UNews - Niitsitapi Teacher

O'Dea's contribution to Education a lasting legacy

trevor.kenney — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:44:54 +0000

Finding a way to coax Dr. Jane O'Dea to talk about herself as she reflects on her 10 years as dean of the Faculty of Education is a lesson in futility. Only within the context of describing the faculty's achievements will she discuss her stewardship, and even then, she'll deflect credit away from the individual to that of the collective.

"It's not so much what I achieved over the 10 years, rather it's what we all achieved together," says O'Dea.

"I'm tremendously proud of the things we accomplished because they were achievements that involved every single faculty member and all of our support staff."

Recognizing she was inheriting a faculty with a long and proud tradition, and balancing that with a need to create new and innovative programming that would reflect emerging educational challenges was a juggling act that O'Dea mastered.

"I was tremendously fortunate to become dean of a faculty that has a fabulous tradition of collaboration and partnership with the professional community," she says of the faculty relationship with Alberta Education's Zone 6 schools and teachers. "That isn't something I brought about, that's something the founding members of the faculty created. It was my privilege to come in both as a faculty member and later as dean, become familiar with those structures, realize how important they were and then use that as a foundation to work with our faculty in moving forward."

One of the great legacies of O'Dea's leadership is the establishment of First Nations programming, specifically through the creation of the Niitsitapi Teacher Education and the First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) graduate programs.

"She made First Nations education one of the priorities of her deanship," says Education faculty member Dr. Cathy Campbell. "She succeeded in developing relationships with the Blackfoot speaking nations, initiating collaborative work and programming with Red Crow College, and bringing issues in First Nations education to the forefront of discussions at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and in the province."

Campus is a better place because of people such as Jane O'Dea

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:47:45 +0000

As I approach the final weeks of my tenure as President of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, it's hard not to reflect on my 10 years here in southern Alberta and more specifically, on the many remarkable people I have met over that time.

Dr. Jane O'Dea is one of those people and it is both ironic and fitting that we would begin our positions on the same day, 10 years ago, and will now be leaving these positions on the same day at the end of June.

As the new Dean of the Faculty of Education, Jane had already been at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for 10 years when she began her role. I was coming in from the outside and was fortunate to have Jane, among others, as a valuable resource to help learn about the U of L community.

Jane was very generous in her time to me early on, and I remember fondly accompanying her on my first visit to the Blood Reserve and Red Crow Community College. That was just the beginning of the Niitsitapi Teacher Education program, one that she supported, built and encouraged her colleagues to work on diligently.

Congratulations Madam Dean on all that you were able to accomplish during your term, and I know we will continue to see great things from you in the future.

The spring is a time for congratulations as we honour the many people who make the U of L such an exceptional place to work and study. Dr. Leah Fowler, this year's Distinguished Teacher, is to be commended for her wonderful work in the Faculty of Education, as is
Dr. Dave Morris, the Ingrid Speaker Medal recipient.

Dr. Fowler will be honoured at Spring Convocation while Dr. Morris will be recognized at the fall event.

I also want to make particular mention of the President's Award winners, Cal Toth from the Curriculum Re-Development Centre, Kim Fowler from Housing Services and the Major Building Construction Team from Facilities. This team is led by Brian Sullivan and includes Bill Hudgins, Jason Baranec, John Federkeil, Will Tietz, Dan Sullivan, Jim Vanderzee, Rick Baceda and Al Mueller. I am satisfied especially that these awards have recognized such a distinguished group over the years.

Now that the Michael Nolan campaign has concluded, I want to say a special thank you to Vice-President Advancement Chris Horbachewski for initiating what was the most satisfying fundraising experience with which I have ever been associated. It was a wonderful success, both in terms of money raised for student scholarships and the great amount of fun we had with the project.

