UNews - School of Liberal Education

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers awarded federal research grants worth more than $3 million

caroline.zentner — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:50:59 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are among the successful applicants for federal grants announced by The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and the Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health.

The more than $1.3 billion in funding supports over 9,700 researchers and research projects in Canada through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

“From brain plasticity and the mechanism of low-dose radiation to supporting newcomers through mentoring, these grants illustrate the diversity of research being done at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, vice-president of research. “This funding not only helps established researchers continue their work but also helps our early career researchers build their research programs. Ultimately, our students benefit with increased opportunities to engage in research throughout their post-secondary careers.”

In total, ULethbridge received funding from NSERC for nine Discovery Grants and two Discovery Development Grants. The Discovery Grants will bring in nearly $475,000 a year for the next five years. The research projects include the following:

Dr. Gerlinde Metz (Neuroscience) will receive $96,000 per year for a study looking at the social determinants of experience-dependent brain plasticity.
Dr. Stacey Wetmore (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $89,000 per year for a project involving computer modelling of modified RNA.
Dr. Olga Kovalchuk (Biological Sciences) was awarded $55,000 annually to study the fundamental mechanisms of low-dose radiation.
Dr. Borries Demeler (Chemistry & Biochemistry) is set to receive $47,000 yearly for solution studies of interacting biopolymer systems.
Dr. Hadi Kharaghani (Mathematics & Computer Science) will receive $32,000 a year for his project on special orthogonal matrices.

The remainder of the NSERC recipients are four early career researchers, each of whom received a Discovery Launch Supplement of $12,500 in addition to their Discovery Grant.

Dr. Corina Birghila (Mathematics & Computer Science) was awarded a yearly amount of $31,000 for a project titled Optimal Decision under Uncertainty.
Dr. Jessica Willi (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $44,000 annually for a project on ribosome functions through synthetic biology.
Dr. Vineet Rathod (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $38,000 annually to examine the structure-function relationship of natural and engineered amyloid proteins.
Dr. Dylan Girodat (Chemistry & Biochemistry) will receive $42,000 per year for a project on the structural dynamics of ribosomes during translation.

In addition, Discovery Development Grants, worth $22,000 each, were awarded to Drs. Christopher Hopkinson (Geography & Environment) and Marc Bomhof (Kinesiology and Physical Education).

Hopkinson will use remote sensing to model vegetation and snowpack response to wildland fire in headwater basins.
Bomhof intends to look at the interplay between exercise and dietary factors on appetite regulation.

ULethbridge social science and humanities researchers were awarded $645,000 in SSHRC Insight Grants.

Dr. Daniel O'Donnell (English) will work on a project involving Research Data Management and Research Data Infrastructure by humanities researchers.
Dr. Scott Rathwell (Kinesiology) wants to enhance sport participation, promote physical activity and improve health outcomes for aging adults by establishing a framework for effective sport programming in middle-aged and older adults.

Several ULethbridge researchers are the recipients of Insight Development Grants totalling more than $291,000.

Dr. Toupey Luft (Education) has designed a project to address the gap in understanding how arts-based mentorship may enhance a sense of belonging for newcomer young adults.
Dr. Kenneth Holyoke’s (Geography & Environment) project investigates the nature and scope of climate impacts on the Wolastoqiyik and Wabanaki archaeological record in New Brunswick.
Dr. Justin Raycraft’s (Anthropology) objective in this project is to increase understanding of the social dimensions of human-carnivore coexistence in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania.
Dr. Jeffrey MacCormack (Education) will develop a professional development intervention consisting of a community of practice for teachers and principals where they learn evidence-based practices to support students with profound and multiple disabilities.
Dr. Miranda Leibel (Liberal Education) will examine how the creation and maintenance of postal services are an important component of Canadian state- and nation-building.

Bridge Prize national short story competition selects jury for 2026 cycle, submissions now being accepted

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:31:50 +0000

Submissions are now open for the 2026 version of Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students — the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize — and the main jury has been selected.

