MEETING RECAP - 7th Meeting of 2019 April 8th

 

Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

The U of S College of Education with Dean Michelle Prytula

 

It was a regular speaker format meeting in the William Pascoe Room at the Bessborough. We continued with our new practice of asking members to chair.This meeting we were honoured to have Peter Whitenect conduct the meeting. Peter noted that it had been twenty-four years since he last had conducted a rotary meeting. I guess it is like riding a bicycle, you never really forget because Peter came across like an old hand in conducting the meeting. We had a good turn out on a great, early spring day.

 

Greeter was President Paul Gauthier

Cashier was Wayne Palmer

Visitors and Guests introduced by Gary Rusu

Rotary Grace was sung by the members

Set-up was done by Al Morton & Wayne McGillivray

 

We are glad to see the return of Wayne McGillivray to lead us in O Canada and the Rotary grace.   Everyone sings little louder when Wayne is leading.

 

Visitors and Guests were welcomed by Gary Rusu:

Earle Newton from the North club who will give us an update on the progress of the grant on the Joy’s Uganda project.

Michelle Prytula, our guest speaker

 

 

Announcements

 

Our annual Badge Shield and Star Dinner is on for April 17th. It is an evening event at Prairieland Park. This is our largest fundraiser of the year but will only be successful if tickets are sold.   Please buy your tickets. Jack Brodsky had some available at the meeting or they can be purchased online (there is a link from our website). If you find you are unable to attend please considering buying a ticket or two anyway. This will support our largest fundraiser and the additional tickets are used to sponsor police and fire personnel to attend the dinner.  

 

There will be a Red Cross Luncheon “Power of Humanity” held on April 17th. Please note this event is at the Delta which most of us still call the Radisson. It is not at the Bessborough.  This year’s event will honour the work of two of our members Elaine and Peter Zakreski. Tickets are $75. It would be great if we could have some of our members attend to represent Rotary and Peter and Elaine at this event. (You will note that this is the noon of the day of our Badge, Shield and Star Dinner.)  

 

President Paul reminded us of the survey concerning member contributions to the Rotary Foundation. This is an anonymous survey and had been sent out with the notice of the meeting.  There were additional copies on the tables. Please complete and give to Paul.

 

The duty Roster was circulated so that members could sign up to help with a meeting. It would be good to see everyone helping to make the meetings run smoothly.

 

Masters Golf Pool: This project is again being led by Dave Sundby. This can be a nice simple fundraiser for us if we participate. The project is based on the Masters Golf Tournament and the entry forms are out. The form has been emailed to members and forms were available at our meeting. Please photocopy as many entries as you need. If you are planning to watch the tournament it is more exciting with some ‘skin’ in the game.

 

Adventures in Technology (AIT) is taking place from April 29th through May 3rd. The lead club for this year’s event will be the North Club. Steve Wilson will be coordinating our volunteer contributions. We need billets for the participants. There is information available as to what is required of billets. Please help out if at all possible. We will also need van drivers and help in other areas. 

 

Joy’s Hope in Uganda: An update was provided by Earle Newton. Earle also expressed concern for the aftermath of the cyclone in East Africa. The drilling of a new water system for the Joy’s project is set to begin after being delayed by liability issues with the Ugandan Rotary club. These issues are now resolved. They are also clearing more land for crops so the project can be more self-sufficient. A deal has been reached between the Joy’s project and Lobsterfest which is held on June 1s.t. Tickets are $75 and with the $75 ticket you will receive a tax deduction of $40.   However for every ticket sold through Earle and the Joy’s Project, the North Club will donate $60 to the Uganda project. On a $75 ticket you will have a lobster dinner and provide $60 to this worthwhile project. Please see Earle for your tickets. 

 

The Pavilion in Rotary Park: Mark Gryba brought us up to date on the progress of this project.   Both the city and the Meewasin Valley Authority have reviewed our plans and they were approved unanimously with only a couple of minor suggestions. We now have to finalize the engagement of the general contractor and get the project happening. There will be construction this season.

 

Board Meeting: Wednesday April 10th at 7:00 am at the Saskatoon Club. The issue of moving the time for future meetings may be on the agenda but the time for this meeting remains at 7:00 am.

 

Happy and Sad

 

2H    Mark Gryba for sitting at a table divided exactly evenly by gender. Also for his and his partner Dorothy’s recent purchase of a home. This requires clearing many years of junk out of his existing house. Wayne McGillivray paid a sad dollar over the possible loss of several raspberry bushes that grow outside Mark’s yard.

 

H&S   Wayne for the end of ski season but the beginning of golf. Wayne also put in a sad dollar for the plight of people in Malawi and other East Africa countries effected by the recent cyclone.

 

S&H    Gary Rusu for long wait in Saskatchewan for surgery. Happy for being able to get it done much quicker in Ontario. [Gary, we in the club don’t think you need to get hair transplant surgery, we have gotten quite used to your glowing pate.]

 

H         Dave Sundby for the golf entries starting to roll in. About 100 of maybe 500 entries have been received. There are forms on the table, please complete and make your Master’s weekend more exciting.

 

H         Earle Newton for being able to spend time in the company of Rotarians.

 

3H       Peter Zakreski for presiding over his first citizenship court. Peter said it was a very rewarding experience. Peter also reminded us of our commitment to help at the Friendship Inn in May. The sign-up sheet is out and please sign-up so we know the commitment is covered.

 

H         Joanne Fisher for her son getting his driver’s license and not being so dependent on Mom for transportation.

 

H         Peter Whitenect for the start of golf. Peter warned us if we want to see him it would be best to go to the course as that is where he will be until there is frost.