I was very happy that a student, Joshua Og, won Michael Nolan, and I've heard that he has been putting the car to good use since he took ownership. My only advice to him, other than to enjoy the car and treat it well, was to never change its name.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Farewell Fiesta in May, where I can
express my gratitude personally to all of you for how wonderful you have made my time here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Lastly, I will be presiding over my final convocation ceremonies next month, and I urge everyone to take some time to attend one of the four ceremonies. It's an excellent way to reaffirm why we work so hard to make the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ all that it is for our students.

O'Dea's contribution to Education a lasting legacy

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:09:01 +0000

Finding a way to coax Dr. Jane O'Dea to talk about herself as she reflects on 10 years as dean of the Faculty of Education is a lesson in futility. Only within the context of describing the faculty's achievements will she discuss her stewardship, and even then, she'll deflect credit away from the individual to that of the collective.

"It's not so much what I've achieved over the last 10 years, rather it's what we've all achieved together," says O'Dea, who will step away from the role of dean at the end of June and return to the faculty ranks, where she started at the U of L 20 years ago.

"I'm tremendously proud of the things we've accomplished because they were achievements that involved every single faculty member and all of our support staff."

Dr. Leah Fowler echoes that assessment, saying O'Dea personifies the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's ideals of accessible education.

"With the Niitsitapi teacher education cohort, and the current masters' cohort, she opened wide the door at the Faculty of Education to restorative education for First Nations, Metis and Inuit students," says Fowler. "That has meant that we all have positively revisited education practice and teacher preparation."

Her personable approach is highly respected by her peers, but O'Dea gives credit to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for fostering an atmosphere that embraces one-on-one learning.

"One of the things that really impressed me when I first came here was I felt this was a place where they really care about students," says O'Dea. "Here you're not just a number, you actually matter, and people care about the instruction you get. I think that is absolutely tremendous. I have always loved this place."

She speaks glowingly of the collaborative nature of her faculty, crediting their willingness to work collectively in developing niche graduate offerings such as literacy, information technology leadership and inclusive education and neuroscience topics.

"These special niche structures are really quite extraordinary but they take an incredible amount of work, time and administrative finesse," says O'Dea. "I am extremely fortunate to have amazing people working in the offices here and faculty members willing to try out these new programs all the time."

She also trumpets the research portfolio the faculty has developed over her tenure.

"It's a challenge to maintain a proper balance between graduate and undergraduate teaching, all the while factoring in quality time for research," says O'Dea. "That is by no means easy to achieve but it is essential.

"We know what draws students to us is the quality of our programs, and we can't afford to just go down the research route and ignore teaching. On the other hand, to simply concentrate on teaching is to become more like a college and we're not that, we're part of the comprehensive ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and proud to be so."

GET THE FACTS

• O'Dea's undergraduate degree is in music and she is an accomplished recital piano player. "There's one recital that I haven't done that I'd really like to do and when I get time to practice I think I might like to go back and do that. I won't share that yet, I'm just playing with it right now."

• O'Dea is excited about the opportunity to teach again, saying, "I have a lot of ideas for interesting courses both at the graduate and undergraduate level that I think would be of real interest to students today."

• Over O'Dea's tenure, the faculty boasted a 97 per cent rate of employment within one year of graduating

• Despite stepping away from the dean's position, O'Dea has no plans to leave the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. "Absolutely not, I think this is a tremendous ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. I love its size, I love its entrepreneurial innovative spirit, and its emphasis on community and student engagement."

A legacy of collaboration

trevor.kenney — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:24:23 +0000

"I'm tremendously proud of the things we've accomplished because they were achievements that involved every single faculty member and all of our support staff."

Dr. Leah Fowler echoes that assessment, saying O'Dea personifies the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's ideals of accessible education.

Her personable approach is highly respected by her peers, but O'Dea gives credit to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for fostering an atmosphere that embraces one-on-one learning.

She also trumpets the research portfolio the faculty has developed over her tenure.

GET THE FACTS

• Over O'Dea's tenure, the faculty boasted a 97 per cent rate of employment within one year of graduating

UNews - Niitsitapi Teacher

O'Dea's contribution to Education a lasting legacy

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Campus is a better place because of people such as Jane O'Dea

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