Western goes East 2012

As you may know, a number of officials from Western, the City of London and London Chamber of Commerce embarked on a trip to China in late April to explore opportunities for collaboration and mutual benefit. The area of health is of keen interest to Chinese university and city officials. It is also one of the drivers and priorities in our city’s economic recovery plan. I felt it was important as the Dean of Health Sciences to participate in this trip and represent the Faculty. I soon understood how important it was given the protocol following in China.

I held four objectives for this trip, namely to;

• Support the University, the city, and Chamber of Commerce as it attempts to position health as an economic driver of our region and China as a key destination in our institution’s international agenda
• Promote a greater awareness and understanding of the Faculty of Health Sciences by representing the Faculty in official events and by delivering three formal presentations to Chinese delegations/audiences
• Explore opportunities for collaboration and faculty/student exchange
• Meet with Faculty of Health Sciences alumni in China and participate in a pan-University alumni event in Hong Kong

To read a day-by-day account of my trip to China, click here.

Yours in health,

Jim

Congratulations are in order

Over the past few weeks, several FHS members have received news that is cause to celebrate.

First, three members were promoted to the rank of Professor. Congratulations to Alison Doherty (Kinesiology), JB Orange (Communication Sciences and Disorders), and Charles Rice (Kinesiology), who were all promoted from Associate Professor.

Congratulations also go out to Nursing professor Carol McWilliam, who will receive the prestigious Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Spring Convocation Ceremony.The Pleva Award is Western's most prestigious teaching award and Carol is extremely deserving of this honour. More information can be found here.

Two of our researchers received Academic Development Fun Grants from Research Western to support their projects.

Allyson Dykstra (Communication Sciences and Disorders) who received $8,441 to support a project entitled: The effects of botulinum toxin A on speech intelligibility and communicative participation in individuals with oromandibular dystonia. 

Abe Oudshoorn (Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing) received $8,467 to support a project entitled: Information and communication technology use and wellbeing in the context of homelessness.

Congratulations to all.I am tremendously proud of all the research that goes on in our Faculty.

Jim

FHS making a difference in the community

It seems as though every day I find something new to be proud of in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Our faculty members, staff and students are involved in countless endeavours that help to change our community for the better and as we enter the holiday season, this spirit is definitely alive in our Faculty.

We all have an important role to play in making a difference in our community. One of the ways in which FHS gets involved is through Western's annual campaign in support of the United Way of London & Middlesex.

Led by Janet Brown from the School of Physical Therapy, FHS has answered the bell once again for this very important cause. Through the combined efforts of the entire FHS family, we have raised in excess of $39,000 for the United Way. One of the major fundraising activities for our campaign was the very successful Buck-A-Boot campaign, that serves to engage our students. This year top prize in the Buck-A-Boot contest was the School of Physical Therapy. Congratulations!

It is things like this that make me most proud to be part of the Faculty of Health Sciences and help make it a great place to work, study, learn and grow. I offer you all my most sincere thank you.

Yours in health,

Jim Weese

Our students are our best ambassadors

Fall Preview Day activities at Western are always exciting and this year's event was no different. Nearly 1,500 people filled the hallways, classrooms and laboratories of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building to learn about our programs in Health Studies, Kinesiology and Nursing. This is an event in which we take great pride as we want to make a strong first impression on prospective students and their families.

An event like this take a great deal of coordination and it would not be possible without the help of our student volunteers. This year we had 45 of our students offer up their time to give facility tours and answer questions about their experience at Western. The objective of events like Fall Preview Day is to give prospective students a glimpse into life as a student at Western I can think of no better way to facilitate this than through our own students - they are our best ambassadors.

For 11 consecutive years Western has found itself atop the Globe and Mail's rankings of overall student satisfaction. This is the focus of everything we do at Western and in the Faculty and we are proud of this accomplishment. Our level of student involvement serves as evidence that our efforts are working and we are thrilled that so many of our students felt compelled to share their stories with the next generation of leaders in our faculty.

Special thanks go out to Andrew Lalka - Vice-President (Academic) Faculty of Health Sciences Students' Council - for his help coordinating the student volunteers.

The level of interest in our programs keeps growing every year and we couldn't possibly be happier about it. We are already working on plans to make next year's event bigger and better and will again rely heavily on our students to spread the message that the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western is a great place to work, study, learn and grow.