Now entering its fourth competitive cycle, the reputation of the cross-Canada short story competition continues to grow, garnering attention from some of Canada’s most accomplished authors. Among those is Ian Williams, the author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and whose book, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2019. He headlines a stellar main jury that includes representation from across the country.

The remainder of the jury consists of Sharon Bala (Newfoundland & Labrador), Ivan Coyote (Yukon), Alice Kuipers (Saskatchewan), Idman Nur Omar (Alberta) and David Robertson (Manitoba).

“The 2026 competition features some of Canada’s most accomplished writers and thinkers,” says Dr. Harold Jansen, ULethbridge librarian and dean of the School of Liberal Education, which presents the Bridge Prize. “These established and emerging writers represent a cross-section of Canada as well as genres of writing. We are grateful to our outstanding national and local jury members and to Munro’s Books of Victoria for their support of the next generation of writers in Canada.”

The success of the event has led to an increase in prize money for the 2026 cycle and a new structure for the competition. For the first time, the top story written by an undergraduate student and the top story written by a graduate student will each receive $5,000. As well, one finalist in each category will earn $1,000 and each of the four winners and finalists will be awarded $200 gift cards from lead sponsor Munro’s Books.

“Writing is alive and well in Canada and with each awarding of the Bridge Prize we see stronger and stronger submissions,” adds Jansen. “It truly has become a national literary competition, with each province represented by really outstanding young writers.”

Initiated by ULethbridge alumnus Terry whitehead (BA ’94) with support of the School of Liberal Education, the first prizes were awarded in 2020. Entry is open to all students attending colleges and universities in Canada, with a fee of $20 per submission. Entrants can submit as many stories as they like. To date, over 1,000 stories have been submitted and over $30,000 in prize money has been distributed.

Submissions are now being accepted until Jan. 26, 2026. For more information, visit the Bridge Prize web page.

Following are short biographies of the 2026 jurors.

Sharon Bala

Sharon Bala’s best-selling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2020 Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award and the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, was short listed for several awards, and is in translation in four languages. She won the Writers’ Trust/ McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize in 2017. Her short fiction has been published in: Best Canadian Stories 2024, The Journey Prize 29, Hazlitt, Grain, PRISM international, The New Quarterly, Maisonneuve, and elsewhere. Sharon is a member of The Port Authority, a St. John’s writing group.

Ivan Coyote

Ivan Coyote is a writer, storyteller and performer. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, they are the author of thirteen books, the creator of four films, seven stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. Coyote’s books have won the ReLit Award, the B.C. Book Prize for Writing That Provokes, been named a Stonewall Honour Book, been longlisted for Canada Reads, been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-fiction, and the Governor General’s Award for non-fiction twice.

Alice Kuipers

Alice Kuipers is the bestselling, award-winning author of five novels, a memoir for teenager Carley Allison, Always Smile, and six books for younger readers. She’s also a bestselling ghost author, experienced in writing adult memoir and self-help. Alice’s work is published in 36 countries, and she’s taught thousands of people online and in person. Now, she’s Head of Coaching at The Novelry, and she shares writing secrets over on Confessions & Coffee, her weekly publication. Her newest book, Spark, is a guide for anyone wanting to write their own book for young readers.

Idman Nur Omar

Idman Nur Omar was born in Rome and immigrated to Canada in 1991. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph and an MA in English Literature from Concordia ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Montreal. The Private Apartments, her first book, was a finalist for the 2024 Alberta Literary Awards, a finalist for the 2023 Writers’ Union of Canada Danuta Gleed Literary Award and included in Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2023. She lives in Calgary.

David Robertson

David A. Robertson is a two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner and has won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Writer's Union of Canada Freedom to Read award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, podcaster, public speaker and social advocate. He was honoured with a Doctor of Letters by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the arts and distinguished achievements. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg.

Ian Williams

Ian Williams is the author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. His previous book, Disorientation, was selected as a best book of the year by the Boston Globe. His novel, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2019 and was published in Canada, the US, the UK and Italy. His poetry collection, Word Problems won the Raymond Souster Award from the League of Canadian Poets. His previous collection, Personals, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award. His short story collection, Not Anyone’s Anything, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. He is a trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Ian completed his PhD at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. In the fall of 2024, Ian delivered the cross-Canada 2024 CBC Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say, about rehabilitating conversations.

��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.

Dr. Harold Jansen appointed to new role as ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian and Dean of the School of Liberal Education

trevor.kenney — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:47:33 +0000

One of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s most respected professors and administrators is prepared to take on a new role this spring as Dr. Harold Jansen has been named the new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian and Dean of the School of Liberal Education.

Dr. Harold Jansen, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian and Dean of the School of Liberal Education.

Jansen, a political scientist who has taught in the Faculty of Arts & Science since 1998 and most recently been serving as ULethbridge’s Interim ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian, is enthused about the new role and his opportunity to continue working with the library and to build on the strong foundation of the School of Liberal Education and its standing as a hallmark of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s academic philosophy.

“The principle of liberal education is what gives the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge its identity,” says Jansen. “I am thrilled to have the privilege of working with two academic units that contribute so directly to that vision and that are focused on preparing students to be successful while they are here at our university and after graduation.”

Jansen excelled in his teaching and research duties while in the Faculty of Arts & Science. A natural leader, he gravitated to taking the head of the classroom during his high school years when he put together ad hoc Chemistry 20 tutoring sessions for his classmates. Later, he worked as a teaching assistant for chemistry and history classes as an undergraduate student at the King’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ College in Edmonton. He continued to find his way into teaching roles when completing his BA at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, his master’s at Carleton ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and then his doctoral studies back at the U of A.

“Dr. Jansen is an excellent educator who has always had a unique talent to understand the student perspective and meet students where they are in their learning and to empower them to take on new concepts and new ideas,” says Dr. Erasmus Okine, provost and vice-president academic. “As a researcher in his field and administrator, he has demonstrated his ability as a leader and innovator in every sense. His recent experience in the library, coupled with his deep commitment to the ideals of liberal education will serve him well in this role.”

Jansen is recognized for his research work on political party and election finance in Canada and he’s consistently been voted one of the most popular teachers on campus. In 2019, he was honoured with the Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2018 the Teaching Excellence Award from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students’ Union. Jansen served as a Board of Governors Teaching Chair from 2013-2015 and was a Teaching Fellow from 2009-2010.

Administratively, Jansen chaired the Department of Political Science from 2015-2018 and was Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts & Science before taking on the role of Interim ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian.

“The Library and the School of Liberal Education are central to the teaching and research mission of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. From my experience with both units, what makes them special is the exceptional dedication of their staff. Their commitment to students and to the mission of the university makes me optimistic about the future. I could not be more excited to work with these amazing people.”

Jansen will begin his role as ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian and Dean on May 1, 2023. His appointment is one of four new dean appointments this spring, in addition to the recent announcements of Dr. Digvir Jayas as president and vice-chancellor and alumnus Terry Whitehead as chancellor.

Main jury identified for 2024 Bridge Prize national short story competition

trevor.kenney — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:21:49 +0000

The main jury for Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students has been chosen — and it features influential literary voices from across the country.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s biennial Bridge Prize short story competition, presented by the School of Liberal Education, is now entering its third competitive cycle. Following highly successful competitions in 2020 and 2022 that have established the Bridge Prize as a significant national literary event, the 2024 edition has attracted another esteemed group of jurors.

“It’s exciting to announce another stellar national jury who will adjudicate the 2024 installment of the Bridge Prize,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education. “The main jury includes award-winning authors of international renown and new and emerging literary voices representing different literary genres and regions across Canada. This is truly a national literary endeavour, and we are grateful for the jurors’ commitment to supporting post-secondary students and the next generation of Canadian literary artists.”

The jury consists of Michelle Good (Saskatchewan), Nicholas Herring (Prince Edward Island), Sheena Kamal (Quebec), George Murray (Newfoundland & Labrador), Danny Ramadan (British Columbia) and Madeleine Thien (Quebec).

