While beakers and bunsen burners may be more likely to leap to mind when we think of research than a performance or poetry, there’s never been a more relevant or important time for discovery in the fields of fine arts and communications, says Deric Olsen.
“It’s a creation-driven process. And sometimes it’s a moment in time – a performance – that the dissemination happens,” says the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications. “The research endeavour – the work that we're doing – it’s ultimately contributing to the priorities of our institution, our province and our country.”
Dean Olsen sat down with the Office of Research Services’ Research Recast(ed) podcast host Kelsie Johnston to talk about how deliberate faculty are in connecting their research to their teaching. “They’re bringing these cutting-edge things that they’re doing and finding a way to expose students to them, involve students with them, and have it influence the development and innovation of the curriculum.”
Olsen says that within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications, scholarly activity can include an incredibly broad range of activities. “The creation of new knowledge doesn’t happen in the same way in fine arts and communications as it does in other fields.”
Take, for example, the work of Rayanne Haynes, who was a guest on the Research Recast(ed) podcast last season. The assistant professor in the Department of Arts and Cultural Management is researching decolonial grief and grieving practices. Part of her work culminated in the creation of a poetic memoir and recent book tour for What Kind of Daughter.
“We’re seeing everybody make bigger moves and doing ambitious things and taking risks and being successful,” says Olsen. “I think that’s really bearing itself out in the curriculum and the experiences that students are having in the classroom and in the reputation of the faculty in the community.”
Learn more about how that research makes its way into MacEwan’s classrooms and the community in Deric Olson’s full interview with Research Recast(ed) host Kelsie Johnston.
