S.05-65
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Senate Committee on University Priorities
?
Memorandum
TO:
Senate ?
FROM: ?
John Waterht7?'L
Chair, SCUP<b
Vice Pres1nt, Academic
RE:
Institute for Research on Early
?
DATE: ?
April 11, k05
Education and Child Health
(SCUP 05-026)
Attached is the proposal for the establishment of the Institute for Research on Early
Education and Child Health submitted for consideration by Dr. Paul Shaker, Dean of
Education. This will be a Schedule A Centre reporting to the Dean of Education in
accordance with Policy R
40.01.
The Senate Committee on University Priorities reviewed the proposal at its March 23,
2005 meeting, at which time it was unanimously approved. Once approved by Senate,
the proposal will be submitted to the Board of Governors.
Motion:
is
?
That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the establishment of
the Institute for Research on Early Education and Child Health.
Attach.
c. M. Pinto
P. Shaker
M. Hoskyn
G. Nicholls
0
SOUP 05-026
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
0
MEMORANDUM ?
OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT, RESEARCH
TO:
Glynn Nicholls, Secretary
?
FROM: B. Mario Pinto
Senate Committee on University
?
Vice-President, Research
Planning (SCUP)
RE: Institute for Research on Early
?
DATE: March 2, 2005
Education and Child Health
Attached is a proposal from Dr. Paul Shaker, Dean of the Faculty of Education,
for the establishment of the Institute for Research on early Education and Child Health
as a Schedule A Centre.
The Governing Committee for Centres and Institutes recommends that the
Centre be granted approval by SCUP. Once approved by SCUP, the proposal is to be
forwarded to Senate, followed by submission to the Board of Governors.
.
Governing Committee:
2
,-Dr.
Vice-President,
John H. Waterhouse
Academic and Provost
_^^-711^
737 - -
Dr. B. Mario Pinto
Vice-President, Research
Attachment
C: ?
Dr. Paul Shaker, Dean, Faculty of Education
Dr. Maureen Hoskyn, Faculty of Education
1.
Received by
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
JAN 14
2005
DEAN OF EDUCATION
Memorandum ?
ce President Research Office
To:
?
Mario Pinto
From: Paul Shaker
Subject:
Institute for Research in any Education and Child Health
Date: ?
January 6, 2005
Attached is a proposed constitution for a new SFU research institute to be housed within
the Faculty of Education: "Institute for Research on Early Education and Child Health."
I support this initiative in full and request that it be considered for further SFU approval.
With the exception of the provision of office space and telephone costs, the funding for
this institute will be found through external sources. The faculty is currently working
together with Susan Street, our Advancement Officer, to find financial support for the
projects outlined.
PS:aln
cc: Maureen Hoskyn
.
2
. CONSTITUTION
The Institute for
Research on Early Education and
Child
Health
December, 2004
1. Statement of Purpose:
The
Institute for Research on Early Education and Child Health
is
a multidisciplinary
research group at Simon Fraser University. The institute's mission is to generate and
share knowledge about early education that will advance humanity by enriching the lives
of young children and their families. Current research projects focus on young children
from infancy to eight years of age and the communities in which they live and grow. We
also have a special interest in advancing knowledge about the interplay between biology
and environmental experiences that influence child health and in turn, psychosocial
development and learning. Through community outreach in real world settings, we strive
to promote effective change that favors children in early education and public policy at
local, national and international levels.
We believe that effective research focuses on the child and the child's rights, advances
.
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theory, and defines the learning environments that promote child and family well-being.
An important part of this process is ongoing collaboration among researchers and the
creation of partnerships with the families, educators, administrators, child advocacy
groups, and policy makers who will potentially benefit from our research.
Our research interests are linked by the following inter-connected themes:
• Early Childhood Education
• Early Childhood Education Policy in Canada and Internationally
• Child Health and Psycho-Social Development
• Parent, Family, and Community Support
• Equity, Access & Inclusion
• Early Literacy and Numeracy
• Early Identification and Intervention
We are committed to strong community-university partnerships, the beneficiaries of
which first and foremost, are children and families. We have several strategies to meet
this aim:
• establishing relations with other research institutes, child advocacy groups,
universities and early childhood centres.
• actively supporting international research centres that share our goal of improving
children's lives through advocacy (e.g., Unicef Issanti Research centre)
3.
Institute for Early Education and Child Health
• supporting a child-study centre at SFU that serves as an active centre of child
study and research and provides model training experiences for pre-service
teachers of young children at-risk for learning difficulties.
• establishing a family support centre at SFU Surrey that includes counselling.
literacy, and preschool education services for high-risk families.