The Bridge Prize, initiated by ULethbridge alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), has elicited more than 500 short story entries over the first two competitions. The first prize winner earns $7,500, while three additional finalists garner $1,000 apiece, making it the largest cash prize for any student writing competition in Canada. Munro’s Books, based in Victoria, B.C., is the returning major sponsor, and hands out $200 gift cards to all four winners. The winner also has their short story edited by Shirarose Wilensky, an editor with the House of Anansi Press.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto graduate student Chido Muchemwa won the 2022 Bridge Prize and was recently awarded a scholarship from the prestigious Miles Morland Foundation in the United Kingdom. The grant supports first-time novelists as they embark on writing their first novel. In addition, Muchemwa is presently in discussions with a Canadian publisher to publish a collection of her short stories.

"Winning the Bridge Prize gave me the confidence to pursue opportunities that I had previously felt I wasn’t ready for yet. I am so grateful to the Bridge Prize for taking student writers seriously and I encourage anyone eligible to apply. It really could be you,” says Muchemwa.

Submissions for the 2024 competition open January 23, 2023, and will close January 22, 2024. For more information, visit The Bridge Prize web page.

Following are short biographies of the jurors for the 2024 competition.

Michelle Good

Michelle Good is a Cree writer and member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. After working for Indigenous organizations for 25 years, she obtained a law degree and advocated for residential school survivors. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia while managing her own law firm. Her poems, short stories and essays have been published in magazines and anthologies across Canada, and her poetry was included on two lists of the best Canadian poetry in 2016 and 2017. Five Little Indians, her first novel, won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Award, the Evergreen Award, the City of Vancouver Book of the Year Award and Canada Reads 2022. It was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes.

Nicholas Herring

Nicholas Herring is a carpenter and writer whose work has appeared in The Puritan and The Fiddlehead. He graduated from St. Jerome’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Ontario with an Honours in English Literature and attended the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto where he completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing. He received the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize in 2022 for his debut novel, Some Hellish. Herring lives in Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island.

Sheena Kamal

Sheena Kamal is the author of four novels. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA) in Political Science from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness. Her debut novel, The Lost Ones (US)/Eyes Like Mine (UK), won the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, a Strand Magazine Critics Award and Macavity Award for Best First Novel. It has been sold in 15 countries and was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a Time Magazine Recommended Read, an iBooks Best Book, a Bustle Best Book and a Powell's Pick. Her debut YA novel, Fight Like a Girl, was shortlisted for the White Pine Award. Kamal lives in Montreal.

George Murray

George Murray is the author of 10 books, including seven books of poetry, two best-selling books of aphorisms and a book for children — his latest being Problematica: New and Selected Poems, 1995 – 2020. His work has been widely anthologized and published in magazines, journals and newspapers all over Canada, as well as internationally, including: The Drunken Boat, Granta, Iowa Review, Jacket, London Magazine, Mid-American Review, New American Writing, New Welsh Review, The Puritan, Radical Society and The Walrus. Raised in rural Ontario, Murray currently lives in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Danny Ramadan

Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, longlisted for Canada Reads and named a Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Danny’s children’s book, Salma the Syrian Chef, won the Nautilus Book Award, The Middle East Book Award and was named a Best Book by both Kirkus and School Library Journal. His latest novel, The Foghorn Echoes, was released in 2022. His upcoming memoir, Crooked Teeth, will be released by Penguin Random House in 2024. Danny has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. In 2020, he was a finalist for the inaugural Bridge Prize award for his short story On the Miraculous Return of Khalid from the Dead. Ramadan lives in Vancouver.

Madeleine Thien

Madeliene Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of four books of fiction, including Dogs at the Perimeter and Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which received the 2016 Giller Prize and The Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction. Her books have been shortlisted for The Booker Prize, The Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize, longlisted for a Carnegie Medal and translated into more than 25 languages. Madeleine’s essays and stories can be found in The New Yorker, Granta, Brick, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Review of Books. She has taught literature and fiction in Canada, China, Germany, Nigeria, the United States, Zimbabwe, Singapore and Japan and currently teaches writing and literature at the City ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New York.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto student captures ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize short story contest

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 22:11:28 +0000

Seeking to rediscover her voice, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto student Chido Muchemwa entered The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize short story contest on a whim and produced the grand prize-winning submission. Her story, If It Wasn’t for the Nights, was deemed the best of 187 entries from throughout the country and earned her the $7,500 first-place award, the largest cash prize for student writing in Canada.

