UNews - Kara Granzow

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers to collaborate on projects funded by Partnership Grants

caroline.zentner — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:59:54 +0000

Several ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are collaborating on recently announced projects funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grants.

“ULethbridge researchers involved in these projects are contributing their expertise to studies that have an impact across Canada and around the world,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, ULethbridge vice-president research. “Many research projects have an increasingly broad scope and depend on collaborations with researchers at other universities in Canada and abroad. These collaborations transform individual insight into collective knowledge and generate discoveries that a single researcher might not uncover alone.”

Dr. Lisa Starr, dean of the Faculty of Education, and Dr. Kaylan Schwarz, a professor in the School of Liberal Education, are involved in a project called TRANSFORM: Engaging with Young People for Social Change. The project is supported by a $2.5-million Partnership Grant from SSHRC and over $3 million in in-kind and cash contributions from partner universities and organizations.

The project is led by Dr. Claudia Mitchell from McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. The researchers will study how young people are pivotal agents of change in gender equality, particularly through visual arts. Using diverse art forms, such as photography, filmmaking, cellphilming (video shot on a cellphone or tablet camera), performance art and textile production, the TRANSFORM project will empower and champion youth-led agendas for transforming gender norms and inequalities. The study has field sites in Africa, South America and India.

Dr. Olu Awosoga, a Faculty of Health Sciences professor with expertise in quantitative research methods, is a co-applicant on a $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant to improve the well-being of Black children and youth in Canada. The project is led by Dr. Bukola Salami at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. The project focuses on experiences with the justice system, the education system, the child welfare system and immigration and settlement. Researchers will conduct a national survey focusing on Black children and youth in Canada — the first of its kind — to gather data on the lived experiences of Black youth.

Dr. Leroy Little Bear (BASc (BA’71), DASc ’04), vice-provost of Iniskim Indigenous Relations, is collaborating on a project led by Dr. Shalene Jobin of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. The Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality project is supported by a $2.5-million Partnership Grant.

A further project funded by a Partnership Grant and involving ULethbridge researchers is the already announced Gatherings: Archival and Oral Histories of Performance project.

In addition, Dr. Kara Granzow, a sociology professor, is a co-applicant on a SSHRC program called the Reconciliation Network in Response to Call to Action 65 led by Dr. Vanessa Watts at McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. This joint initiative between the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and SSHRC supports the establishment of a national research program to advance the collective understanding of reconciliation. The project Re-Neighbouring as Reconciliation: Indigenous Stories of Resistance was awarded more than $975,000 over five years.

New EDI Scholars represent broadening of important program

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 16:33:37 +0000

An unprecedented number of applications has created the broadest representation of disciplines for the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Scholars program yet, with six new scholars named by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge today.

Drs. Dawn Burleigh, Sean Fitzpatrick, Kara Granzow (BA ’99), Jason Laurendeau, Rhiannon Mesler and Tracy Oosterbroek (BN ’95, MSc(N) ’09) were named EDI Scholars for 2023-24, committing to engage in projects that advance the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s EDI priorities. When complete, they will then share the information with the campus community.

“We are excited to broaden the pool of EDI champions across the institution,” says Hernando (Nando) Ortega Arango, project manager, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. “Congratulations to our 2023-24 EDI Scholars and thank you to all who applied. This was a highly competitive process, and we look forward to working with this exceptional group of scholars to build EDI capacity together.”

The EDI Scholars program began in 2021, and for the 2023-24 intake, the application process was expanded with the intention to broaden the capacity for EDI work across campus. This resulted in applications from a variety of faculties, departments and backgrounds. Each project for 2023-24 is uniquely different with representation from the Faculties of Arts & Science, Education, Health Sciences and the Dhillon School of Business.

“It is a collective responsibility to champion EDI initiatives, and we all can play a role in facilitating inclusion and belonging,” says Ortega. “Through the efforts of the EDI Scholars, we hope to reach diverse audiences and broaden the capacity of EDI work across campus.”

Three EDI Scholars will undertake their projects beginning in the Fall 2023 Semester, and three in Spring 2024.

Fall 2023 EDI Scholars

Dr. Sean Fitzpatrick

Dr. Sean Fitzpatrick (Mathematics & Computer Science – Faculty of Arts & Science) plans to work with undergraduate student assistants to ensure that the open textbooks for many mathematics courses are fully accessible for all students, including those who require screen reader technology. Part of this work will include ensuring that all images have alt-text descriptions, and that all features of the textbook can be accessed using keyboard navigation.

