletic Financial Awards Committee will select the recipients based on its evaluation of academic performance, written recommendations from the head coach assessing athletic performance, and team/campus leadership. These scholarships were established by Peter Schmidt (BA ’95), Jonathan Dingle (BSc ’97) and Doug Morton (BA ’69).
Gudaitis-Bluzas Health Sector Scholarship. Awarded to a full-time student entering the Masters in Business Administration program at the Richard Ivey School of Business who is enrolled in the Health Sector Stream, based on academic achievement and demonstrated community leadership. Valued at $10,000, this scholarship is made possible by Edward Gudaitis (MBA ’93).
Athletic financial awards
The Western Athletic Financial Awards Committee reported they allocated $372,811 in awards for Western athletes in 2009-10. Female student athletes received $187,045; male student athletes received $185,766.
Ontario University Athletics rules state 70 per cent of student-athletes may receive an athletic financial award if they meet academic criteria, and that allocations must be gender-balanced. Since 2007-08, more than $825,000 has been awarded to Western student-athletes.