FWI Request for Proposals Proposals Funded March 24, 2015 The second call for proposals for Forward with Integrity funding this academic year has yielded a number of innovative projects with the potential for lasting impact at the University. Of the 62 submissions, 24 projects have been funded or endorsed by the FWI advisory group according to the criteria that were outlined as part of the initial request for proposals. The projects funded through the current request for proposals address a broad array of themes, including community engagement, student mental health, linking research to education, fostering student involvement in research projects and creating enhanced tools for teaching and learning. In some cases, initiatives occurring in disparate regions of campus have been connected to each other through the review process, and suggestions for dialogue and collaboration have been made where appropriate. A brief outline of the successful projects in alphabetical order follows below. Funding for this round of projects has been provided by the President’s Fund through the generous donations of McMaster alumni. Title: Badging the Academy Faculty/Area: MIIETL, Student Success Centre Applicants: Jon Kruithof, Sean Beaudette Summary: The project team will investigate the potential utility of “badges” as a way to recognize student participation in co-‐curricular activities. The badges would be visual representations of accomplishment, and would complement the student learning portfolio. Badges are linked to student motivation, but have not yet been the subject of rigorous study at an Ontario university. The project team will pilot the use of badges within a student activity to assess the interest and impact of this platform for recognition. Title: Building the Next Generation of Water Leaders: A Pilot Program for Leadership Development, Experiential Learning and Community Engagement Faculty/Area: Social Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, Science, UN University, Arts & Science, Integrated Science Applicants: Dustin Garrick, Sarah Dickson, Nancy Doubleday, Gail Krantzberg, David Latullipe, Jim Quinn, Heather O’Leary, Savitri Jetoo, David Potter, Richard Allen, Robert Fleisig, Vladimir Mahalec, Corinne Schuster-‐Wallace, Patrick Byrne, Chad Harvey, Kate Whalen Summary: The project team plans to establish a University-‐wide pilot program in water leadership, experiential learning and community engagement. The Program will serve as a campus hub for leadership development related to water, featuring leadership courses, workshops and community
forums to provide a common foundation for all students, and to promote University-‐wide interactions. Students will form interdisciplinary teams to undertake a 12-‐18 month experiential learning project, linked to courses for credit and supervised by a faculty and community mentor. Title: Community Connect: University Workplace English Faculty/Area: School of Graduate Studies, St. Joseph’s Immigrant Women’s Centre, English Solutions Education Services Applicants: Peter Self, Andrea Cole, Ines Rios, Paul Leegsma Summary: This project involves creating opportunities for career and academic networking among English Language Learning Scholars through a non-‐credit ESL course tailored to the academic environment. This project has been endorsed by the FWI Advisory Group but will be funded through other sources. Title: Developing a smartphone app to promote mental and emotional wellbeing among students at McMaster University Faculty/Area: Health Sciences, Engineering, Student Wellness Centre Applicants: Parmjit Singh, Brian W. Baetz, Debbie Nifakis, Stash Nastos, Manjit Handa, Jennifer Landicho, Nathan Cooper Summary: The project team will create a smartphone technology to offer techniques and tips supported by current scientific evidence that will foster and promote healthy mental and emotional habits as a way to complement the campus resources already available to students. This initiative would be the first in Ontario in which an app is specifically designed to deliver mindfulness-‐based strategies targeted at university students, and the proposal supports the new McMaster Mental Health and Well-‐being Strategy. Title: Environmentally Responsible Print Practice Faculty/Area: Humanities Applicants: Judy Major Girardin, Carol Podedworny, Ihor Holubizky, Briana Palmer, John Graham Summary: A team of McMaster researchers has been developing a series of new technologies to support safer and more sustainable approaches in creating print media. The project will establish collaborative networks through an adjudicated exhibition of prints at the McMaster Museum of Art, along with a symposium that will offer workshops and discussions focused on safe and sustainable approaches to print media. Title: Experiential Grant Training Program Faculty/Area: School of Graduate Studies, ROADS, Community of Science, Faculties of Humanities and Science Applicant: Catherine Maybrey Summary: This project aims to involve graduate students in grant writing for external community organizations in order to provide experiential opportunities outside of the classroom and laboratory and to enhance student skills and post-‐academic career options. Students will be offered guidance and feedback to maximize the impact of the initiative on student development.