“I am excited to receive this award because it will enable me to complete some long-overdue work on accessibility,” says Fitzpatrick. “I hope that the status of EDI Scholar will help me to promote the importance of selecting accessible course materials, and to remind people that our commitment to EDI must include accommodations for those with disabilities.”

Dr. Kara Granzow

After attending the Walls to Bridges instructor training this summer, Dr. Kara Granzow (Sociology – Faculty of Arts & Science) will work with colleagues and the community to bring the program to ULethbridge. Walls to Bridges is an internationally renowned initiaive, offered through post-secondary institutions, that provides for-credit courses to incarcerated and non-incarcerated students together to learn as peers.

“Without the support of the EDI Scholars Program, this project would not be possible,” says Granzow. “Programs like this give much needed time and support for the work necessary to further open doors to post-secondary education.”

Dr. Rhiannon Mesler (Management (Marketing) in the Dhillon School of Business) will undertake a series of studies with the goal to better understand when and why individuals choose to support, or not to support, organizations, causes and policies that create more equity, diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Rhiannon Mesler

“I am very grateful to undertake this research with the support of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge EDI Scholar program,” says Mesler. “This project will help understand the ways that fundamental beliefs about social structures shape support for charitable causes, and in particular those that serve people in need.”

Spring 2024 EDI Scholars

Dr. Dawn Burleigh (Indigenous Education – Faculty of Education) will focus on establishing a sustainable pathway for indigenization in the Faculty of Education that will build faculty, staff and student capacity for years to come.

“Considering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action in education, and a newly revised teaching quality standard in Alberta, all teachers are required to integrate Indigenous perspectives into their classrooms. This means faculties of education must do the same to ensure pre-service teachers are prepared,” says Burleigh.

Dr. Dawn Burleigh

“Being an EDI Scholar will afford me the opportunity to work with the amazing members of faculty and staff in education to create service opportunities that could connect with community, build relationships, support instructional capacity and meet the emerging needs of the field.”

Dr. Jason Laurendeau (Sociology – Faculty of Arts & Science) aims to contribute to the work of kinesiology departments and faculties as they work to indigenize course offerings, teaching practices and curricula.

Dr. Jason Laurendeau

“My goal is to shed light on the processes by which individual faculty members engage in this work – the barriers, challenges, and/or opportunities they experience,” says Laurendeau. “More broadly, I plan to contribute to vital conversations at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge about what it means to reckon with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as a colonial institution.”

Dr. Tracy Oosterbroek (Nursing – Faculty of Health Sciences) will examine the impact of a pilot implementation of CASPer, an online situational judgment test intended to expand the assessment and evaluation of applicant suitability and capacity for ethical caring that extends beyond standard admission metrics. Historically, nursing program admission processes have relied predominantly on GPA which restricts ethnic and cultural diversity among students.

Dr. Tracy Oosterbroek

“This resulting lack of diversity among health-care providers has been shown to have a negative impact on the quality of care received by patients of minority or underrepresented groups,” says Oosterbroek. “My project will examine and compare historical and post-implementation applicant and admission data to determine whether these strategies have a positive impact on the diversity of the student body, or further perpetuate barriers to application and admission for minority, underrepresented or marginalized applicants.

Early career researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge secure SSHRC awards

caroline.zentner — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:06:39 +0000

A dozen ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers have been awarded more than $600,000 in new funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for diverse projects, including agricultural supply chain management and repatriating Métis music.

These Insight Development Grants, announced earlier this year, are designed to support emerging scholars and research in its early stages, with up to $75,000 available over one or two years.

From the Dhillon School of Business, Drs. Duckjung Shin, Adriane MacDonald, Jocelyn Wiltshire (Calgary campus) and Alireza Tajbakhsh have secured more than $187,000 in funding for their projects.

Shin’s research looks at human resource management as a social system within an organization. He examines the interference between work and life domains, the diminishing power of unions under modern human resource practices, widening status differences within an organization and its societal consequences.

MacDonald’s research will examine the potential of sense-making tools to improve communication and problem-solving in multi-stakeholder partnerships, an approach espoused in the United Nations’ global sustainable development agenda. Engaging multiple stakeholder perspectives in complex problem solving can create new problems and ultimately prevent groups from reaching their goals. MacDonald’s study will focus on how sense-making tools, such as boundary objects, metaphor and storytelling, can help individuals in these partnerships overcome the inherent difficulties of collaborating at knowledge boundaries.

