TRU has new director for student engagement

Contributed

NEWS/ TRU — An award-winning educator and prominent scholar in student engagement will lead Thompson Rivers University’s Centre for Student Engagement and Learning Innovation (CSELI).

As executive director, Dr. Tracy Penny Light will provide operational oversight for CSELI, supporting student engagement, scholarly teaching, educational program planning, retention of students and faculty, and blended course development. She assumed the new role Sept. 1.

“I am excited to be at TRU and to take on this role that is really at the heart of making the university’s academic and strategic goals a reality,” said Light.

“Universities are all about learning and this centre is where we will harness all the work of the campus community to promote innovative, integrative, and scholarly approaches to achieving excellence. It is quite an amazing opportunity for me and for the entire campus.”

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Penny Light join us,” said Dr. Katherine Sutherland, TRU Associate vice-president academic. “She is a national leader in the context of teaching and learning innovation and has expressed tremendous enthusiasm about the potential for a really modern student learning experience at TRU.”

Formerly the director of Women’s Studies at the University of Waterloo and Associate Professor in the Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies and History departments at St. Jerome’s University (University of Waterloo), Light will return to her roots in educational development at the Centre.

Her prior experience includes directing national and provincial educational initiatives, as well as managing strategic learning projects and organizational change on the UW campus.

Light brings her expertise in the use of ePortfolios for integrative learning, and has two co-edited books forthcoming: Bodily Subjects: Essays on Gender and Health, 1800-2000 and Feminist Pedagogy in Higher Education: Critical Theory and Practice.