Title: Fostering Community-‐Engaged, Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Social Justice: The McMaster Global Justice Hub Collaboratory Faculty/Area: Arts & Science, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Humanities, MIIETL Applicants: Beth Marquis, Andrea Baumann, Patrick Byrne, Mirna Carranza, Samantha Cheuk, Rama Singh, Liam Stockdale, Gary Warner, Jean Wilson Summary: The applicants have created a Global Justice Hub, which is an institutional forum that provides opportunities for a wide range of people interested in justice work to explore specific global challenges collectively and critically. As part of the hub, the team will design and conduct an annual global justice ”collaboratory,” which is based on a proven model used to foster collaboration in teaching and learning research. Working groups will be created around justice issues of common interest, and teams will develop a response to the issues over a one-‐year period. Title: Fostering inclusivity and collaboration: Empowering the voices of youth and students with disabilities Faculty/Area: Health Sciences Applicants: Tram Nguyen Summary: The goal of this project is to develop a youth network to inform research and program development at the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research. The project team will convene a Knowledge Translation and Exchange (KTE) Symposium to communicate research findings with youth and students with disabilities as well as key stakeholders including McMaster and Hamilton community partners. The project will also seek the input of youth in identifying priority areas for research and program development in order to begin the development, dissemination, and implementation of relevant and meaningful knowledge products and materials. Title: Global Health Agora Faculty/Area: Health Sciences, Science Applicants: Matt Driedger, Christine Wang, Breagh Cheng, Brianna Cheng Summary: Global Health Agora is a proposed online platform featuring engaging and accessible dialogue on global health challenges explored from a local lens. This project will foster knowledge production and dissemination through presenting interviews with McMaster faculty and local stakeholders on a given problem and its solution, promoting online discussion, and generating summaries. At the end of the academic term, a meeting will be held to assess the success of the initiative and discuss the role of McMaster and Hamilton communities in approaching these issues collectively. Title: Hamilton Youth Anthology, Volume I Faculty/Area: Health Sciences, Arts & Science, Hamilton Arts Council, Hamilton-‐Wentworth District School Board, Hamilton Public Library, Wolsak & Wynn Publishers Ltd. Applicants: Maxwell Tran, Abirami Kirubarajan, Shruti Ramesh Summary: This student-‐led project involves the creation of a Hamilton Youth Anthology, with contributions from McMaster students as well as youth in the community. The team will publish the
Anthology in partnership with a number of external stakeholders, and will organize a book launch to celebrate local authors and contributors. Title: Jester’s Presentation: A Performance Piece for Picturing Wellness Faculty/Area: Health Sciences Applicant: Christine Wekerle Summary: The project involves the integration of a CIHR-‐funded study with an exhibition at the McMaster Museum of Art around the subject of resilience and hope for patients and caregivers. Using the McMaster Museum of Art as the classroom and art as learning object, the exhibit will engage learners creatively via a menu of innovative educational programs linked to exhibit themes. Using art and reflection as learning tools will allow students to improve their skills of observation and empathy. The project team will also create an exhibit catalogue which will expand the significance of the exhibit for both learners and the general public and serve as a learning tool after the exhibit has closed. Title: Landscapes in the Sky: Collaborative Development of First Nations Planetarium Shows Faculty/Area: Science, Humanities, William J. McCallion Planetarium Applicants: Robert Cockcroft, Rick Monture, Sarah Symons Summary: The applicants will work collaboratively with the Six Nations Community to create planetarium shows that focus on traditional Six Nations night-‐sky tales. The shows will be available for viewing by a number of audiences, including youth within the community. Students will be involved in the creation and delivery of the planetarium shows, which will be integrated into the rotation of events in the long term. Title: McMaster Children and Youth University Faculty/Area: Health Sciences Applicants: Sandeep Raha Summary: The McMaster Children and Youth University (MCYU), has been providing free monthly lectures to youth and their families on the McMaster campus since 2011. The highly interactive on-‐ campus lectures, coupled with post-‐lecture experiential learning opportunities, are geared towards elementary school students (grades 2-‐8) and focused on getting youth excited about learning and introduced to a university learning environment. The program will be expanded to include an “MCYU Learning Fair” within the community on a topic of interest that is defined by members of the neighborhood. This outreach program attempts to teach undergraduate students, through experiential learning, how to first develop an understanding of a specific topic through a research/inquiry based approach, and then to develop innovative strategies to convey this information to youth through interactive sessions. This requires students to work as a multidisciplinary team; consult with experts outside the team, pilot the effort and iteratively improve the delivery. The MCYU proposal was endorsed but will be supported through another source of funding. Title: McMaster Community Kitch(in): An (In)clusive Space for Creating, Sharing, and Empowering Faculty/Area: Arts & Science, Integrated Science Applicants: Stephanie Drouin, Yara Farran, Chad Harvey
