Heather Lynch
With 17 departments, institutes, centres and a school covering a variety of disciplines ranging from Fine Arts to Languages and Literature, to Humanities and Communication, it is no surprise that one of the greatest strengths of the Faculty of Arts is its diversity.
An equally important strength for the faculty is its willingness to innovate and change according to student needs and desires. “We are deeply committed to our continued attention to the student experience and as a result, [we] have recently developed a number of new programs and courses aimed at increasing the number of interdisciplinary and international opportunities within bachelor programs,” notes George Lang, dean of the Faculty of Arts.
To meet the demands of these new programs, the faculty recently hired approximately 25 new professors who started in September 2007. “These professors have come here enthusiastically, in an extremely competitive national and international market,” says Lang.
These new recruits are joining a faculty whose professors are among the highest performers across Canada in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant competitions. One in four full-time professors in the Faculty of Arts has a SSHRC grant. Likewise, the diversity among its cluster of research chairs makes it the envy of many faculties across Canada.
Surprisingly, one research chair housed in the Faculty of Arts is the Loeb Chair in organ and tissue donation. It is the first chair of its kind in the world. “Thanks to a generous donation from the late Bertram Loeb in 2004, there is an innovative consortium of scientists, philosophers and researchers within the faculty who are concerned both with the wider social implications of organ and tissue donation and with the basic philosophical questions involved,” says Lang.
Innovation is the watchword of the Faculty of Arts. Supporting the University’s bilingual mission and French-language culture, the faculty recently launched the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute. It also continues to support the Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-française and for the next three years will hold the presidency of the Association des facultés ou établissements de lettres et sciences humaines des universités d’expression française.
Other new developments on the horizon include the first cohort of students beginning their studies in 2008 in the new School of Information Studies, a contemporary and computer-savvy “library science” school. With accreditation offered in both Canada and the United States, this school will also provide knowledge and skills for managing the wider issues of information technology in the public and private sectors.
Related Link:
