Heather Fitzgerald Appointed Interim Director, Teaching + Learning Support at Emily Carr University

Writer and educator Heather Fitzgerald has been appointed Interim Director, Teaching + Learning Support at Emily Carr University.

The appointment, which came in 2023, recognizes Heather’s leadership within the Teaching + Learning Centre (TLC) and Writing Centre at ECU.

“Heather has been an incredible leader in helping us think through how we teach better,” says Diyan Achjadi, Interim Provost and Vice-President, Academic, at ECU. “She has built the Writing Centre into a hub of activity that uses writing as a tool to navigate questions of equity in the classroom. She led efforts to ensure we were supported in online teaching and learning during the pandemic, always through the lens of social justice and accessibility. I look forward to working with her to think more broadly about the future of teaching and learning at ECU.”

Heather’s interim appointment will allow her to continue connecting the work of both the Writing Centre and the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) to better serve the ECU community. Both centres embrace a philosophy of peer-based learning and knowledge-sharing that contribute to the development of an enriching and responsive teaching and learning environment for all. It will also provide greater stability for the TLC as it emerges from the shadow of emergency remote teaching.

“We’ve come so far in three and a half years, but there are so many directions the Teaching and Learning Centre could grow in,” Heather says. “I am proud of the work we’ve done helping faculty navigate the last few years, especially during the pandemic. But there are a lot of other areas where we could potentially help instructors – and consequently students – create more engaging and sustainable learning environments, especially by fostering connections between and among faculty. That’s the work that really excites me. There is just always so much more to learn!”

Heather began her academic career at the University of Toronto in 2007, where she worked as a writing consultant and sessional faculty member for six years. She served as Acting Director of the University College Writing Centre at U of T in 2010-11 and for five years as Vice-President, President and Past-President of the Board of the Canadian Writing Centres Association. She currently serves as a reviewer for multiple publications in the Writing Studies field.

Heather joined Emily Carr as the Faculty Coordinator of the Writing Centre in 2012. In her 11 years at ECU as a member of the Faculty of Culture + Community, she has served on numerous committees and worked with many different areas of the school.

Her work in faculty development emerged out of her Writing Centre role. She notes that seeing students struggling with writing assignments led to a curiosity about assignment design. Within her first year, Heather began offering workshops for faculty about designing writing assignments and strategies for grading writing.

In the years since, she has collaborated with colleagues to develop resources for Critical Studies faculty, graduate students and their supervisors, as well as new instructors. She regularly hosts workshops and discussions about topics of interest to her colleagues across the university and in 2022, completed her training to become a facilitator of Instructional Skills Workshops, an internationally recognized program of faculty development.

Since August 2020, the TLC has partnered with ECU’s Human Resources department to organize the New Faculty Orientation event, adding a Resource Fair and Reception in 2022. That same year, the TLC designed a process to support instructor participation in the West Coast Teaching Excellence Awards, launching ECU’s first internal nomination process in early 2023. Also new in 2023 was the first-ever May Faculty Symposium that combined annual sabbatical presentations with professional development opportunities for faculty.

The TLC has also recently made significant advances in updating learning technology and communications assets and infrastructure. In 2022/23, the TLC supported five faculty members in undertaking self-directed projects as part of the Teaching Associates program.

Heather’s recent sabbatical project focused on the intersections between well-researched forms and experiences of peer feedback in writing classes and the much less researched experience of feedback in the studio critique. Her preliminary findings point to some exciting learning opportunities which she hopes to explore with colleagues in the coming years.

Visit the TLC and Writing Centre online or on campus to learn more about their wide range of programming and resources.