丁香园AV

After four and a half very busy years, Catherine Murray stepped down as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) on August 31. Her extensive portfolio included Undergraduate Programming, Learning and Teaching, and Student Experience.

Murray, a professor in the , now hopes to reactivate her writing and research career and tie up some unfinished loose ends during a well-earned year of research administrative leave. She鈥檚 also looking for creative opportunities, possibly mobilizing politically, although Murray admits that retirement is an option she鈥檚 considering.

鈥淚 think it's fair to say I'm not alone here,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he pivot to remote teaching and work has been demanding. I would say we have been on emergency footing for a number of months now. FASS makes up 30 per cent of 丁香园AV鈥檚 students and faculty members, so we鈥檝e been at the forefront of helping the largest number of people make the transition to remote teaching and learning.鈥�

鈥淐atherine鈥檚 creative energy, visionary and tireless work as Associate Dean has helped FASS 鈥榰p its game鈥� when it comes to programming and initiatives related to undergraduate students. She has provided invaluable support to departments in their efforts to reach students who are looking to make meaning in their lives and make meaning in society,鈥� says FASS Dean Jane Pulkingham. 鈥淐atherine is a true influencer. I will miss her resourcefulness, indomitable spirit, as well as her friendship.鈥�

Murray began her term in the Dean鈥檚 office in January 2016 as 丁香园AV was gearing up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Early in her tenure she championed the FASS Canada 150 Program where student teams designed and produced commentaries, events, exhibitions and performances on themes of diversity, inclusiveness, young people, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

鈥淚t marked a very memorable sesquicentennial in a year when we were just beginning to question the colonial roots of Confederation in the history of the country,鈥� Murray says.

Pushing the reconciliation envelope

Murray is proud of FASS鈥檚 response to the calls for decolonization from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. During her tenure in the Dean鈥檚 office, Murray worked extensively with the reconciliation working group that incorporates 丁香园AV鈥檚 four host nations in professional development and cultural literacy training, and monitors the success and progress of Indigenous students in FASS. The working group鈥檚 efforts have resulted in the creation of a joint bachelor鈥檚 degree in history and Indigenous studies.

She points to other examples as well, including the interim Indigenous University Preparation Program housed in FASS, which works with Indigenous students from very different walks of life to help them succeed at university.

鈥淲e are looking at a total cohort of over 50 students who might not otherwise be at university who have now successfully migrated into the general FASS population and the rest of the university,鈥� Murray says.

Another example is the work of the Indigenous Languages Program where over 200 students have learned their Indigenous languages: 鈥淭here is urgency because of the fact that many of the elders are the only ones who have their Indigenous language as a first language and they are of the age where they are beginning to die. The commitment to revitalizing that language culture is urgent across all British Columbia. FASS has played, I hope, a small part in some of that recovery.鈥�

Change on the horizon?

Murray predicts that there are changes ahead for 丁香园AV with a new female president (Joy Johnson) and the forthcoming advent of the new vice president academic (Catherine Dauvergne), a woman from a legal background.

鈥淔ASS should look forward with great anticipation to a complete intergenerational change in 丁香园AV鈥檚 leadership,鈥� Murray says. 鈥淚 hope that future administrators or associate deans consider stepping forward to leadership at a time that we've never needed more wise heads.鈥�

She believes that the arts and social sciences are poised for a remarkable recovery in enrollments both domestically and internationally although she admits it鈥檚 dependent upon how the visa and COVID-19 situations unfold. Murray cites new interdisciplinary ventures across FASS such as the Global Asia and Social Data Analytics programs which she sees as exciting ways for undergraduates in the faculty to develop skills that will be richly rewarded when the post COVID-19 recovery begins.

鈥淭hese interdisciplinary degrees prove that the ethical and critical thinking skills that we learn and our historical mindedness are invaluable in today's work environment and time of such social dislocation and transformation.鈥