Bridge Prize winner Chido Muchemwa

“When I submitted to the Bridge Prize, I never thought I would win. I did it impulsively because I felt I needed to do something to convince myself that I was indeed still a writer,” says Muchemwa, a Zimbabwean writer currently living in Canada and PhD candidate in the Faculty of Information at the U of T. “My father died in 2020, and I felt like words abandoned me.”

Muchemwa was joined by three other finalists as award winners for the biennial event. The Bridge Prize was established in 2019 by the ULethbridge School of Liberal Education and Vancouver-based alumnus and donor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94). It is Canada’s only national short story competition open exclusively to post-secondary graduate and undergraduate students studying at Canadian universities and colleges.

Each of the other three finalists, Lily Scriven (York ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ), Eliza Ives (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New Brunswick), Fernando Tarini (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary), earned $1,000 prizes, while each winning author also earned $200 gift cards from major sponsor Munro’s Books. Waubgeshig Rice, who is also a juror for the 2022 Giller Prize, served on the Bridge Prize jury and is enthused about the quality of writing from the post-secondary generation.

“Serving on the Bridge Prize jury has been a major career highlight,” says Rice. “The stories submitted provided me a thorough glimpse of the exceptional talent among emerging writers in Canada today. I was captivated by the craft and content in each of the submissions, and I look forward to reading more from these gifted authors in the future!”

Muchemwa’s work was praised by juror Lisa Moore.

“The language is transparent, unadorned, and concise — an elegant piece of writing. The story is jampacked with nuanced moments, calibrations of tension and a kind of uneasy epiphany — not sentimental but ephemeral and beautifully satisfying,” she says.

For Muchemwa, whose work has appeared in Lolwe, Augur, Catapult, Baltimore Review and Bacopa Literary Review, the act of putting her ideas into a story again was cathartic.

“If It Wasn’t for the Nights is the only new story that I have been able to write since 2020,” she says. “The Bridge Prize is a much-needed confidence boost, and a reminder that the process doesn’t have to be perfect to produce good, meaningful stories.”

Muchemwa has an MFA in Creative Writing from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Wyoming in 2014 and has been shortlisted twice for the Short Story Day Africa Prize and placed second in the Humber Literary Review’s 2020 Emerging Writers Fiction Contest and in the 2022 Prism International Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction.

Eliza Ives wrote Office Story, which was noted by juror Joan Thomas as being, “Sly and witty, it captures the soul-destroying daily realities of life in a contemporary bureaucracy. The dialogue is terrific. So expertly done — Office Story reads like a published work.”

Juror Sam Wiebe was impressed by Lily Scriven’s Women in the Morning Light.

“Thoughtful and elegantly written, clever but not flippant, with resonant themes of art, history, and female perspective,” says Wiebe. “An enviably smooth prose style.”

Fernando Tarini’s Durian Days was praised for its “Clever angle, refreshing take on grief and youth,” by juror Francesca Ekwuyasi.

About the Bridge Prize

• Established in 2019 and first awarded in 2020, a new competition will run every second year.

• Total prize money for the Bridge Prize is $10,500, with $7,500 to the winner and $1,000 each to three finalists.

• 187 stories from students attending 48 post-secondary institutions in nine provinces across Canada were entered for 2022.

• An initial group of 30 local jurors, comprised of campus and community-based ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and cultural leaders, read all 187 stories. Each story was read by a minimum of three jurors, after which the field was narrowed to the top 70. Every local juror then read each of the 70 stories before 10 were sent on to the main jury.

• The six-person main jury was comprised of authors, artists and educators Francesca Ekwuyasi, Lisa Moore, Waubgeshig Rice, Bill Richardson, Joan Thomas and Sam Wiebe.

