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>>Imagine having the ability to implement a project
that you know will change the lives of people in
and around York University.
That's the thinking behind York University's Academic Innovation
Fund or AIF, an exciting new initiative
that is providing seed funding to jump start 39 projects
that aim to enhance every aspect
of the student experience at York University.
In order to do this, the Academic Innovation Fund focuses
on 3 key areas: e-learning, experiential education,
and the student experience.
First conceived by Patrick Monahan,
York University's Vice-President Academic and Provost,
the AIF advances the initiatives identified in the White Paper
and puts them into action.
It empowers York's students, faculty,
and staff to take their great ideas from the drawing board
and turn them into tangible initiatives.
We spoke with him to find out more
about how his vision is transforming the university.
>>Patrick Monahan: Well the Academic Innovation Fund is an
attempt to provide some support for the literally hundreds
of people around campus who are very passionate about teaching
and learning and about student experience,
but have lacked the seed money to undertake these ideas.
And as we went through the White Paper process a couple
of years ago what impressed me...
was many, many hundreds of people who participated
in that process and we sat in focus groups and we talked
about our ideas and our aspirations and our dreams
for the university and what was striking to me was how people
around the university had so many great ideas.
There were literally hundreds of great ideas,
but the main obstacle seemed to be we don't have the resources
to make these a reality.
And so coming out of that process it occurred to me
and to some of my colleagues: wouldn't it be great
if we could identify a source of money that we could set aside
and not so that we in the Provost's Office
or the President's Office will tell people what to do,
but rather we say, "Here's some money;
you come up with your great idea and you submit that idea to us."
What people have said to me and to my colleagues is,
"You know for so long we've been looking for an opportunity
to do this project or that project
and this is the first time that we've really sensed
that someone's supporting us."
And that's really...you know that really makes my day really
to see that, to see that we've been able to unleash that energy
and that commitment and get people involved.
>>There's a diverse array of projects
that have been made possible by the Academic Innovation Fund;
from an e-learning project that links York students
with students in a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border,
to a Swim to Survive program for area youth, and an initiative
to help students transition to university life.
Each one of the 39 imaginative academic innovation projects
unlocks the power and potential within York University
to advance teaching and learning,
the student experience, and community engagement.
>>Patrick Monahan: To be honest,
it's really exceeded what I had imagined it would be in terms
of the originality, the creativity of the projects
that have come forward and what's really striking is
that many of these projects don't require a huge amount
of money.
What you see is that the people who are involved are
so committed to this that they're prepared
to invest their own time and their own efforts and they say,
"Just give us a small amount of money and we'll take that
and we'll run with that."
So what's really, really exciting
about this is the commitment of energy and passion
that people have for these projects.
I hope that what this does is it shows people what's possible
and that we in fact build on the energy that we've had this year.
Next year there'll be another call for proposals,
another $2.5 million that's going to be put forward
and I think this will build.
I think it's like you see social networks now;
they start off and they catch fire.
And I'm looking hopefully that we see that kind
of building here at York through the Academic Innovation Fund
in 2012.