A faculty member's wish list

I became a university professor because I love to teach and I am very curious and passionate about my research on learning and teaching with technology. I look forward to developing as a leader and becoming an associate dean in the future. As a female faculty member, I would like to see more opportunities to develop as a leader - more mentoring, professional learning opportunities, and support for the development of female leadership capacity and competency within my faculty and across campus.  I would also like to see female faculty valued as much as their male counterparts -- female faculty are often balancing the huge demands of being a research and teaching professor, with family and home and senior care responsibilities -- I believe we can be creative and innovative in higher education at better supporting and recognizing the contribution that female faculty make to teaching and research, as well as better investing in them as the next generation of leaders on campus.

I am feeling MORE positive than in my last 10+ years as a professor because of our new president - Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is extremely competent and effective, and she is breathing new life, integrity and good management into our University. I fully support Dr. Cannon and believe she is exactly the right president that the University of Calgary needs.  I am also feeling very positive because of the excellent leadership in my faculty - great changes are afoot and many of these are long overdue. So, I am feeling very positive and hopeful about the direction this university is going, and the role my faculty will play in achieving the vision and goals that have been set for this University, and the role that I can play as a faculty member and as a future leader. 

As a faculty member, I need my faculty and my university to better invest in the infrastructure that supports innovative, technology-enabled LEARNING and TEACHING, and the RESEARCH on same. Our university has fallen behind in our infrastructure -- both human and technological - in support of innovative, excellent and cutting edge teaching and the research on educational technology.  We need to invest heavily in the professional development of our faculty - see the Institutional Learning and Teaching Plan - our faculty need support in becoming better teachers with 21st century competencies. However, this investment will be for nought unless the university invests strategically and intentionally in creating 21st century learning environments across campus.