Office of the dean

Jan Stewart, PhD

Dean

Frank is a professor and is Kanienkeha’ka from Kahnawake, a community that lies just south of Tiotia’ke in the eastern region of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. He holds a PhD in Educational Administration from the University of Saskatchewan. Frank studies Indigenous education and Indigenous religious and spiritual orientations. He has previously served as a classroom teacher in Northern Manitoba and in the Inner City of Winnipeg.

The Office of the Associate Dean Indigenous Education (ADIE) will build on the existing mandates of the University of Manitoba Indigenous Senior Leadership Plan and the Faculty of Education’s Strategic Plan supporting Indigenous engagement and achievement. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action 62-65, Education for reconciliation, the ADIE will support initiatives focused on such areas of concern as Indigenous history, epistemology, and perspectives. The ADIE, in consultation with the Dean, the Associate Dean Graduate and Research (ADGR) and the Associate Dean Undergraduate & Partnerships (ADUP), will support the Faculty of Education’s work as it improves our undergraduate and graduate programmes. The ADIE will support faculty and staff who seek to engage in work that involves Indigenous knowledges, histories and perspectives. This support will include overseeing such things as budget considerations, program delivery, curricular issues, admissions and student services relating to all aspects of Indigenous Education. The Associate Dean Indigenous Education will also engage with the Office of the Vice-President Indigenous and Senior Administration at the University of Manitoba.

Faculty of Education Reconciliation Action Plan

Twitter: @Frank_Deer

Dr. Melanie Janzen is Associate Dean, Graduate Programs and Research (ADGR) of the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. She is also an Associate Professor in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning who specializes in teacher education and curriculum studies (www.melaniedjanzen.ca). Melanie is a vocal advocate for public education, and as a researcher, uses critical perspectives to explore the inter-related workings of power and discourses, particularly as they relate to the identities of teachers and children. Prior to earning her PhD from the University of British Columbia, Melanie was a classroom teacher and learning support teacher in numerous public schools in Winnipeg.   
 
In her role as Associate Dean, Graduate Programs and Research (ADGR), Melanie is committed to enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of our graduate programs as well as in faculty and graduate student research. Working alongside the Associate Dean, Indigenous Education and other community partners, she will support efforts and develop programs that foster Indigenous-focused graduate programming, cohorts, and community relationships. Melanie is also committed to supporting early career faculty as they strive to develop their research, teaching and service portfolios.
 
The Faculty of Education has a large and robust graduate program that includes Masters and PhD programs and that serves local and international students. Melanie will build on our community partnerships to better serve our rural and Northern communities through meaningful and accessible graduate programming. Our faculty members’ research interests are vast and contribute to academic and professional conversations locally, nationally and internationally. As researchers and teachers, our faculty members are committed to working with graduate students and to developing reciprocal research partnerships with individuals and organizations. Please feel free to contact Melanie if you are interested in finding out more about graduate programs or research partnerships.

Dr. Serebrin is a curious, caring, collaborative learner, teacher, and scholar. He has been the recipient of over a dozen awards for outstanding teaching. For nearly three decades, Dr. Serebrin has partnered with undergraduate and graduate students, K-12 teachers, university colleagues, and children in urban, school-based literacies education. Since 2019, Dr. Serebrin has turned his teaching, scholarship, and service focus to contemplative care and justice praxis in education - as a way of revisioning a more caring and just word. Following a lifetime of experience with embodied and embedded contemplative practices, Dr. Serebrin is committed to co-creating cultures of relational care in educational theory, research, and practices intended to: deepen consciousness and active loving action in response to intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systemic/cultural oppression and domination; invite, sustain, and critique healing practices, processes, and systems; and; reimagine educational and societal institutions so that they may more fully serve and benefit all - especially marginalized individuals and groups. At the core of Dr. Serebrin's teaching, research, and service is a responsibility to deepen our complex and sustainable connections with ourselves, with multiple, diverse, and divided communities, and with more-than-human life forms and the Earth.