Wiltshire’s research looks at the dark side of leaders’ influence behaviour in the workplace, known as dark political skill. To what extent do manipulative and deceptive leaders contribute to a political workplace climate and impact employee behaviours and well-being? Along with Drs. Kelly Williams-Whitt and Mahfooz Ansari, Wiltshire will conduct a series of surveys and interviews. Their findings will speak to effective managerial and organizational practices that may mitigate or neutralize these harmful consequences.

Tajbakhsh will examine the existing literature on agricultural supply chain management in both crop and livestock sectors in Canada. The agriculture sector is at the nexus of world hunger and climate change. Tajbakhsh’s research will look at successful sustainable practices adopted in Canada and what corporate and government sustainability regulations have influenced agricultural networks in Canada.

Five researchers in the Faculty of Fine Arts — Dr. Dana Cooley (New Media), Dr. Bryn Hughes (Music), Jackson Two Bears (Art), Dr. Amandine Pras (Music) and Dr. Devon Smither (Art) — have secured awards worth nearly $280,000.

Cooley’s project, To Hear a Shadow, is an interactive installation that translates a participant’s EEG (brain activity) data through a Rube Goldbergesque chain of digital and early scientific measuring devices that spin and flutter, turning the signals into light, sound, and movement. Behind a partial wall, a second participant tunes in to the audio transmissions through a specially equipped headset. Proximity sensors respond to the second participant’s movements which affect the colour and intensity of light in the room. The perceptual feedback loop constructed by Shadow draws our attention to the interconnectedness we have with each other and our environment.

Hughes plans to delve into the factors that allow people to activate different musical languages. He wants to determine what musical features contribute most to syntactic violations and why some musical gestures sound wrong in one kind of music but not in another.

Two Bears’ research will explore the ways in which the creative use of digital technologies can support the innovation, transmission and transformation of Indigenous creative and cultural practices, while providing a site for critical dialogue and reflection. Two Bears plans to create an immersive 360-degree video and audio art installation and a multimedia app that will feature mobile media artworks.

Pras' research focuses on the democratization of the 21st century recording studio and the production techniques and creative processes that define it. Her multidisciplinary project includes three complementary case studies — an ethnography on street recording studios in Bamako, Mali, a longitudinal survey in the international Audio Recording Engineer Practicum of the Banff Centre and an experiment that will examine the learning process of a young Malian studio practitioner when attending the Banff Practicum for one semester.

Smither is conducting a study that looks at the marginalization of women artists and artistic realism during the first three decades of the 20th century. Specifically, she will focus on Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and the women artists she collected and supported from 1905 to 1930. The works formed part of the founding collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, which opened in 1931.

The other recipients include Drs. Monique Giroux, Canada Research Chair and a professor in Indigenous Studies; Kara Granzow, a professor of sociology; and Julie Young, a professor of geography and Canada Research Chair.

Giroux’s research centres on the repatriation of Métis music. It includes three key elements: understanding what constitutes musical repatriation, creating an inventory of Métis musical belongings housed in archives and private collections, and determining the priorities of Métis communities for the repatriation of these musical belongings. Through consultations with Métis advisory boards, she will create a strategy for musical repatriation, including the possibility of establishing programs to support musical revival and resurgence.

Granzow and Dr. Amber Dean, co-investigator and professor at McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, seek to understand and contribute to preventing sexualized colonial violence through exploring the enduring relationships between an economy based on resource extraction and the ongoing high rates of sexualized violence against Indigenous women in Alberta.

Young’s research examines the impacts of Canadian refugee deterrence policies. Phase one analyzes how the Canadian government conceptualizes and operationalizes deterrence via the Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement, the Mexican visa policy, the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program and the recent information campaign in U.S. cities. Phase two involves fieldwork in Windsor-Detroit and Leamington to assess the local consequences of these policies.

Alma Matters

trevor.kenney — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:30:55 +0000

Keys to the City

On Oct. 7, a number of notable residents of southern Alberta, including many with ties to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, received a key to the city from former Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck. Friends of the U of L included The Hon. Rick Casson (former U of L employee), Senator Joyce Fairbairn (LLD '04), Gary Kirk (2004 Faculty of Management Scholarship Dinner honouree), U of L researcher Dr. Ian Whishaw (DSc '08) and Rochelle Yamagishi (BASc '71, MEd '91).