 

2S        Vic Dubois for giving up watching the Country Music Awards in favor of watching the Blades game which they lost.

 

 

PROGRAM

 

Michelle Prytula, the Dean of Education at the U of S was introduced by Mike LeClaire.  Michelle wears many hats as dean and has a special interest in education finance, education administration and indigenous education. Above all Michelle is striving to make our College of Education a leader not just for the province but for Canada and internationally. In many ways Michelle provides an excellent example of the Rotary ideal of ‘Service Above Self.’        

 

Michelle introduced herself by stating that for her whole life education has been in her blood. Her Dad was a teacher and her mother worked as an educational assistant. They did not encourage her to take education and even refused to fund her university if she initially studied education. As a result her first degree was in commerce. Today educational finance is one of her core interests and strengths.

 

The College of Education now has some 1,200 undergraduate students. In the past three years it has moved from a sequential entry model to a direct entry model. This means that prospective educators do not have to study Arts and Science ahead before their entry into education. There are also some 600 grad students including doctoral students attending the College. Despite the growing size of the college the number of faculty positions has been reduced. The college also has the largest alumni at 34,000 members.

 

The core mandate of the College is to deliver a Bachelor of Education program within the context of the province of Saskatchewan. The context is important as we are a province divided between rural, urban and indigenous schools. The College’s mission is taken seriously: Students doing their practice teaching (internship) must experience teaching in both an urban and rural setting and must also experience teaching in an indigenous setting. The second stream of the College is research. At the present time the teacher training program is well developed and being recognized. Research has lagged but new initiatives are underway to increase the College’s profile in this area. Among the initiatives is to create a Centre of Scholarship in Learning and will seek specific donations for this area.

 

One of the main goals of the College is to shrink the gap between the [ivory] tower and the schools. This can be difficult when the College has a faculty where one-third of them are not trained as teachers. While these others faculty bring expertise to the College, Michelle would like the motivator for the College to be the child in the school. The central focus is K-12 education.

 

Michelle must guide her College with no authority attached to her through her position as Dean.  She cannot instruct or direct faculty. Her job must be done through influence and the allocation of resources. It is this second tool that is changing the College. Budgets are tight and even declining and resources must be placed where they do the most good. Items like conference travel are being reduced in favor of the core missions. Restricted resources become a catalyst for change.

 

For some time before Michelle arrived, the College had been drifting. It was not known to be a heavy hitter either within the University or beyond. It was not doing well compared to its competitors particularly the education program at the University of Regina. This led to many, including those in political power within the province, to question whether a College of Education was needed in Saskatoon. On the outside, education in the province was also not doing well as reflected through such things as student test scores.

 

Michelle set on a program to allocate resources to underscore K-12 education. This consists of three parts: teacher training, research and service to schools. Principles for resource allocation were introduced. Above all, the student experience was to be central. 

 

On the service side, a whole series of certificate programs have been introduced or are under development. These include aboriginal languages, English as an additional language and student guidance. A new certificate is about to begin in medical education. This program will enhance the skills of medical professionals who want to work in educating their peers. The tuition in some of these programs will be sufficient to pay for the program and even offset the costs of other programs.

 

It has now been four years since the college went to a direct entry admission. Previously, the College had problems filling all its authorized seats. The undergrad program is now trying to be more than just an academic program. Students now have the opportunity to graduate from the College with more than just a transcript of marks. They can now earn certificates for skills which they have specifically qualified for during their program. This makes it easier to slot new teachers into positions to which they are better suited upon graduation. In connection with this an Educator’s Oath in some ways similar to the doctor’s Hippocratic Oath has been developed.  This oath is called ‘The Educator’s Profession.’ The oath is taken in the student’s third year similar to the white jacket ceremony that medical students undertake. They are presented with a pin as part of the ceremony. Alumni are also welcome to participate, and to date more educators have been pinned than there have been students in the class.

 

The traditional internship has been redeveloped and consists of three parts: urban rural and indigenous. There is also the possibility of an international component with agreements with Mexico, Spain and more to follow. Steps are taken to place students in areas which they may have family or other supports to defray some of the costs of living away.

 

To date Michelle’s initiatives have had significant success. When the College moved to direct entry, they were unable to fill all their seats and the marks of the students were in the high sixties.  Today, all the seats are filled, students have an average high school average of around 80% with the students studying in math and sciences having high school averages above 80%. The MacLean’s rating for the college has moved from 18th to 5th over five years. Michelle is determined to keep moving up. Her model of directing the priorities of the College through resource allocation is being picked up by other colleges.

 

The finances of the College are also changing. When she began 68% of the College’s budget came from operating grants. Now this is down to around 30%. This change makes it easier for the College to seek other funds from the University for special projects. The new certificate programs will either be revenue neutral or seek to generate funds for the College.         

 

Moving forward the fact remains that Universities are not good at explaining what they do.   The College of Education must get the word out about the value they create in our province and beyond. Financial stress within the University is a fact and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

 

There are employment opportunities for teachers. One area that needs to be addressed is qualifying immigrant teachers trained in other countries. To this end a four course curriculum has been developed followed by a six week practicum in classroom program. This will create another source of teachers. It will put teachers in the schools to represent and assist our immigrant communities.  

 

All programs need to be constantly reviewed and changed. It would be great to have 100% faculty buy-in for the direction of the College. While strides have been made, this has not yet been achieved.

 

Michelle was thanked by Peter Whitenect. Peter remarked about Michelle’s obvious enthusiasm and commitment to the students attending the college and to the students and teachers in the schools. There were several questions. Peter explained about our regular donation to Bethany Homes in honor of Michelle’s presentation.

 

Adjournment