Yours in health,

Jim Weese
Dean

The value of a university degree

The Council of Ontario Universities (www.cou.on.ca) recently released a report – Ensuring the Value of University Degrees in Ontario – outlining the process universities go through to ensure students acquire relevant skills. The conversation surrounding the teaching of relevant skills to university students often morphs into a dialogue about the value of a university degree and whether it is declining. I don’t believe this to be the case, and the statistics seem to tell a similar story.

The evidence is clear that a university degree puts students on a path to success. Consider the following statistics:

• More than 93% of students find employment within 6 months of graduation. Nearly 85% of those say their job is related to their field of study.
• More than 300,000 new jobs were created for university graduates during the recession, while 430,000 jobs were lost for those without postsecondary education.
• Unemployment rates are lowest for university graduates than those with any other learning credential.
• University graduate earn, on average, 53% more than those without postsecondary education.

This should definitely be exciting news for high school students who are searching for an undergraduate program, or for university graduates who are interested in a postgraduate degree. It is most certainly an exciting time for those students and they should be reassured that universities in our province are committed to providing them with a learning experience that will help them acquire the knowledge and skill to enter the workforce upon graduation.

Closer to home, interest in our programs in the Faculty of Health Sciences has never been greater. Nearly 4,000 prospective students visited FHS at the recent Ontario Universities’ Fair and this past weekend we welcomed more than 400 to Elborn College for our FHS Graduate Professional Program Preview. Later this month, when Western hosts its annual Fall Preview Day, more than 1,000 high school students will visit the Faculty as they explore their options for postsecondary education. This speaks highly of the quality of our programs and how these areas are preparing students to make a difference outside the walls of the academy.

It is the mission of our Faculty to be a leader in health and health care, rehabilitation, physical activity and sport and we have confidence that we are achieving this goal in everything we do.

Yours in Health Sciences,

Jim Weese

Welcome to Western

September is a special time on a university campus. New students arrive with boundless enthusiasm, pride, and if they are totally honest, a bit of fear and trepidation as they embark on a new chapter in their lives. We see parents helping their sons and daughters relocate from the comforts of their homes to the realities of more independent living and responsibilities.

Our campus looks beautiful given the magnificent London summer. Our professors and staff members eagerly await the new crop of students and the start of a new academic term, while remembering those who have recently graduated and embarked on the next chapter in their lives.

For 28 years I have welcomed students and their parents to campus and ensuring all that they would have a great experience. I have tried my best to comfort students, encouraging them to seize the limitless opportunities for growth. I have told them of the benefits of a university education. I have outlined the challenges we face in society relative to the health area and the immense opportunities to which they will avail themselves as a graduate of one of our programs. I have told them that they'll always have their hometown friends, but that their most endearing friendships will likely be with fellow university students that have yet to meet.

At times I admit to underestimating how challenging this time can be for parents. I know much more now. One of the fresh faces who will be in front of me as I deliver my 2011 Dean's Welcome will be my own son. He's our first born and the first of our children to head to university.

I have enjoyed going through course calendars and promotional literature from a number of universities. I was pleased when he selected Western and the Schools in the Faculty of Health Sciences. I loved participating  in university sponsored orientation programs for new students and their parents. While exciting, this also points to the indisputable fact that he is growing up. Hell' soon be leaving us. This struck me with the fact that he won't be sitting beside me at the opening football game. He'll join 5,000 other first year students in the student section across the field.

Parents past and present - I now know the feeling.

That said, I am comforted by the care and attention that our staff members and professors give to students. I know that my son will be taught by leaders in their respective fields, scholars who are on the frontiers of knowledge development in their respective fields. I know the breadth and depth of the contributions of our student leaders who are proud of their Faculty and take pride in ensuring a "best student experience" for their classmates. I know, from experience, the incredible growth that my son, and your children will receive with a degree from the Faculty of Health Sciences at The University of Western Ontario.

This is an exciting time for all of us in the Faculty. We welcome you to our FHS family.

Yours in Health Sciences,

W. James Weese

Inaugural FHS Dean's Breakfast

Yesterday morning (Feb. 24) we started a new tradition in the Faculty of Health Sciences by hosting our inaugural Dean's Breakfast. A fantastic group of alumni and friends joined us at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club and I was thrilled to share some of the amazing things happening in our Faculty and provide a glimpse into the future of Health Sciences at Western.

Together with our School Directors, we are working to make the Faculty a great place to work, study, learn and grow and a beacon of best practice on our campus. We have, and will continue to, make sharp progress in this area. I am proud to say that the Faculty has assumed a place as a progressive and leading faculty at Western. This is due in large part to a strong leadership team that has bought into a vision of providing "Canada's best student experience".