Summary: This student-‐led project involves conducting a workshop or other investigations into the feasibility and sustainability of a community kitchen on campus. The proposed initiative plans to invite students and members of the community to a shared kitchen space after hours on campus to participate in hands-‐on programming and learn from each other. The intention is to build community and individual capacity in the areas of health, sustainability and nutrition. Title: McMaster Mentoring Action Plan (MMAP) for Undergraduate Students in Science Faculty/Area: Science, McMaster University Retirees Association (MURA) Applicants: Kim Dej, Rosa daSilva, Nikol Piskuric, Ayesha Khan, Betty-‐Ann Levy Summary: The project team will create a mentorship program for students in life sciences that involves interactions with retired faculty members from McMaster, as well as workshops on professional development skills. Reflection and plans for achieving long-‐term goals will be embedded in learning portfolios and will form the foundation for discussion with the mentors. The program will be tied to a pedagogical study that will inform the development of further mentorship initiatives across the University. Title: Measuring Impact of Departmental Programs on Teaching and Learning Faculty/Area: MIIETL, McMaster Library Applicants: Nancy Fenton, Leeanne Romane, Beth Marquis, Lori Goff Summary: This initiative involves the creation of a guidebook to assist departments in measuring the impact of their programs and educational interventions on student learning. The goal is to establish a systematic framework for assessing teaching and learning effectiveness across all programs, which will be created following a literature review and knowledge exchange colloquium. This project has been endorsed by the FWI Advisory Group but will be funded through other sources. Title: Monitoring baseline biodiversity during restoration along Ancaster Creek, an important ecological corridor Faculty/Area: Science, Humanities Applicants: Jim Quinn, Jurek Kolasa, Susan Dudley, Joanna Wilson, Marvin Gunderman, Chad Harvey, Judy Major-‐Girardin, Nancy Doubleday, Michael Egan Summary: The project team will begin formal ecological monitoring of sections of the lower Ancaster Creek in an effort to promote enhancements to the McMaster Corridor and to evaluate the impacts of ecological restoration of part of its flood plain in the vicinity of McMaster University’s Parking Lot M. This effort will create baseline data sets that will enable the tracking of changes in water quality and aquatic life in the creek as well as terrestrial life along its banks following restoration projects. As well, it will allow engagement and experiential opportunities with interested community members. Title: Participating in Academic Research Projects: A Toolkit for Communities Faculty/Area: Social Sciences, School of Graduate Studies, Social Planning and Research Council Applicants: Saara Greene, Suzanne Mills, Kate Goldfarb, Sandra Preston, Andrea Cole, Cindy Sue McCormack
Summary: The project team will jointly develop two workshops on the ethical and practical issues that non-‐university organizations and communities face when participating in academic research projects, and will create a usable toolkit which will strengthen the capacity of communities and non-‐university organizations to make informed decisions when participating in academic research projects. The first workshop will bring together organizations with significant experience working with academic researchers to share “lessons learned.” The second workshop, directed to communities and organizations with less experience with academic research projects, will pilot the toolkit. Title: Rapid Response Research (RRR) Pilot Faculty/Area: Social Sciences, Good Shepherd, Workforce Planning Hamilton Applicants: Tony Porter, Ailsa Fullwood, Katherine Kalinowsky, Judy Travis Summary: The project team intends to strengthen relationships with non-‐academic organizations by developing and piloting a model that will enable faculty members to respond to short-‐term research requests, while at the same time providing graduate students with excellent experiential learning opportunities. The model will facilitate community-‐campus connections based on the needs of community organizations while establishing a sustainable platform for longer-‐term collaboration. Title: Research Use: Cases and Conversation Faculty/Area: Social Sciences, Humanities, Business, Science, Health Sciences, Network for Community Campus Partnerships, McMaster Knowledge Mobilization Community of Practice Applicants: Ailsa Fullwood, Biljana Vasilevska, Grace Pollock, Jennifer Fisher, Pina Del Monte, Dave Heidebrecht Summary: The goal of this project is to document and share the ways in which research conducted at McMaster is disseminated beyond the institution. The initiative will facilitate open dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration on knowledge mobilization practices and will identify ways to demonstrate the impact of McMaster’s research beyond the institution. Title: Resilience Education to Create Educator and Student Success (RECESS) Faculty/Area: Health Sciences Applicants: Sandra Moll, Lorie Shimmell, Monique Muller, Andrea Frolic, Rachael Byrne Summary: This project is designed to explore opportunities for strengthening the mental health and wellness of McMaster students and faculty. The primary goal is to develop an enriched understanding of the need and potential for “resilience-‐based education” at McMaster through input from students and faculty members. The outcomes will include the identification of key risk factors for psychological harm, as well as exemplars of mental health promotion, as well as a series of recommendations for building faculty-‐student interactions that support mental health and wellness. Title: Start the Cycle: A Nonprofit Bike Library Building Initiative Faculty/Area: Science Applicants: Justin Hall, Charles Burke, Sean Van Koughnett, Anne Pottier, Shiloh Covey, Jacob Mitchell Summary: This graduate student-‐led project involves the expansion of the existing bike library resources available to faculty, staff and students for free on campus. The overall goal is to establish a
sustainable bike library that is completely outfitted and run by existing services at McMaster to ensure that the program lasts and operates without significant oversight. Title: Take 5 on the Go Faculty/Area: Social Sciences, Engineering, Student Wellness Centre Applicants: Vicky Looby, Nathan Cooper, Joe Crozier, Justin Policarpio, Niko Savas, Sean Van Koughnett Summary: The project team will create a mobile application that uses mindfulness meditation techniques to teach students about the benefits of meditation and guide them through 5 minute, 10 minute, and 30 minute meditation sessions. The goal is to take a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to student mental health and there are long term plans to develop research projects around the use and impact of the app. Title: Year of Creativity Workshops and Symposium Faculty/Area: Humanities, McMaster Museum of Art, School of Graduate Studies Applicants: Nicole Knibb, Irena Radisevic, Peter Self, Andrea Cole Summary: The applicants intend to offer a series of workshops for graduate students that will encourage the exploration of creativity and innovation through expressions in art. The goal is to foster creative thinking and create a multidisciplinary community that supports dialogue and exploration in a dynamic environment outside of the classroom.