Milena Stanoeva
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Statistics Canada is facing significant budget cuts and staff layoffs that critics worry will result in the quality of data produced by the agency being compromised. Léo Charbonneau of University Affairs reports that two programs that have already been discontinued are the University and Colleges Academic Staff System, which analyzes data on university faculty in Canada, as well as the Education Matters publication, whose last issue was released this month. On the other hand, Alex Usher of Higher Education Strategy Associates points out that cuts are not to Statistics Canada’s analytical capacity but to costly in-house data gathering.
The Canadian Historical Association is also protesting the cuts made to the National Archives Development Program and "Understanding Canada" Program, which include the elimination of local archives and the Canadian Studies program, which provided modest funding to associations around the world that focus on Canadian Studies.
An art student at Boise State University is using art, or rather the absence of it, to show students and faculty how much they lose when they lose the arts and humanities. Project 404, for which Tony Emerson covered campus art with white sheets and a sign that reads “Error 404: Item Not Found,” was inspired by the STEM to STEAM movement, which seeks to integrate the arts in other university disciplines and make sure that the arts are given as much priority as STEM disciplines at universities.
The University of Saskatchewan launched the Social Sciences Research Laboratory website today. The SSRL supports the work of students and faculty conducting cutting-edge research in the social sciences. The website will provide information on SSRL projects and research outcomes.