The Maple League Teaching and Learning Committee warmly invites you to our next Maple League Hosts event: Leading Through Rupture: Pedagogy as the Core of People-Centred Higher Education with Dr. Bill Owen, Interim President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia.

 

When: Thursday, Thursday, Feb 19, 12:00-1:00pm(ET)/1:00-2:00pm(AT)

 

Where: Live on Zoom – Register here: https://bit.ly/Leading-Through-Rupture

 

Description: The structures and learning environments we design to help students thrive in the classroom are the same foundations required for effective academic leadership during a period of profound rupture in post-secondary education. This is not a moment of incremental transition, but one of systemic disruption. Yet, it is also a moment of possibility.

As academics and academic leaders, we hold the privilege and responsibility of shaping future citizens and leaders, influencing how learning happens in our classrooms, and how decisions are made in our academic boardrooms. In this talk, I reflect on how my own pedagogical practices have informed and strengthened my approach to academic leadership. I invite you to consider how intentional, people-centred pedagogy is not only essential for student success, but foundational to building resilient, inspiring, and robust post-secondary institutions capable of meeting the challenges of our time.

 

Bio: Since joining UNBC in 2002 as a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Owen has held a range of senior academic leadership roles, including Vice-Provost Faculty Relations, Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences, Vice-Provost Student Engagement, Interim Provost and Vice-President Academic, and Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning , and Technology. Across these roles, he has worked closely with faculty, staff, students, and community partners to advance the University’s mission and to foster collaborative, people-centred academic environments.

As a professor, Dr. Owen has taught broadly across the curriculum, from introductory statistics to advanced seminars in cognition and psycholinguistics. His scholarly interests include visual word recognition, psycholinguistics, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, reflecting his long-standing commitment to pedagogy as a foundation for both student success and academic leadership.