• For more, visit the Bridge Prize web page.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge appoints first ever Evelyn Hamilton Chair in Liberal Education

caroline.zentner — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 21:25:01 +0000

The School of Liberal Education has appointed Miranda Leibel as the first Evelyn Hamilton Chair in Liberal Education at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“We are so pleased to announce that Miranda will become the School of Liberal Education’s inaugural Evelyn Hamilton Chair,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the school. “Her work on open and transparent government and social policy fits well with research and teaching in the School of Liberal Education and with the aims of the Evelyn Hamilton Chair.”

Photo by Sierra Duffey

The Chair was established a year ago following a $2-million donation from Art and Mary Jane Crooks. The position was named in honour of Art’s mother, Evelyn Hamilton, who had an expansive and inquisitive worldview and demonstrated lifelong learning.

“I’m excited to join the School of Liberal Education,” says Leibel. “There are lots of folks from all kinds of disciplines working together here and that’s really what energizes me — being around people who are doing completely different things and having the opportunity to learn from them and their work. I think there’s a lot of possibilities for collaboration.”

Leibel was born and raised in Edmonton and obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. She began her studies in the political science department with a desire to focus on international relations.

“I took lots of different classes and just found that, actually, that wasn’t what I was most interested in,” says Leibel. “I started taking more classes on Canadian politics, specifically around social justice, feminism, race and settler colonialism.”

When it came time to pursue a doctoral degree, Leibel moved to Ottawa and attended Carleton ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. She defended her PhD thesis earlier this summer through Carleton’s Institute of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, after focusing her research on review processes for the deaths of children in care across Canada.

“Very quickly, I realized a lot of these inquiries were about Indigenous children in care,” she says. “Of course, that fits into a broader context where Indigenous children are vastly over-represented in child welfare systems across Canada. I wanted to think about why that was and how the conversations that come out of the review process could potentially bring the issue to a wider audience and increase awareness, but also have potential concerns when graphic details are shared and become a subject for public consumption.”

Leibel says important policy changes can result, but more often than not, government officials and the media are imagining their audience to be white settler Canadians.

“There are a lot of Indigenous-led organizations and activists doing really phenomenal work,” she says. “Ensuring that those are the voices given the space to take on those more prominent roles and say what the solutions would be is the right thing to do.”

The goal of the Evelyn Hamilton Chair is to instill among students the liberal education goals of rigorous inquiry, the pursuit of knowledge and critical thought grounded in evidence-based reasoning. The Chair will advance a culture that educates and promotes discussion among students, the public and decision makers on how to think clearly and carefully about issues and assess evidence and impact.

In keeping with that goal, Leibel will conduct research into data literacy and open government. Open government is a recent phenomenon that has gained traction with the ability to digitize records. The Canadian government has an open government portal which allows anyone to access data and digital records such as government contracts, maps and surveys.

“On one hand, it’s really exciting to be able to go in and see how the government is making decisions and how it’s reaching conclusions about different things,” she says. “But, on the other hand, when you go in and look at the statistics, unless you know a lot about statistics and have that data literacy, it’s not actually particularly helpful for a lot of people.”

Leibel’s interest is in how open government information could be used to address social justice demands and movements, such as advancing reconciliation and feminist goals. She also hopes to get students involved in the research. In addition to research, Leibel will begin her teaching duties next semester.

New Community Bridge Lab serves as hub for connecting students to each other, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and community

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 18:08:38 +0000

Community Bridge Lab Showcase takes place Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building (324 5 St S)

One of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s greatest contributions to southern Alberta is the annual influx of bright, talented, eager minds ready to contribute to society. Building on that, ULethbridge opened the new Community Bridge Lab (CBL) in January — a specific space designed to support multi-disciplinary and community-engaged student research projects across the social sciences and humanities.

ULethbridge student Rebeca Spencer working in the field with environmentalists and stewards of land in southern Alberta.

The Community Bridge Lab acts as a hub for academic and community organizations that have research and project needs to connect with ULethbridge students who have project ideas and skills to contribute. The CBL enhances student training through expanded work-integrated learning opportunities and creates even more opportunities for community organizations to draw on the unique skill sets of ULethbridge students, even as it supports the core elements of a liberal education.