• enhancing professional development through conferences, symposiums, lectures
and the institute's newsletter and website.
• creation of a MA program in Early Childhood Education and Health.
The research and outreach goals of the Institute for Early Education and Child Health are
aligned with several of the recommendations presented in the federally funded, OCED-
Canada Early Childhood Education and Childcare Policy Report (October, 2004): (1)
"Build bridges between child care and kindergarten education, with the aim of integrating
ECEC both at ground level and at policy and management levels" (2) "Review ECEC
professional profiles, improve recruitment levels and strengthen the initial and in-service
training of staff', (3) Provide publicly-funded, high quality interventions in all
disadvantaged areas, (4) Provide attractive indoor and outdoor learning environments. (5)
Co-ordinate Canadian research and through funding. orient it further toward important
policy issues (see http:J/www 11. sdc. ac. calen/cs/sp/socpol/publi cat ion S/rePortS/2004-
002619/pa g
e07.shtml for more details).
Current Research and Outreach Projects:
SFU Child Study Institute
Early Literacy Project
Romanian Adoption Project
HIPPY Project
Early Education Environmental Assessment
SFU Annual conference on Early Childhood Education
2
Internal Governance Process
The name of the institute, administration of institute funds and employment of staff will
be in keeping with relevant University policies. These functions will be overseen by an
executive director elected by and from the members of the institute. The executive
director will be advised by a committee of institute members elected by and from
members of the institute.
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9
If.
Institute for Early Education and Child Health
• ?
Contracts and grants will be administered in keeping with the applicable policies and
procedures of Simon Fraser University. An annual report shall be prepared by the
committee and submitted by the director.
Simon Fraser University will be recognized in all publications of the institute.
3.
Identification of Schedule.
The Institute for Research on Early Education and Child
Health
is a Schedule A institute (R 40.0 1, page 2) and comes under the direct authority of
the Dean of Education.
4.
Obligations of the Institute:
The Institute for Research on Early Education and Child Health
recognizes the
obligation it has to conduct its activities in accordance with University governing
policies, including R 40.01, CENTRES AND INSTITUTES. If this document and
University policy differ on any issue, University policy shall prevail.
5.
Sources of Funding:
The institute will substantially finance its activities and initiatives by means of external
funding. Susan Street, the Faculty of Education advancement officer has been working
with us to secure funds for operating our research and outreach activities. Office space
and use of a telephone will be provided through the SFU Faculty of Education.
is ?
Not
Librar y
resources:
Not applicable.
9
Institute for Early Education and Child Health
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4
Membershi
p
Information:
The founding members of the Institute for Research in Early Education and Child Health
include are faculty members within the Faculty of Education at SFU whose research
programs emphasize health and education of children primarily from birth to age eight
years. Of course we recognize the importance of situating the education, health and
development of young children within a lifespan framework; therefore, some research
projects may extend beyond investigating the lives of children in the early years.
Lucy Lemare
Research interests.
Psychosocial development of infants and young children at
high-risk for health, communication and educational difficulties.
Paul Neufeld
Research interests: Policy
research, socio-historical approaches to understanding
young children with social and academic learning difficulties in Canada and
internationally. Paul has a more lifespan development approach than other researchers in
the group.
Margaret McDonald
Research interests:
Social attachments of infants and young children with their
parents/caregivers/educators. Margaret has a strong early childhood education
background. ?
-
Rosamund Stooke
Research interests:
Literacy environments and development of young children.
Maureen Hoskyn
Research interests:
Language and memory development of infants and young
children at risk for health, communication and educational difficulties.
Contacts within the SFU community:
Arlene Young
(SFU, Psychology, CACH contact).
Arlene coordinates the activities of an
informal research group (i.e, not SFU approved) in Psychology: CACH - Consortium for
the Advancement of Child Health. Through my contact with Arlene, I have been invited
to attend a CACH meeting and a conference on the relations between executive function
and socialization that was sponsored by the group. Arlene and I recognize that the aims
of the proposed institute are complimentary to those of CACH; the distinction between
the two groups is that CACH activities are limited to the domain of psychology, whereas
our proposed research institute has a broad based, interdisciplinary focus.
.
S
Diane Dagenais (Education Domain Leader, Metropolis, SFU).
Diane is a co-
investigator with me on a grant (Official Languages Dissemination Program) from
SSHRC to investigate the health and linguistic outcomes of young multilingual children
of immigrant families in Vancouver. Certainly, the goals of Metropolis and the proposed
institute are complimentary; however, our focus is on research to improve the lives of
young children generally and Metropolis has a focus on immigrant children (and adults).
I offer this case to exemplify the types of collaborations we hope to forge with other
research institutes/centres at SFU.
