Please enable JavaScript to use file uploader.
Hello everyone! For our last edition of the academic year, we feature a final update for the GenAI CI cohort, as well as another installment of What the Trickster Taught Me column from Mark Solomon, as he reflects on what it means to give away what you've learned. Finally, check out our Event Calendar articles to learn about the celebrations happening in the GTA for Pride and National Indigenous Peoples Day. We hope you all have a wonderful summer and look forward to connecting with you in the fall!
CI GenAI continues down the home stretch. Most recently our Faculty Champions experienced a spotlight on Best Practices in Assessment considerations, both in light of A.I. and regardless of A.I. The key takeaway is that good assessment practice is good assessment practice.
In the coming week, we will experience the how GenAI can assist us (as faculty) in our day-to-day roles as educators. It can serve as a Teaching Assistant; it can prove to be a useful learning resource; and it can offer students one-on-one support.
Also, on Tuesday, June 17th, we will gather on campus to work on, and share, our visions and ideas for how we can help our program areas and course clusters to integrate GenAI.
Firstly, Happy Pride!
It’s Convocation time again. I love Convocation. I try to work as many ceremonies as I can – this year my daughter is graduating, and I won’t be at as many. I don’t often get to see a lot of faculty except during the academic procession, but it’s always nice to see what my daughter, in her younger years, called a “parade”!
Convocation is often a day of success, and I am careful to use that phrase. I do think that success happens at our institution even for students who don’t walk across the stage. It’s hard to say to a student who got clean, found stable housing, or got out of an abusive relationship while at Seneca, that they are not a success. Success looks different for each of our students, as well as for us.
When I graduated, a long time ago, my ceremony at Laurentian University was bilingual, in both English and French. My grandfather, who was in attendance, was worried that I got a French degree. He then saw that the parchment was written in Latin, which was even harder to explain to him. Later, when I handed my parchment to him while I took pictures with my mom, he looked at it, frowned, and told me I had to give it back. There is a tradition in the Anishinaabe community that you give your first away – the first drum you make, first bead work, first anything. I thought my grandfather wanted to give back my degree.
The CI project is about giving away your firsts – giving away your first learnings. A place to share with your colleagues and students. A place to redefine success, to be vulnerable and malleable.
At our Pride kick-off earlier this week, Dr. Mark O’Connell, professor of Fashion Studies at Seneca, spoke about his book, Lilac at the Rodeo: Stories of Identity, AIDS and Fashion (FYI: part 2 coming soon). IT. WAS. PHENOMENAL. It explored erasure, identity, music, and well, love. Mark spoke with such passion and love, making the event a success. Though only about 50 people were in the room, each were better for being there.
On my to read list is also Lawrence Chi’s My Expat Life. Lawrence, a professor in the School of Management & HR, gifted me his book, saying he was inspired by the CI project and land acknowledgments to tell his story. His book talks about his journey, who he is and his amazing story. Lawrence integrates an Indigenous section in his HR course, teaching non-Indigenous HR peeps how to bridge cultural gaps for Indigenous candidates, a first in Canada.
If you don’t know either of these colleagues, you need to. Reach out and ask them to share with you. Tell them I sent you. Then give it away.
This is success. Have a great summer.
Caption: Volunteers for Pride Toronto. Source: Pride Toronto
June is Pride Month here in the GTA, and organizations like Pride Toronto and The 519 have been leading celebrations and activism to support the 2SLGBTQ+ community near and far. Visit the link below to find community events celebrating Toronto's queer community.
Caption: Grandmother Kim Wheatley (Curve Lake First Nation) and Elder Garry Sault (Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation) leading the National Indigenous Peoples Day Sunrise Ceremony in 2024. Source: Toronto.ca
This Saturday, June 21, is the National Indigenous Peoples Day. Taking place on the summer solstice, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities across Canada join to share and celebrate their communities. In Toronto, everyone is invited to join a Sunrise Ceremony at Nathan Phillips Square on June 21st at 530am. A small feast will be available to all attendees after the ceremony.
To find out what to expect at the Sunrise Ceremony, visit this link from Toronto.ca, to learn about the different aspects of the ceremony and the significance of ceremonial elements like sage, tobacco, sweet grass, cedar, strawberries, and water. Additionally, check out the resources from Seneca's Fieldnotes resource for additional information on how to honour the past and present resilience of Indigenous Peoples.
Your session has expired. You are being logged out.