“Traditional lab spaces are a hallmark of the sciences but more often than not, are lacking for the social sciences — making this lab a wonderful addition to campus,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, Dean of the School of Liberal Education. “Student-engaged and community-centric work is a strength of our university and until now, independent and group-research in the social sciences and humanities has largely been facilitated through independent studies, applied studies, and honours theses. This lab allows us to build on the strengths of these existing programs by further supporting our students to work collaboratively with faculty, community organizations, and each other.”

To build the same kind of shared lab space aimed at building teams and highlighting the strengths of qualitative research, Wismath and Dr. Jan Newberry (anthropology) proposed the idea of the CBL. In its first year of operation, they were joined by Drs. Jodie Asselin (anthropology), Julie Young (geography and environment) and Kaylan Schwarz (liberal education) as the core advisory group that serves as supervisors and mentors to undergraduate lab fellows working on community-engaged projects.

How it Works

Students engaged in community-oriented research through independent studies, honours projects, or research positions apply to become a lab fellow. Fellows then receive peer support through meetings with other student researchers, training through workshops and speakers, mentorship through faculty support, and lab space withing which to work and brainstorm. Fellows can also apply for CBL funding where appropriate.

“We anticipate holding an annual Community Bridge Day, meant to support creative and community-oriented discussions, where fellows will have an opportunity to publicly share their work,” says Wismath. “During this, the first summer of our collaboration, we supported five lab fellows who shared resources and met regularly to debrief about their experiences working on their independent projects.”

On Thursday, September 8, 2022, the Community Bridge Lab Showcase takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building (324 5 St S), where each student fellow will give a short presentation on their project.

The projects included Lily Overacker’s (anthropology and history) study on what community-engaged research looks like across Canada and in different community contexts, while also doing a local community scan of opportunities for community-engaged research.

Amy Cran (anthropology) examined how a grassroots outreach organization, SAGE Clan Patrol, makes use of traditional Blackfoot Knowledge in their work of assisting people experiencing addiction and homelessness in Lethbridge.

Rebeca Spencer (anthropology and psychology) conducted research using immersive, participant observation with environmentalists and stewards of land in southern Alberta to understand their motivations and their relationship to hope, while Joni Smith (education) worked on the MasterCard Foundation-supported Blackfoot Women’s Empowerment Project to assist in developing a social enterprise for her fellow Blackfoot women artisans and crafters.

Alyssa White (anthropology) continued her work building an educational resource about anthropology in collaboration with both faculty and students that is meant to be inclusive, diverse, and accessible to everyone in the community.

The fellows made use of the lab space, its computers, coding software and transcription tools, but say the most important benefits of the CBL were the opportunities for collaboration with one another, faculty mentors and community organizations.

“It was a great opportunity for me to be mentored by a variety of professors from different disciplines and expand my perspective on interdisciplinary qualitative research,” says Overacker.

Smith’s greatest takeaway was how the CBL connected her to the community.

“I was able to gather data through hosting events and doing surveys to establish a thorough understanding of what is lacking in the artisan industry, using social media and our BWE website to promote our events,” she says. “I also hosted a night market where I met so many Blackfoot women who are dedicated to improving themselves through their passion of being an artisan.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge expands eligibility for Early Start Experience course

caroline.zentner — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 20:16:08 +0000

Students, whether they are entering their first year of studies at ULethbridge or if they’re a second-year student who’s never set foot on campus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are eligible to take the Early Start Experience (ESE) course to help ease the transition to campus.

Dr. Shelly Wismath teaches a group of students in a Liberal Education course.

Offered through the School of Liberal Education, students enrolled in ESE earn a full three-credit course (Social Science List), meet other students, learn skills needed for studies at a university level and find out how to access support systems. Along with getting an academic introduction to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and its various disciplines, students tour campus, take workshops on study skills, use the library for research, write essays and participate in fun group activities.

“The ESE is normally only open to students about to enter their first year, but given the disruptions of the past year, we are opening the course to students now entering their second year,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education. “The first semester is often the hardest for first-year students and coming to campus for the first time, even if you are in your second year, can be daunting. The ESE not only helps students find their way around campus, but also helps them learn this whole new system with its own culture, rules and standards.”

