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April 1, 2009
Hi all,
Last Friday, Mount Royal and the MRFA co-hosted a visit from Pamela Hudson Veenbaas from the Smithsonian Institution Office of Fellowships. The Smithsonian, comprising 19 museums and galleries, the U.S. National Zoo and a number of specialized research facilities, sponsors fellowship programs for visiting scholars, and internship programs for students. Fellowships and internships come with stipends. There are over 100 fellowships available for scholars, primarily in the areas of history (including native history), art and design, and the sciences. Details of the fellowship programs are available at http://www.si.edu/research+study. The student internship places cover all of the Smithsonian’s operations – its formal research and archival work, but also policy development, museum and gallery operations, materials conservation, visitor relations and communications, and funding development. Through a formal partnership agreement, Alberta annually sends ten student interns for eight to sixteen weeks each. Details on that program are available at http://www.advancededucation.gov.ab.ca/IntlEd/internship.asp.
As the MRFA Executive plans for this year’s Annual General Meeting, we’re working on a number of Bylaw, policy and other initiatives. The Bylaw Committee is working on changes to our membership categories, and Exec is proposing a new Grievance Committee as a result of discussions internally and externally on best practices. Exec has approved two major White Papers, one on hiring processes and the other on the meaning and ethics of tenure. We’re just beginning to circulate these and will likely look to adopt them as MRFA policy papers in time. Exec will also bring a proposal to create a Memorial Bursary as a way for the Association to recognize members who have died while employed by Mount Royal. We’re also costing out the potential replacement of chairs in the Faculty Centre and considering a couple of upgrades not included in the renovations project two years ago.
A number of MRFA committee and Executive positions come up for election this May, including 1st Vice-President, Secretary, Board of Governors Representative, Academic Liaison Officer and Member at Large. Please feel free to speak to me or other Exec members about the opportunities. On a related note, I have one year left as President, and I’d welcome conversations with anyone considering running for the position next year.
I hope the end of term goes smoothly and leads to a chance to reflect and regenerate.
David
