NEWSLETTER VOLUME 21
October 5, 2023

Territory Acknowledgment

The Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies acknowledges and respects the privilege and responsibility we have to live and learn together on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples including the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ Peoples whose unwavering relationship with the land continue to this day.

This summer, while canoeing with family on the Churchill River system, I had a firsthand reminder of the value a compass provides. Wildfire smoke blurred distant points and islands into a blue-gray haze. A clear compass bearing peeled away layers of uncertainty to identify the route and allow successful passage.

My experience reminded me of the importance of mentorship and modelling as primary caregivers and significant adults support the development of children and youth. This support, including that of educators, provides a compass for children and youth as they navigate their way through uncertain social terrain. A series of small, supportive adjustments assures a safe route, and a meaningful journey.

Primary caregivers and significant adults know the child and are well positioned within a broader social context; this allows them to effectively support the development of agency, inductive problem solving, and self-efficacy. Secure attachment provides a grounded base to launch independent investigation, and a safe harbour to weather challenges.

Our engagement as mentors provides children and youth with vicarious models and the experience of authentic relationships that value wellbeing and autonomy. Essential qualities of mentoring relationships are internalized and appropriated as personal knowledge. Experiential understanding of healthy relationships enhances that autonomy. Children and youth learn how to discern where to place their trust, who has their interests at heart, and how to navigate complex social terrain. Secure attachment is foundational to developing core competencies—particularly social emotional learning. Establishing authentic mentoring relationships ensures that children and youth internalize a social compass that provides a clear bearing—even in the haze of uncertainty.

I appreciate the opportunity to continue my work supporting EPLS students as they build and refine their mentoring skills.

Dr. Doug Mollard, PhD
Adjunct Assistant Professor, EPLS

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My first experience with academic research was when I was a sophomore in college, my task was to conduct a literature review. I was given a stack of research articles about students with disabilities in elementary and secondary school and my assignment was to read them and find a common theme. What stuck out to me most significantly was that in all of the articles focusing on what school was like for disabled students, the students themselves and their lived experiences were rarely the focus. Rather, the researchers spoke to the guardians and other relatives and reported on their experiences instead.

When I thought about my own background working with disabled students, I realized that I was often engaged in conversations where we spoke about the student, without speaking to them directly. In thinking of my future career as a teacher for students with disabilities, I knew I had to shift and confront my reality of being another able-bodied person in a field where the students I served were not being consulted. It is still uncomfortable for me to think about being an educator for a population of students where I can never truly know what their lived experiences are. I turn to colleagues and books written by disabled authors so I can be informed and work with my students in ways that make education more comfortable for them.

I work with students who are nonspeaking (members of the disability community have stated that they prefer nonspeaking to nonverbal) and oftentimes people assume that means there is no communication occurring. In my experience, people unfamiliar with my students and their personal style of communication will default to assuming that I am the only voice for them, rather than trying to understand how they can directly communicate with that student. In society, we assume that things have to happen in one way that is comfortable and familiar to most people and if something like communication is occurring in a way that is unfamiliar, then it is often totally ignored. “We need to honor all speech as a valid form of communication, whether it’s with an app, sign, or gesture” (The Guild for Human Services).

Lindsey Stafford
Minneapolis Special Education Teacher, EPLS Community Partner

• Graduate Writers’ Skill-building Group (GWSG) - for students - Are you engaged in a major research endeavour such as a dissertation, thesis, or another kind of project? Whether you are just starting, part way through, or nearing completion, you may want to join the Graduate Writers’ Skill-building Group (GWSG) - a UVic Libraries collaboration with the Centre for Academic Communication and Student Wellness supported by the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The first session is on October 6, 2023. Register here.
  
  The GWSG offers other opportunities including workshops and activities to build research- and writing-related skills in an informal atmosphere where peers can share and work independently.
   
• Systematic Review Workshop Series - A series of 2-2.5 hour virtual workshops presented by expert searchers Dr. Zahra Premji (UVic Librarian) and Dr. Alix Hayden (UCalgary Librarian) are coming up in October. If you plan to conduct a systematic or scoping review soon, these hands-on virtual workshops might be for you. Learn how to set up your review, plan, and design comprehensive searches in multiple databases, and more. Please see the attached document for more details with the registration links.
   
• Nominate a Grad for a Distinguished Alumni Awards! - Alumni are a source of pride for UVic and celebrating their accomplishments enhances our reputation as a university. You may know a remarkable UVic grad who inspires you! Help celebrate their achievements by nominating them for a 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA). Nominations are due by October 13, 2023 and can be completed online. If you have questions about the DAAs or how to submit a nomination, please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@uvic.ca.
   

