First-year students aren’t the only fresh faces arriving to campus.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Centre for Learning and Teaching hosted its yearly orientation session for new academic staff. The series of seminars and workshops presented a chance for new faculty and lecturers to not only discover the opportunities at Dal, but to begin building a network of contacts to help work through academia’s challenges.
Emily Varto, newly hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Classics, knows the value of that network: she attended the new academic staff orientation two years ago when she first came to Dal as a lecturer, and says that she still keeps touch with the people she met.
“They’re people I go back to as friends; I go camping with them,” she says. “When my job came up, I had people rooting for me.”
Dr. Varto, who teaches courses in the language and history of ancient Greece, returned to the orientation this year to learn about the opportunities available to her in her new role.
Discovering Dalhousie
Others, like chemical engineer Jan Haelssig, are brand new to Dalhousie – coming from Ottawa, the orientation sessions marked his first visit to Studley campus, as he’s spent his first month at Dal with the Faculty of Engineering at Sexton.
“It’s a very, very nice city,” he says of Halifax, saying that the city’s attitude and vibe is really important to him. “The friendly environment is one of the reasons I came.”
John Pennoyer, who will be teaching costume history this year, comes to Dal from Stratford; in addition to working with the city's famous Shakespeare Festival, he’s designed for the National Arts Centre, the National Ballet of Canada and countless other major productions.
“I wasn’t scheduled to work on anything at Stratford this year, I had the time, so I thought, why not take the opportunity?” he says. He’ll also be designing for all of DalTheatre’s productions this year.
Cross-discipline learning lessons
Tuesday’s orientation sessions kicked off with an introduction from President Tom Traves, Vice-President Academic and Provost Carolyn Watters and Meri Kim Oliver, recently joining Dalhousie as the new assistant vice-president, student academic success services. The common theme in their comments: encouraging academic staff to make the most of the opportunities in front of them.
That theme was continued as three experienced Dalhousie faculty—Donna Rogers from Arts and Social Sciences, Fiona Black from Management and Srinivas Sampalli from Computer Science—shared their own personal secrets for success. Their talks highlighted that many of the skills needed to succeed in the classroom span disciplines.
“Students see a good teaching as a product of three things,” explained Dr. Sampalli. “It’s about good preparation, good delivery and a caring attitude.” He added that Halifax’s ‘overgrown village’ atmosphere helps support a collegial community that’s a big asset to faculty that work at the university.
Supporting Dal's teaching community
The Centre for Learning and Teaching is more than happy to be part of that community. The centre is available as a resource for those looking to enhance their teaching, curriculum building and other key components of the classroom experience.
“A large part of our work is building community and the orientation is a key part of that,” explains Lynn Taylor, the centre’s director. “Plus, it’s refreshing for us, as well, to meet new colleagues with new ideas and views - we learn as much from the people who connect with us as, we hope, they do from us.”
Learn more about the Centre for Learning and Teaching at its website.
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