I am pleased to provide the Humber community with details about upcoming changes within the academic division. These changes are part of the organizational transformation that began in Fall 2018 when we transitioned from eight Schools to six Faculties, when Applied Research, PPDR and Teaching and Learning were realigned to the AVP, Academic portfolio and when the Transformation and Strategic Partnerships portfolio was established under the leadership of Senior Vice-President, Rani Dhaliwal.
We are excited to be moving forward with changes to how we promote innovation in teaching and learning, applied research, program planning and curriculum renewal at Humber.
Over the coming months, we will be evolving the Teaching and Learning department to a new Centre for Innovative Learning within the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Science and Innovative Learning and enhancing its connections with the Applied Research and Program Planning, Development and Renewal teams.
We are also launching our continuous professional learning (CPL) strategy, with a focus on growing our market share through non-full-time programs delivered in virtual, hybrid and flexible learning formats. This will include a focus on the development and delivery of non-postsecondary programming with a view to meeting the needs of new markets and increasing Humber’s net revenue generation capabilities.
These changes will better position Humber to achieve our Strategic and Academic Plan goals and build on our strengths in providing high quality polytechnic education in-person and online.
The changes are designed to improve collaboration across the departments that support employees and teams engaged in the teaching and learning process at Humber, and to provide direct support to faculty members in their work as teachers and researchers. The changes will improve our operational capacity by streamlining reporting and decision-making and by leveraging expertise and resources more effectively.
The CPL strategy will align corporate training, continuing education and other programming, helping us to stay at the forefront of responding to labour market demand and making it easier for learners to access the full range of our programming.
We will begin recruiting immediately for key senior roles to support our focus on teaching and learning excellence and innovation. There are also reporting changes to support this new approach.
The changes being announced today include:
Changes to support Humber’s Continuous Professional Learning/Corporate Training (previously CE) strategy:
- New role: Dean, Continuous Professional Learning
- The Dean will be responsible for driving Humber’s CPL strategy in collaboration with our Faculties and Education & Training Solutions. Leading the creation of Humber’s non-post-secondary business development strategy, the Dean will work with the Faculties on the development of new programming and generating new revenues. This role will report to the SVP, Transformation and Strategic Partnerships.
Changes to support development of Humber’s Teaching and Learning Excellence and Innovation Ecosystem:
- New role: Dean, Innovative Learning
- This role will be responsible for the development and implementation of a Humber Teaching and Learning Excellence and Innovation strategy, aligned with and supportive of the goals outlined in Humber’s Strategic and Academic Plans. The Dean will act as a facilitator, bringing together other academic division leaders and their teams within the Centre for Innovative Learning. This role will report to the Senior Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Science and Innovative Learning.
The following roles will report to the Dean, Innovative Learning:
- Mark Ihnat, Associate Dean, Digital Learning. This position builds on Mark’s current work in his role as Director eLearning.
- Sarah Peake, Associate Dean, Flexible Learning. Building on her current work, Sarah will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of our quality assurance and continuous improvement frameworks for CPL. Sarah will also provide support for new flexible learning programming initiatives.
- Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning. This new position will be responsible for the development and delivery of professional development programming for faculty, staff and academic leaders.
- New role: Dean of Research and Innovation.
- Ginger Grant is the successful candidate in the recent competition for Dean of Research and Innovation. In this expanded role, Ginger will have responsibility for applied research and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Ginger will continue to strengthen the connection between Humber’s COI Network and our research activities, and COI Directors will be increasing their communication and collaboration with Research and Innovation. Ginger will report to the AVP, Academic.
The following roles will report to the Dean of Research and Innovation:
- Associate Dean, Applied Research and Innovation.
- Associate Dean, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Searches for both these vacant Associate Dean positions will commence in February 2021.
- Realignment of Program, Planning, Development and Renewal (PPDR).
- To support this more integrated approach, the Dean of PPDR, and the PPDR team, will report to the Senior Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Innovative Learning. They will work closely with the Dean, Innovative Learning on the development and implementation of the Humber Teaching and Learning Excellence and Innovation strategy.
The above changes will come into effect by April 1, 2021. They will not result in any job loss or additional positions. All new roles are being created through existing complements that are currently vacant.
We are excited about these changes and the future of Humber. We look forward to collaborating with the college community in our new format as we work to provide the highest quality teaching and learning environment for our students and faculty.
Please contact your manager if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Laurie Rancourt
Senior Vice-President, Academic
Humber College