• Excellence in Graduate Research Symposium (EGRS) - UVic’s Graduate Student Society (GSS) with help from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) and the Vice President Academic and Provost (VPAC) will be hosting a graduate research symposium on October 25^th. This will be an all-day event where graduate student research will be highlighted. The symposium will have posters and presentations (both in person and virtual). See the student information sheet for more details.

  Presentations will be reserved for students in disciplines where a poster is insufficient, and priority for the virtual presentations will be given to students in distance education programs. If you need printing services for your poster or have A/V requirements for your presentation, we will pay for it -- there is no cost for participating! If you have a prior commitment on that day, we can make sure that your poster/presentation time works for your schedule. Please note this in your application.

  Applications are due on October 16, 2023 to gss3@uvic.ca. Please see the attached FAQs for more information. Space is limited, so be sure to apply soon!

• Call fpr Nominations for 2023 UVic Reach Awards - These prestigious awards acknowledge outstanding contributions to teaching and research excellence that make UVic an extraordinary environment for discovery, creativity, innovation and learning. Nominations from across campus are welcome from now until October 17, 2023. Refer to this memo for the list of awards.

• Canada Graduate Scholarships Masters (CGS M) Application Portal Is Now Open! - for students - The CGS M program is to help develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies. The CGS M program provides financial support to high-calibre scholars who are engaged in an eligible master’s or, in some cases, doctoral program in Canada (refer to Eligibility for more information). The CGS M program supports up to 3,000 students annually in all disciplines and is administered jointly by Canada’s three granting agencies: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Students submit their application using the Research Portal. The application deadline is December 1, 8:00 pm (ET).
   
• 2023 Annual BCASP Conference - The B.C. Association of School Psychologists is thrilled to host their 35th Conference in Vancouver, November 14-16, 2023. It will feature phenomenal speakers including Victoria’s own Dr. Jillian Roberts discussing resilience, Dr. George Georgiou on effective reading instruction, Dr. Liz Angoff outlining ways to share psychoeducational information with children and youth and much, much more. Register through the BCASP website.
   

• Invitation: Participate in Feminist Exhibition - You are invited to participate in a feminist exhibition titled Visibility / Invisibility: Gendered (Re)Orderings. The physical exhibition will be curated in museums and gallery spaces in Victoria BC and we will also develop a virtual exhibition.

  Participants wishing to take part in this exhibition will identify an object, image, artwork, belonging, etc. and speak to notions of visibility and invisibility, telling their own story, the story of someone they know or musing on societal and cultural acts of making visible and invisible. Ideas can focus on (but are not limited to) femininity, masculinity, non-binary, identity, aging, social construction, deconstruction and reconstruction, violence, care, rendering, portrayal, absence, presence, inclusion, exclusion, violence, harmony, belonging, decolonising, struggle, defiance, history, complicity, and other socio-gendered dynamics that have an impact on the lives of women and others across the globe who experience gender oppression. What story do you want to tell? What representational objects, artworks, etc. best enable you to show and tell a story of visibility and/or invisibility in a deeply gendered world?
  
  Interested? See the invitation for details!

• Call for CFI-JELF Infrastructure Funding - JELF funding supports requests for research infrastructure, but there are multiple criteria that must be addressed, including how the request supports novel applications, supports new innovations, and has important potential impacts. There are also requirements to differentiate the research from other researchers across Canada. As we know, these applications are highly competitive, so justifications must illustrate the urgent and/or necessity of the request infrastructure. Research services will then review all applications and submit those they deem to have greatest institutional priority. Applications for JELF funding are due to the Dean's office by October 31, 2023. Applications can be from single researchers or from teams, particularly if resources can be shared between units and/or faculties/facilities. More information can be found on the Office of Research Services website. 

• Registration Open: 5 Days of Action: 365 Days of Commitment - for Instructors - The Equity and Human Rights (EQHR) office would like to invite you to participate in UVic’s annual 5 Days of Action: 365 Days of Commitment from October 30 - November 3, 2023. This week-long event celebrates diversity and works together to create a more inclusive and equitable campus and community throughout the year. The week encourages all of us to join in UVic’s shared commitment to end discrimination, harassment, sexualized violence and oppression of all kinds. Each day will focus on a call to action with a small list of suggested actions to take that day. The five calls to action are: Monday – listen; Tuesday – reflect; Wednesday – dialogue; Thursday – engage; and Friday – take action. The programming during 5 Days of Action includes free workshops, lectures, performances, art exhibits and more organized by many units across campus. There are virtual workshops as well as in-person events available. The full schedule can be found online.

Have something you'd like to include in our next newsletter? Email edpsych@uvic.ca.