The programs we offer to students are in high demand as evidenced by this year's application numbers. On the undergraduate side, the School of Kinesiology received 2,700 applications for 350 spots. More than 2,400 applications were received for our School of Health Studies and nearly 1,200 students applied for 125 places in our Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, which carries an incoming average of 87% (the highest at Western).

Applications to our School of Physical Therapy jumped 29.8% from 2010 (823 applications for 50 spots). More than 700 students applied for admission to our School of Occupational Therapy, while our School of Communication Sciences and Disorders saw increases of 28.6% (Audiology) and 24.3% (Speech-Language Pathology.

These numbers speak to the quality of programming we are providing and to the relevance of our areas of expertise in today's world. Part of this involves the interdisciplinary nature of much of our work in areas such as health promotion, child and youth health and health and aging.

As the University pushes to expand its international reputation, our Faculty is already well on its way to becoming an international leader in Health Sciences. We currently have 28 active international exchange agreements with institutions from 16 countries and are planning a more robust international student exchange program to provide unique learning experiences for our students.

We are all genuinely excited about the future of our Faculty and the chance to share that with some of our most loyal supporters was a pleasure. Our Dean's Breakfast is slated to become a regular event for the Faculty as a way to keep our alumni and friends involved and engaged. Without the support of this group, our mission would be much harder to achieve.

Yours in health,

Jim

Well Done Western!

What an amazing day to be part of the Western community. In a time when those in need in our region need us more than ever, it was announced today that our campus stepped up and made the largest donation in United Way of London & Middlesex history. Faculty, staff and students combined to contribute $631,487, surpassing the campaign goal of $600,000.

Closer to home, our Faculty-wide goal was $36,000, and through the leadership of Janet Brown from the School of Physical Therapy, we were able to raise $37,098. That total is nearly $4,000 more than we raised for the 2009 campaign.

This serves as further evidence that the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western is committed to making a difference in the lives of others in our community.

I offer my sincerest congratulations to everyone involved in Western's United Way campaign.

Well done!

Jim

FHS making a splash in the media

There is much to be proud of in our Faculty over the past few weeks as the work of a number of faculty members has been featured in the national and local media. This kind of exposure is a wonderful thing for the Faculty as it lets those outside of FHS know about the difference our people are making across all areas of research and service.

Nursing professors Susan Ray and Cheryl Forchuk received considerable media attention for their research into the root causes of homelessness among our Canadian Forces veterans.

• London Free Press (Jan. 4)
• National Post (Jan. 5)
• Western News (Jan. 13)

Bev Leipert's (Nursing) research into curling and the health of women in rural communities made headlines last year and has done so again.

• London Free Press (Jan. 12)

Abe Oudshoorn's (Nursing) development of the London Homelessness Outreach Network is making a difference in our community.

• Western News (Jan. 13)

Kinesiology's Tom Jenkyn swept into the news again with his research involving the evolution of the curling broom. As you might recall, Tom's hard work was featured prominently last year surrounding the Olympic curling competition.

• Globe and Mail (Jan. 12)

There are a number of events happening around the Faculty in the coming weeks that celebrate our fantastic students.

• January 14 - FHS Games. Organized by our student leaders, the FHS Games have teams from each of our school competing in academic, physical and spirit challenges.
• January 17 - 4th Annual Western-Fanshawe Collaborative BScN Pinning Ceremony. Welcoming first year students into the profession of Nursing, the ceremony is slated for the Great Hall in Somerville House.
• January 18 - Undergraduate Student Scholarship Reception. Recognizing the academic accomplishments of our undergraduate students.
• January 24 - Classes without Quizzes. Michelle Mottola (Kinesiology) will be speaking at the North London Community Centre (920 Sunningdale Road East) and presenting the guidelines for exercise during pregnancy, and the benefits for both baby and mother.

It brings me great pleasure to share with you all the great news about our Faculty. It truly is a great place to work, study, learn and grow.

All the best,

Jim

 

Happy Holidays from the Dean

With the holidays nearly upon us I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped the Faculty of Health Sciences reach its goal for the 2010 United Way Campaign. Spearheaded by Janet Brown from the School of Physical Therapy, FHS went above and beyond to help those in our community who are less fortunate. A special thank you to the student groups who organized the 'Buck a boot' campaign that helped FHS raise nearly $36,000.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

Jim