Welcome to our new 3M National Teaching Fellows!

• Malgorzata Dubiel, Simon Fraser University
• Katherine Frego, University of New Brunswick, Saint John
• Sorel Friedman, Université de Montréal
• Robert Lapp, Mount Allison University
• TA Loeffler, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Peter Mahaffy, The King’s University College
• Daniel Pratt, University of British Columbia
• Patangi Rangachari, McMaster University
• Mercedes Rowinsky-Geurts, Wilfrid Laurier University
• James Silcox, The University of Western Ontario

We look forward to welcoming each and every one of you at the STLHE Conference in Windsor in June, and extend a very warm invitation to the special events listed below. 

Assembly / Multi-national Forum of Teacher Scholars
Wednesday, June 18/08
12:15 to 5:00 pm (includes a light lunch)

We hold an annual assembly (not a business meeting!) in conjunction with the June STLHE Conference, and this year’s will coincide with the fifth Multi-national Forum of Teacher Scholars, an event we helped initiate and which brings together award-winning teachers from various countries. 

National Narratives Project (working title)

The theme of this year’s Assembly is “From Silence to Stories”, and our goal will be to discuss the place storytelling and narrative could have in our profession and in the academy, and to move towards our next major project, which we told you about in December. Below is a DRAFT of our proposal to give you a sense of our thinking. We will examine it together, and perhaps take a different direction, on June 18:

"We are proposing a National Narratives Project which will bring together small groups of 3M National Teaching Fellows to participate in regional workshops designed to help them share stories from their rich and diverse experience as innovative and successful university teachers. The regional workshops will be led by specialists in the art of the narrative chosen, where possible, from our community of Fellows. We anticipate that many of the stories will feature challenges and critical incidents that are both inspiring and informative for teachers and for anyone interested in the role of the teacher in society. Once developed at the regional level, the narratives will be shared across the country and beyond in a series of publications and, we hope, through pubic readings and online videos.

Ron Smith, our President-elect, is coordinating the Assembly / Forum, and the Executive Team has planned an event that will allow participants to consider the place storytelling and narrative could have in various areas—teaching and learning, campus change, building community, building a learning organization, and hearing the student voice.

A number of people have been asked to write position papers that will be circulated in advance, as is our custom, to orient our reflections before the meeting.

You will hear from Ron as soon as a few more pieces have fallen into place, but, in the interim, please mark June 18th on your calendars!

Official Book Launch—Silences in Teaching and Learning

Our second book, "Silences in Teaching and Learning" will be launched at the Assembly / Forum (Wednesday, June 18), and at the STLHE Banquet (Thursday, June 19). We hope you will purchase a copy for the special Conference rate of twenty dollars ($20.00 CDN).

Dinner for 3M National Teaching Fellows
Friday, June 20, 2008
Hilton Hotel, 5:00 to 11:30 pm

All 3M National Teaching Fellows are invited to our annual dinner, which is being coordinated by Ralph Johnson and will be held at the Hilton Hotel.

The cost is $54.95 inclusive per person (includes one bottle of red wine and one bottle of white wine per table). Payment will be collected at the door. Cash, cheque, MasterCard, VISA and AMEX will be accepted.

Please RSVP no later than Friday, June 6, 2008.

Finances

Despite the generosity of 3M Canada, who have supported our operations in the past, WE NEED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS to cover infrastructure costs (teleconferences, meetings, the annual assembly, our annual contribution to the STLHE to help pay the Administrator, etc.).

Our Council has been active since its creation in 2003, and you can support our work by paying the Society membership fee ($70) from which we are normally exempted. When you register for this year's STLHE Conference, simply click in the box beside 3M National Teaching Fellow (Voluntary Fee) in the Membership section of the online form.

Please feel free to speak to any member of the Executive Team, including Sylvia, about your interest in supporting the Council.

We are exploring other funding options (such as a marketing plan for “Silences”), but at this point your support could ensure the continuation of the Council.

FINALLY . . .

If you have registered for STLHE 2008, please RSVP to the Council's events no later than Friday, June 6, 2008. Your prompt reply will assist us with planning and the Conference Organizers with catering requirements.