In the News

News on College Commitments

‘A window into the workings of a professional environment’

Third-year student Chi Vu talks about how the Computer Science Professional Internship Program helps apply classroom skills in the workplace

Three USask faculty members honoured with Lieutenant Governor’s Post-Secondary Teaching Award

Dr. Loleen Berdahl (PhD), Dr. Simonne Horwitz (D. Phil), and Dr. Cheryl Troupe (PhD) are inaugural recipients of the new award

Q&A: Aurora Wolfe, award-winning USask student artist

MFA student won a 2023 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center

 

Dr. Angela Jaime appointed vice-provost, Indigenous engagement

Indigenous Studies professor Dr. Angela M. Jaime (PhD) has been appointed to the role for a five-year term

College of Arts and Science welcomes new faculty members for 2023

Twelve new lecturers, assistant professors and associate professors have joined College of Arts and Science departments

USask Department of Indigenous Studies celebrates 40 years of ‘indigenizing the academy’

Indigenous Studies started as a grassroots movement by Indigenous students in the 1970s.

 

USask researchers explore untold history of psychedelics

A USask researcher has led the creation of a new book which compiles stories of the history of psychedelic drugs around the world

How quantum math theory turned into a jazz concert

At USask, a mathematician and a musician collaborated to turn a quantum research paper into a jazz performance

‘Other ways of knowing and being’ that enrich our lives

USask sociologist Dr. Colleen Dell (PhD) conducts research aimed at advancing our understanding of the human-animal connection

 

Space training program at USask launched many careers

Seven-year International Space Mission Training Program wrapped up this summer

USask expanding biology program with new equipment at Prince Albert campus

Expansion of biology program offers students opportunity to study closer to home at the USask Prince Albert campus

USask launches first practicing anthropology master’s program in Canada

Graduates will be trained for careers as anthropologists in the private and public sectors

 

Portfolio Updates

Introduction

By acting thoughtfully, and jointly, the College of Arts and Science will renew, strengthen, and advance arts and science disciplines, programs, and research, scholarly, and artistic work, and collaborate, thereby setting strategic directions for the university as a whole.

Creativity is empowering and in the College of Arts and Science, creativity is in all that we do. It is encouraged, accepted, championed, and rewarded.

We will create and strengthen partnerships inside and outside the college and university, create diverse teams and nurture critical skills, set platforms for identifying local and global issues and solve complex problems.

Together, we will be innovative: taking measured risks and working dynamically.

With an enthusiastic and energetic approach to change, the College of Arts and Science will create innovative plans in anticipation of future issues, including infrastructure, funding, programs, research, scholarly and artistic work, enrolment (vision in what we do, and how we do it).

Our students will know that they belong, that this college is truly theirs, and that opportunities are unlimited.

Our college family comprises many valued strands of communities. We are enriched when we embrace all points of view, cultural diversity, and backgrounds: this is especially appropriate for a college as diverse as Arts and Science.

"Internships offer a sort of safe space for you to put your learning into practice. They are a soft-launch into the working world where you can test your skills and put what you learn in class— often abstract concepts applied to theoretical situations— to good use, without the added pressure of doing it for money. Experiential learning is the best way to prove, even just to yourself, that you know what you’re doing and that there is so much potential for turning your degree into a career. "

Eden, 4th-year BA student

College-Specific Commitments

With an enthusiastic and energetic approach to change, the College of Arts and Science will create innovative plans in anticipation of future issues, including infrastructure, funding, programs, RSAW, enrolment (vision in what we do, and how we do it). Our students will know that they belong, that this college is truly theirs, and that opportunities are unlimited. Our college family is comprised of many valued strands of communities. We are enriched when we embrace all points of view, cultural diversity, and backgrounds: this is especially appropriate for a college as diverse as Arts and Science.

Put Students First

Recruitment, Retention, Development, Experience, Success

  • Build an Arts and Science Student Hub to give students direct and immediate access to the co-located services they need, and a gathering space for collaborations, pop-up performances, readings and conversation;
  • Target recruitment to increase student enrolment in programs with capacity, and create capacity in programs with high demand;
  • Increase retention of students between first- and second-year, with special attention to Arts and Science Indigenous student populations, and individuals who are among the first generation in their families to attend university;
  • Improve the student experience, build student community, and formally recognize non-credit learning opportunities with co-curricular record;
  • Promote and facilitate internationalization through study abroad, student exchange, and international student recruitment initiatives.