Woykin Featured at TiFF

Cameron Woykin's (BFA '03) dramatic short film Open Window was shown at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival. Open Window was selected to premiere as a part of the Short Cuts Canada programme, highlighting short films by established and emerging directors from Canada.
Since graduating from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Woykin has completed numerous short films, screening his work throughout Canada and internationally. Woykin currently resides in Toronto, where he is completing a master of fine arts in film production at York ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Solie Awarded Griffin Prize

Karen Solie (BA '93) was the Canadian winner of the prestigious 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize for her collection of poems, Pigeon. One of Canada's acclaimed young poets, Solie first launched onto the scene with Short Haul Engine (2001), a finalist for the 2002 Griffin Poetry Prize and winner of many other awards and citations.

Past and Present

U of L alumnus, Darren Joblonkay.

During the summer of 2007, Darren Joblonkay (BSc '10) travelled with fellow U of L students under the direction of professor Dr. Shawn Bubel (BSc '96) to Tel Beth Shemesh, an archaeological site 20 km west of Jerusalem.

"I think the real 'aha moment' that led me to my career [in archaeology] was attending the field school at Tel Beth Shemesh," says Joblonkay.

Since then, Joblonkay has spent every summer working at archaeological digs around Israel. Joblonkay is now pursuing a master's degree in Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. In the summer of 2011, he will be digging at Tell Tayinat in Turkey, which he hopes will lead to his dissertation.

"I would like to eventually be a professor in Near Eastern Archaeology. I believe it was one of my mentors who told me once that 'any archaeologist would be lying if they said they didn't like digging up treasures,' but our discipline runs deeper than that," he says. "We attempt to preserve and understand humanity's cultural history. We are all captivated by what humans were able to achieve in the past."

Dow Finds Early Career Success

After graduation, Jazlyn Dow (BFA '10) worked on the millinery team for the Albert Ballet show Love Lies Bleeding, a contemporary ballet set to classic songs composed by Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Dow is now on a 10-month contract with the Canadian Opera Company as a wardrobe co-ordinator.

"This chandelier headdress for the Love Lies Bleeding production was so enormous that we had to build a separate crate just for it to travel," explains Dow.

Alumni Troupe Hit the Fringe

(L-R) - Cliff Kelly (BFA ’07), Amanda Blair (BFA ’08) and William Banfield (BFA ’06) in Happy Whackin’ Jim McCrackin.

Happy Whackin' Jim McCrackin, directed by Brent Felzien (BFA '06) and Neil LeGrandeur (BFA '06) and written by Amos Altman (BA '04, BFA '05), tells the comedic story of a veteran hit man who engages in some soul-searching while attempting to complete his last job.

Presented at the 2010 Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, it received top reviews from the Edmonton Journal and SEE Magazine. The production featured William Banfield (BFA '06), Amanda Blair (BFA '08), Cliff Kelly (BFA '07) and Kimberlee Stadelmann (BFA '06) as stage manager.

Suriano Looks to Engage an Online Generation

Jason Suriano (BA '01) is using gaming as a means to enlighten a new generation of kids about science, history and technology. Recently, he launched Seek Your Own Proof, a new online game at Discoverykids.com. The game targets six to 12 year-olds and follows the story of three investigative siblings who discover a secret underground agency known as the Central Institute for Exploration (CIE).

The teens are quickly drawn into a chase through time and history against enemy agents who are plotting to rewrite the past, change the present and alter the future. Online users can play the game in traditional form but also have the option of taking field missions to real museums. The debut field mission involved facts around the King Tut exhibit at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York, N.Y. Other mission locations include the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton and the Galt Museum in Lethbridge.

U of L Alumnus to Lead Lethbridge

On Oct. 18, Rajko Dodic (BASc '78) was elected as mayor of Lethbridge. Fellow alumni joining Dodic on Lethbridge City Council as alderman are: Jeff Carlson (BFA '92), Liz Iwaskiw (BASc '77), Joe Mauro (BASc '83) and Bridget (Pastoor) Mearns (BA '95).

