#Deaning – Page 2 – A blog by the College of Arts Dean, Samantha Brennan

Visiting campus on a sunny Sunday and thoughts about returning

Last week I needed to be in my office on Wednesday and it was the first time I'd been on campus since the "stay at home" orders began. Of course, I was out of the habit of "going to work" and arrived in boots, swapped to shoes, and then left at the end of the day in my shoes. My adult kids tease me about finally becoming an absent minded professor. They also blame it on keeping track of so many things at once, #deanbrain. This necessitated a follow up trip to campus to rescue my boots. (And yes, I remembered to fill out the U of G Covid-19 screening form.)

School of Languages and Literatures Festive Poem!

by Professor Rosario Gomez

Are we there yet? :)

We're in the middle of week 8 of fall term and there's just another month of classes to go.

Sally Hickson and the fly on Mike Pence’s head

When the School of Fine and Art and Music's Sally Hickson posted on social media about the role flies play in art, on the occasion of a fly landing on Mike Pence's head during the US vice-presidential debate, I immediately leapt in to ask if she'd consider writing something for The Conversation. What's The Conversation, she asked. I explained and she said, sure.

Statement of Solidarity with Our Black Students

I am writing as Dean, and also as a white, educated woman, a settler in Canada. There are times when the privilege I possess goes undetected by me. There are also times when it does not and events compel a distressing and crucial awareness of the role race plays in one’s experience when dealing with the police, with the university community, and with strangers online. I am speaking out in response to recent high-profile instances of anti-Black racism that we have seen at the University of Guelph locally and, more broadly, to the wider climate. I recognize that I am responding as a person who does not know from firsthand experience the level of pain and fear that are inflicted by such incidents.

We made it! And seven other positive things…

Congratulations! We made it to the end of May, still smiling! Grades are in and we finished the academic year well. Summer classes are now underway. And I’m still carrying on as Dean in my living-room. Here at the College of Arts Dean’s office at the University of Guelph we’re working in a very uncertain environment as the world unfolds and as things are changing quickly, it seems. But we are making plans (and that’s the main thing we do in academic leadership and administration) even though making plans is difficult. I feel like the context changes so much from the beginning of each week to the end of the week. I keep putting off writing on the blog until there is something definite to say.

Seeking your feedback and celebrating some good news

Look after yourself and take care.

This is a marathon, not a sprint

Letter to the College of Arts community

Dean’s Log, Stardate 3/19/2020

I'm blogging regularly these days now that we are all #WorkingFromHome, or #WFH. When I first posted I was working at the dining room table. Since then there have been some family discussions and some moving of furniture. I've acquired a makeshift desk in our back room. Check out the photo below. I was heartened to see that even our Prime Minister is making do in a home office, even though his is nicer than mine.

Dogs and Dean-ing at Home

That's my dog Cheddar.