Since 2018, organizational changes have been made as part of our ongoing effort to ensure that Humber’s Academic Division is well positioned to achieve its strategic and academic goals. The initial changes included the transition from eight schools to six Faculties and the launch of the Centres of Innovation network. In 2020, we enhanced the Centre for Innovative Learning (CIL) with a focus on strengthening our capacity building in the areas of teaching and learning to support our faculty and staff to better respond to the College’s and our learners’ ever-changing needs.

The CIL has grown to include flexible learning and pathways, equitable and inclusive teaching and learning, digital learning, and quality assurance through the Program Planning Development and Renewal department, that is now under the CIL portfolio. Through these recent changes, we have learned that the work done within the CIL is critical to achieving our goals and advancing our strategic priorities.

Our next step in furthering our success and vision is to introduce an Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning role to the Academic Division. This position will be responsible for the CIL and for providing vision and leadership across a wide range of initiatives that support academic excellence.

I am pleased to announce that Vera Beletzan, currently the Senior Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Innovative Learning, has been appointed to the position and will assume the role early in the new year. In her current role, Vera has led both the CIL and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences since 2018. She has been instrumental in the creation of the CIL and its various units. She brings more than 20 years of academic experience and the ability to support the vision of the academic division as we continue on our path of continuous improvement.

A Senior Dean will be hired to lead the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The search will commence in the coming days.

As we continue to build the capacity of the Centre for Innovative Learning, we have two Associate Deans who will take on secondments to meet specific needs. As noted in the Communique last week, Lisa Salem-Wiseman, Associate Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness has been seconded to take on the role of Special Advisor: Humber Learning Outcomes. In the coming weeks, Heather Lowry, Associate Dean, Faculty of Media & Creative Arts, will be seconded to the CIL to take on the role of Associate Dean, Digital Learning. The Associate Dean, Digital Learning provides leadership to a team that supports Humber’s digital learning activities, projects and initiatives. This includes developing, delivering and assessing Humber’s learning innovation ecosystem, focusing on an integrated approach to the effective use of digital tools and innovative educational technology. Heather brings her vast knowledge related to educational technology and her deep understanding of pedagogy to this important role. She will work with both the academic division and with Information Technology Services in this role.

Please join me in congratulating Vera, Lisa and Heather as they take on these new roles.

Gina Antonacci
Senior Vice-President, Academic

Did you know that IL Creative offers faculty complimentary access to PowToon on a project or semesterly basis?

PowToon’s intuitive editor allows you to create dynamic videos and presentations with custom characters, pre-built templates, sounds, animations, and more, which will help faculty illustrate any topic under the sun.

Looking to spice up your pre-existing PowerPoint Presentations? With PowToon’s PowerPoint import tool, it doesn’t take much to increase engagement.

For more information and to request a licence, visit our Powtoon Page on the IL Creative website.

Need Support?

We also offer 1 on 1 virtual training for PowToon and any other video tools we offer, and can request a consultation with our Support Specialist at any time.

I am pleased to announce the launch of Humber’s Quality Culture (QC) webpage.

This site describes and reflects our institution-wide commitment to quality, informed by our shared vision, values and goals. The site also reinforces our commitment to our students, all of whom are central to the quality assurance process. Our culture of quality ensures that we continue to focus on excellence in all that we do, to provide the best possible learning experience and outcomes for our students, inside and outside the classroom.

The QC webpage provides an overview of the elements of our continuous improvement framework and the teams that support it through the Centre for Innovative Learning. The site also identifies the elements of our QC processes related to new program development, annual quality assessments and cyclical program review.

We know that building a quality culture requires the collective effort of our entire community. Our QC site provides a space for the Humber community to share ideas and resources and to celebrate our successes along the way.

https://humber.ca/institutional-quality-culture

Gina Antonacci
Senior Vice-President, Academic

Fiscal year-end is fast approaching. If you or your faculty/department are planning to order service assets (laptops, iPads, etc.) before the end of 2021/22 fiscal year and have not already done so, please do not delay.

Due to global supply constraints, service assets are experiencing delivery delays, with some items experiencing very extended delays. To ensure billing within the current fiscal year, it is strongly recommended that all your purchase orders and related purchasing activities are completed no later than Friday, December 3, 2021. Please contact Humber’s Client Success Coordinator for updated ETA’s.

Reminder: For service asset purchases to be captured in the current fiscal year’s budget assets must be fully received before March 31, 2022.

Please remember the procurement process (requisition, budget approval, etc.) often takes a few days. Please do not delay, contact Humber’s Client Success Coordinator for assistance.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Arthur Serwaczak, Manager of Technology Support.