1970

Ralph Dilworth BASc '74, BEd '85, MEd '92

Dilworth, a teacher-librarian at Western Canada High School in Calgary, was featured in a Calgary Herald article called: Librarians We Love. Originally from Camrose, Alta., Dilworth is a former diplomat who, after graduating from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, went on to work with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa and then at embassies in Poland, France and Yaounde, Cameroon; he speaks English, French, Spanish and Polish. Before becoming a teacher-librarian, he served as a teacher and writer of textbooks including a Social Studies 30 classic, written in French and used regularly in classrooms for a decade until it was recently updated. If stranded on a desert island, Dilworth cited The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky as his book of choice.

Annalee Hearn BEd '74

"After teaching for 30 years, I have retired and moved to Vegreville to be near my two granddaughters. I also have two grandsons living in Abu Dhabi."

JoAnn St. John BEd '75, DipEd '92, MEd '03

"I'm very excited to be coordinating and working in the FastForward High School Completion Initiative with Lethbridge School District #51. I have the opportunity to support, engage and assist young adults in completing their high school careers and moving onto post-secondary studies."

1980

Lynette Duncan BEd '81

"We are enjoying our first grandchild, Cameron Reed Stone Shackleford, born March 21, 2010."

Dawn Ronne BEd '84

"I am principal of Sunnyside School, an elementary school with Palliser Regional Schools."

Daniel Lynn BMgt '85

"Last year I migrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver, B.C."

Doug MacLaren BMgt '88

MacLaren is presently the CEO of the Resource Training Organization (RTO) in British Columbia. RTO oversees the management and development of apprenticeship training for the resource sector in B.C.

1990

Glen Trafford BEd '92

"Marie, Kyle and I moved to Okotoks in September 2009 so that I could become the general sales manager of Straightline Kia in Calgary. Marie has opened a remedial massage therapy clinic in Okotoks and we are settling into being back in Alberta."

Caroline Velie BA '94

"I obtained a bachelor of social work degree from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary in 2004 and obtained a master of social work degree from Dalhousie ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in 2008."

Amanda Chow BA '96

"Hi everybody! I just want to keep in contact with the U of L – I have been missing the people, scene and life stories happening there. I am now a lecturer and teach social work in Hong Kong. Let's keep in touch, I miss you all."

John Granzow BA '99, MSc '10
Michael Granzow BA '06, MA '10

John and Michael, sons of the late Carl Granzow, both received their master's degrees at the 2010 Fall Convocation ceremony. John is currently pursuing a PhD at Stanford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and Michael is now living in Montreal. Their sisters, Andrea Klassen (BA '97, BEd '01) and Kara Granzow (BA '99), are ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge graduates as well.

2000

Aaron Barr BFA '02

Barr was a character surfacer for the newly released 3D movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Among numerous other projects, he also worked on the movies The Ant Bully and The Wild. Barr currently works as a surfacer/modeller at Image Engine Design Inc. in Vancouver, B.C.

Nathan Crosby BA '04, BEd '06
Lisa (Polley) Crosby BSc '05

"Lisa and I just got married on Sept. 25, 2010. Although we did not meet at the
U of L, we were both friends with people at the U of L who knew each other. Small world!"

Jarrod Charron BMgt '05

"I recently accepted a media planning supervisor position at PHD, one of Canada's leading media and communications agencies. I will be overseeing media plans for Scotiabank. In January I was nominated for the 2010 Media Planner of the Year."

Sheena DeVries BMgt '06

"I am currently working for MIX 97.7 FM in Calgary. I previously worked at the Calgary Herald."

Michael Macintyre BA '06

Macintyre was recently installed as the new pastor for St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Spruce Grove, Alta. After graduation from the U of L, Macintyre moved to Saskatoon to attend Lutheran Theological Seminary. While at Seminary, he spent three weeks in Peru as a part of a cross-cultural experience. In April 2010, he graduated with a master of divinity degree.

Cyndy Packard BMgt '07

Packard passed the Chartered Accountants Uniform Evaluation (UFE) in 2009. She previously worked at KPMG in Lethbridge from September 2006 to May 2009. She is currently a manager at Quon & Associates in Calgary.

Alumni Relations
��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge
4401 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Drive West
Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4
Toll-Free: 1-866-552-2582
E-mail: alumni@uleth.ca

For a look at the full issue of SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Kara Granzow

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers to collaborate on projects funded by Partnership Grants

Related Topics

New EDI Scholars represent broadening of important program

Related Topics

Early career researchers at the ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge secure SSHRC awards

Related Topics

Alma Matters

Related Topics

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers to collaborate on projects funded by Partnership Grants

Early career researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge secure SSHRC awards