Guidepost:

   Increase in student satisfaction, reflected in qualitative and quantitative ways
   Growth of enrolment and retention rates
   More inbound and outbound students participating in varied international activities
   Collect feedback about graduated students and make connection to employers

Related News

See more

‘A window into the workings of a professional environment’

Third-year student Chi Vu talks about how the Computer Science Professional Internship Program helps apply classroom skills in the workplace

Three USask faculty members honoured with Lieutenant Governor’s Post-Secondary Teaching Award

Dr. Loleen Berdahl (PhD), Dr. Simonne Horwitz (D. Phil), and Dr. Cheryl Troupe (PhD) are inaugural recipients of the new award

Q&A: Aurora Wolfe, award-winning USask student artist

MFA student won a 2023 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center

Inspire Excellence and Increase Diversity and Equity in Faculty and Staff

  • Build and retain an outstanding faculty and staff complement:
    • Increase college’s percentage of and support to Indigenous faculty, and Indigenous role models in all fields;
    • Increase percentage of women promoted in a timely manner to full professor in all departments;
    • Increase percentage of women in college leadership positions and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields;
  • Ensure plurality of voices in experiences, diversity of community, interests and issues related to gender and sexuality;
  • Ensure commitment to diversity is long-term, sustainable, authentic, and self-perpetuating.

Guidepost:

 Contribute to the university’s commitment to recognized Indigenous leadership at all levels of the academy, administration, and governance
 Indigenous faculty are thriving in terms of merit, tenure and promotion
 Address in real and tangible ways the underrepresentation of women scholars at senior ranks
 Enhance our position as an institutional leader of diversity, equity and inclusion

Related News

See more

Dr. Angela Jaime appointed vice-provost, Indigenous engagement

Indigenous Studies professor Dr. Angela M. Jaime (PhD) has been appointed to the role for a five-year term

College of Arts and Science welcomes new faculty members for 2023

Twelve new lecturers, assistant professors and associate professors have joined College of Arts and Science departments

USask Department of Indigenous Studies celebrates 40 years of ‘indigenizing the academy’

Indigenous Studies started as a grassroots movement by Indigenous students in the 1970s.

Inspire and Foster Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Artistic Work

  • Deepen the culture of RSAW engagement and activity by providing a suite of supports, services and strategies tailored to faculty and students;
  • Appreciate the rich diversity of RSAW approaches, resources, timescales, outcomes and impacts across all disciplines in our college: humanities, fine arts, social sciences, science and technology;
  • Incubate cross-disciplinary clusters from existing and emerging RSAW strengths;
  • Partner with community and institutional initiatives to support all aspects of Indigenizing RSAW;
  • Build capacity and continue to advance community-engaged RSAW across the college;
  • Celebrate and champion the impact and achievements of our artists, scholars, and researchers, acknowledging that those impacts and outcomes vary greatly within the rich diversity of our RSAW activities.

Guidepost:

 Empower and support our researchers, scholars and artists at all ranks to engage in RSAW activity, and to promote the value of their work
 Become a partner of choice for national and international collaborators
 Increase number of competitive applications and the success rates in all competitions, including Tri-Agency and other sources of funding

Related News

See more

USask researchers explore untold history of psychedelics

A USask researcher has led the creation of a new book which compiles stories of the history of psychedelic drugs around the world

How quantum math theory turned into a jazz concert

At USask, a mathematician and a musician collaborated to turn a quantum research paper into a jazz performance

‘Other ways of knowing and being’ that enrich our lives

USask sociologist Dr. Colleen Dell (PhD) conducts research aimed at advancing our understanding of the human-animal connection

Implement New Curricula

  • Equip our students with the skills, knowledge, and cultural competencies needed for the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century;
  • Implement new degree requirements for all our students: English Language Writing, Quantitative Reasoning, Indigenous Learning;
  • Encourage and support faculty to offer courses and programs that cross traditional departmental and disciplinary lines;
  • Encourage and support faculty to offer courses and programs that extend off campus and into local and regional communities;
  • Encourage and support students to take courses for credit in select locales around the world;
  • Develop a School of Architecture and Visual Arts with vibrant interdisciplinary curricula that embrace, reinforce, and amplify Saskatoon’s standing as a city of economic and artistic ambition.

Guidepost:

 Students attain skills for forming conclusions, judgements, or inferences from quantitative information; have a writing-intensive experience to achieve competency in writing; learn the context of the contemporary and historical position of Indigenous people, and in so doing also understand the need to challenge and transform core elements of settler colonialism
 Faculty offer courses and programs that attract, and meet the needs of, a changing student population that is more diverse and mobile than ever before

Related News

See more

Space training program at USask launched many careers

Seven-year International Space Mission Training Program wrapped up this summer

USask expanding biology program with new equipment at Prince Albert campus

Expansion of biology program offers students opportunity to study closer to home at the USask Prince Albert campus

USask launches first practicing anthropology master’s program in Canada

Graduates will be trained for careers as anthropologists in the private and public sectors

Alignment to the University Plan

OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK: “THE WEAVE”

The College will align its strategic commitments and related goals and objectives to the university’s ambition to be the university the world needs:

  • Transformative Decolonization Leading to Reconciliation. The world needs a university in which Indigenous concepts, methodologies, pedagogies, languages, and philosophies are respectfully woven into the tapestry of learning, research, scholarship, creativity, and community engagement.
  • Productive Collaboration. The world needs a university in which research and innovation are inspired by and accountable to community partners.
  • Meaningful Impact. The world needs a university resolutely committed to measuring its own success in terms of the aspirations of the communities it serves.
  • Distinguished Learners. The world needs a university whose graduates have the drive, the curiosity, and the humility to work with others in addressing the greatest challenges and opportunities the world faces.
  • Global Recognition. The world needs a university that sets the standard in learning, research, scholarship, creativity, and community engagement.

