The Centre for Teaching and Learning has awarded this year’s Educational Leadership Award to Johanna Frank, Head of the Department of Communication, Media and Film (CMF).
According to the selection committee, Dr. Frank, a professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing, received the award for her major curriculum revisions in two departments.
Previously, she led a complete revision of the English undergraduate curriculum. In 2019, when she assumed the role of Head of CMF, she worked with film faculty in both CMF and the School of Creative Arts (SoCA) to design a new Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Film Production.
The committee also recognized, among other things, her ability to initiate change in CMF to enhance teaching and learning environments for students and faculty, mentor faculty and students, and develop equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
In reflecting on her experiences in the past years at the university, Frank said, “I’ve been lucky to have opportunities to use my skills in a team environment and impact student experience across courses, departments, and faculties.”
In both departments, Frank said she encountered colleagues who desired change, but were hesitant about the true possibility of change, which she took as a challenge. She said she doesn’t shy away from facing challenges: “I’m energized when I get to work with others who embrace a collaborative and collegial work ethic – even when we face obstacles along the way.”
During her time in English, she said she spent years listening to students share their perspectives on English programs, heard the opinions of her colleagues that courses at all levels might not be working the way they anticipated, and developed a clear perspective of the challenges in the classroom based on her own work as a professor.
Under her guidance, the department “reimagined and rewrote all the English degree programs, courses, and learning outcomes,” she said. “It was a multi-year process, but we put our ideas into concrete actions and saw them through to completion. And we did so democratically, with full faculty and student participation.”
She said that the opportunity to revise the film curriculum was about making sure the program covered skill sets, and also improved climate, which lines up with her commitment to using curriculum development to promote positive change beyond rewriting course sequences, course titles or descriptions.
Frank said the team routinely asked big questions that shaped their work: “How might we sustain a respectful workplace? How can we best equip our students to learn to address issues of equity in a proactive way? How might we rethink ‘cohort culture’ so that it doesn’t create hierarchy or shape student attitudes and learning priorities in negative ways?”
She said that these kinds of questions gave her film faculty a focus as they further explored “how we might work the values behind the big ethical questions into our curriculum, course content and design, class assignments, classroom practices, equipment policies and procedures, studio and teaching spaces, etc.”
In her leadership roles she said she found new value in her career: “I discovered that working with others within and across departments and across faculties on institutional projects was rewarding. I discovered that this kind of engagement matched my core values.”
She said her leadership style promotes work that draws on each group member’s strengths, encourages risk-taking, and balances a realistic awareness of limits.
Vincent Georgie, who was the Director School of the Creative Arts from 2017-20, said Frank had a transformative impact on CMF and SoCA's joint work, despite the fact that her home department was English.
“Dr. Frank is capable of transformative educational leadership. She has a record of critically assessing programs, re-imagining them and strengthening them on all fronts,” said Dr Georgie. “Having worked very closely with her for 1.5 years, I found the fearlessness of her approach and unwavering commitment to educational excellent something to behold.”
The Educational Leadership Award honours the contributions of individuals who have led significant and sustained initiatives to improve teaching, curriculum, teaching spaces and resources, and policies and procedures that promote effective teaching.
Frank, along with other University of Windsor professors, will be virtually honoured at the 15th annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence, February 24 from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. View a list of other award winners or register for this event.
—Peter Marval