Students who’ve taken ESE in the past say the course was invaluable in helping them make the transition to university life.

“I would absolutely encourage new students to take ESE,” says Noelle Kuntz, a ULethbridge fine arts student. “You’ll meet many friends who you can stay in touch with for the rest of your university experience and you’ll learn a ton from the course. Another huge benefit is getting a full course credit in just two weeks.”

“I am filled with amazement with how much more prepared I am for the year,” said one student who took the course in 2020. “Many, if not all, of my fears, worries and concerns were all addressed during the classes. I feel confident that I will be able to use the tools provided by this program and that I will be able to succeed — no, thrive — in my first year.”

The ESE course, called LBED 1500, runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for two weeks from Monday, Aug. 22 to Friday, Sept. 2. Visit ESE for more information.

Donation provides more work-integrated learning opportunities for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students

caroline.zentner — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 20:35:53 +0000

A $1-million gift from Art and Mary Jane Crooks will help ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students apply what they learn in the classroom to a paid-work setting.

The Crooks Work-Integrated Learning Program in Liberal Education will give students the opportunity to critically examine the world around them and obtain practical hands-on experiences, whether in research, volunteer or community roles, that allow them to develop their professional skills and prepare to enter the world of work after graduation.

“Today, more than ever, it is essential that graduates have skills and experience to go along with their classroom learning,” says Art Crooks. “We are pleased to be able to support this innovative and integrated approach.”

The School of Liberal Education will oversee the program, with priority given to learning opportunities in community projects in business, non-profit or other organizations. The program is open to undergraduate students from any discipline and will be run in collaboration with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Career Bridge Centre. Students undertaking these internships will be supervised by a ULethbridge professor and a business or community supervisor. Suitable projects will be eligible for Independent or Applied Study credit or Co-op designation and can be full- or part-time.

“We are so grateful to Art Crooks and his family for providing this support for students, in addition to their donation that founded the Evelyn Hamilton Chair in Liberal Education,” says Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education. “This program will provide students with practical hands-on experience in way that allows them to analyze and apply the knowledge they’ve gained in the classroom.”

At ULethbridge, liberal education focuses on breadth, connections across disciplines, critical thinking and citizenship. This approach exposes students to the arts, humanities and social and natural sciences and helps them develop problem-solving skills, social responsibility and become global citizens who are engaged in their communities.

“We know from years of students participating in co-op work terms or other research or job opportunities, that they’re more professional in their student work and they’ve seen the reason why they’re learning theoretical knowledge,” says Wismath. “They see where it’s used, what it’s good for and how it matters in the community.”

Community organizations with inquiries or a potential project are invited to submit an expression of interest by email to Career Bridge at career.bridge@uleth.ca by Friday, April 29. Students interested in a paid internship are invited to apply with a cover letter and resume to Wismath at wismaths@uleth.ca by Friday, April 29. For more details visit the Crooks Work-Integrated Learning Program.

About the donors

Art Crooks attended Amherst College in Massachusetts and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. He pursued a Masters of Business Administration at the then-��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Western Ontario, now Western ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Following graduation, Art took a job in sales and quickly rose through the ranks to become a regional and then national sales manager.

Mary Jane Crooks, although she was accepted at McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, chose to pursue a career in advertising. She started at Eaton’s in Toronto and later worked with advertising agencies, where she won a copywriting award for her series on the carousel slide projector.

In 1971 when he was 30, Art interviewed for a Canadian Tire franchise and was approved to purchase his first store in Blenheim, Ont. As the couple worked to establish the business, Art and Mary Jane did the jobs of three people to save money on a salary. While Art placed orders, worked at the parts counter, unloaded trucks and stocked the store, Mary Jane did the books. Profits were modest in the beginning, but they persisted. A year later, they purchased the Pembroke store in the Ottawa Valley and, in 1979, they jumped at the chance to open the first store in Lethbridge. The business succeeded and grew, as did their family of three children. In recent years, Art and Mary Jane have turned their focus to giving back to the community that provided so much to them and their family over the last 40 years.

UNews - School of Liberal Education

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