By 2025, the job market and technology will have changed, and the College of Arts and Science, through our students, staff and faculty, will ‘create the times’. A sustained breadth of knowledge-creation allows us to capitalize on existing and unpredictable questions and challenges of the future.

We will reach out more broadly across the college and see that the synergy of knowledge is bigger than the convergence of 21 major disciplines. We will use current and new frameworks for problem solving.

We need to work closely with the institution on risk mitigation for our top risks: academic program capacity and equipment age; financial reserves; cyber security; competitive, funded and in-compliance RSAW; communications; technological innovation; management structures; health and safety; post-secondary education competition; availability of information about critical operations and processes.

The college is an ecosystem, with students and researchers, scholars, and artists working across boundaries. The students who see boundaries as porous at the University are Arts and Science students. We are a college in tune with today’s problem-centric needs: our diversity is at the heart of why our college is such an asset to the province and beyond.

Strategic Commitments to the University’s Plan

    1. Join University to embolden partnerships in strategic developments and outreach opportunities:
      •  

        • “Galleries Reimagined”: Place Indigenous representation and engagement as cornerstones of the reimagined approach to visual arts on campus. Include Indigenous peoples in the hub’s activities, targeting growth of the university’s collection of works by Indigenous artists, and prioritizing partnerships with Indigenous arts organizations and artists under the new academic programming structure.

        • Museum of Natural Sciences Revitalization: Update and redevelop to enhance its standing as a signature feature of this campus: a hub of scientific research, teaching, and outreach; a prime destination for families, school groups, and visitors to the city; and a vital link between the campus and the community. Build on our success in captivating and inspiring visitors, so that it serves as an inclusive space that respects the land we are on and the Indigenous peoples and cultures here.
    2. Sustain, coordinate, expand environmental programming: Dovetail with schools and colleges and departments, and coordinate our environmental initiatives with the Global Institute for Water Security, Global Water Futures, Global Institute for Food Security, Plant Phenotyping and Imaging and Research Center.
    3. Expand and re-envision Northern programming strategy. Build on current and past successes and use Prince Albert and La Ronge as jumping-off points for programs, faculty, and facilities in the north. Pursue creative course delivery options with our partners in regional colleges and communities. Enhance land- and community-based programming. Support a revisioning of the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus.
    4. Increase internships and experiential learning: increase opportunities for students and engage more students in those opportunities; hire outward-looking new faculty and continue to align our degrees and programs to best equip our students for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
    5. Connect more meaningfully with our college alumni and the new generation of donor investors who seek long-term sustainable impact. Enable and enhance a culture of philanthropy founded on relationships built to last and evolve over a lifetime. Support lifelong learning, and in doing so involve seniors and retirees in college life.

The College will align its strategic commitments and related goals and objectives to the university’s aspirations:

  • Transformative Decolonization Leading to Reconciliation. The world needs a university in which Indigenous concepts, methodologies, pedagogies, languages, and philosophies are respectfully woven into the tapestry of learning, research, scholarship, creativity, and community engagement.
  • Productive Collaboration. The world needs a university in which research and innovation are inspired by and accountable to community partners.
  • Meaningful Impact. The world needs a university resolutely committed to measuring its own success in terms of the aspirations of the communities it serves.
  • Distinguished Learners. The world needs a university whose graduates have the drive, the curiosity, and the humility to work with others in addressing the greatest challenges and opportunities the world faces.
  • Global Recognition. The world needs a university that sets the standard in learning, research, scholarship, creativity, and community engagement.

By 2025, the job market and technology will have changed, and the College of Arts and Science, through our students, staff and faculty, will ‘create the times’. A sustained breadth of knowledge-creation allows us to capitalize on existing and unpredictable questions and challenges of the future.

We will reach out more broadly across the college and see that the convergence of knowledge is bigger than the convergence of 21 major disciplines. We will use current and new frameworks for problem solving.

We need to work closely with the institution on risk mitigation for our top risks: academic program capacity and equipment age; financial reserves; cyber security; competitive, funded and in-compliance RSAW; communications; technological innovation; management structures; health and safety; post-secondary education competition; availability of information about critical operations and processes.

The college is an ecosystem, with students and researchers, scholars, and artists working across boundaries. The students who see boundaries as porous at the University are Arts and Science students. We are a college in tune with today’s problem-centric needs: our diversity is at the heart of why our college is such an asset to the province and beyond.