We are fast approaching a full year since our college and university swiftly shifted to remote learning and work. I continue to be amazed and impressed by our team’s resiliency and commitment. Now, as we begin to contemplate what a return to our workplace will look like post-pandemic, we have the opportunity to put some thought into how we work, and the many things we have learned this past year.

I hope you will take part in the USask work to plan our return, the Post-Pandemic Shift Project. An opportunity to participate in this work was provided in an email from President Peter Stoicheff last week. This first step is to answer one simple question from your perspective and based on your preferences and ideas. If you haven’t already done this, you can answer that question at this survey link.

Our college will be guided by the university’s work in this area for our campus-based activities. Of course, on the clinical side of our work, as always those in these settings will need to be aware of changes and requirements in the clinical setting now and going forward.

While this has been a challenging and difficult time unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, it has given us some opportunities to rethink our approach to how we work from many angles, including efficiency and flexibility.

Also helping to inform next steps was the second pandemic survey, issued in late 2020. The results of that survey show that our overall engagement results are quite favorable, and given the many challenges we are living through, this is great news. A really positive area for us is that 77% of those from the CoM who responded to the survey indicated their people leader cares about them as a person. This is a really great measure for supporting the engagement of our team and for creating a positive work environment.

In this second survey we are continuing to see that people would like a combination of working remotely and at the office/on campus in the future. Broad themes included under what USask has done well in response to COVID-19 include ongoing communication and updates campus-wide, the careful and thoughtful response that prioritized the safety of employees and students, and the efforts in supporting and accommodating the needs of staff, learners and faculty. Survey respondents indicated that they would like more clarity and detail on what the post-pandemic USask will look like and to have ongoing support and assistance (financial and otherwise) for remote work.

While overall participation was down somewhat compared to the first survey, it was still good and will help guide planning. I would encourage you to visit the website and participate in the above Post-Pandemic Shift Project survey so that your voice is included as we plan together for the future at our college and university.

As we work with the university on post-pandemic plans, we will continue to keep you informed.

In a number of blogs over the years, I have talked about what I am reading and in return many of you have been generous in sharing books you have found inspiring and/or entertaining. As part of an annual goal-setting exercise, I plan to read 25 books this year—I read a lot, just not fast!

But usually this time of year is when I get the most reading done, and so far I have read four books: Factfulness, by Hans Rosling et al, on how the world is actually improving in many ways; Morality, by Jonathan Sachs, a work of moral philosophy; Leadership in Turbulent Times, by Doris Kearnes Goodwin, a comparative history of the leadership of four American presidents; and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson, which as written on the cover, is about “how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.” It certainly has been a bit of a whiplash reading experience, through some of the great things and horrible things of our world and the human condition.

I think it is really important I recognize Black History Month, and share with you how very educational and very moving it’s been to read the latter two books at this time. Two of the American presidents covered by Goodwin are Abraham Lincoln, known of course for his leadership in the Civil War, and Lyndon B. Johnson, known for his failures in the Vietnam War and, less so, for his role in pushing through the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Like many famous leaders, he was a complex man.

Wilkerson’s book, Caste, is very compelling, though a tough read throughout. As she points out, Black American scholars have been writing about caste in America since the 1930s, and she builds a brilliant case for the idea that individual and systemic racism are both based on a very deeply embedded ranking of the value of people on the basis of their color. This other line from the cover describes it well: “Beautifully written, original and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a re-examination of what lies under the surface of American life today.”

While I highly recommend this book, I reminded myself throughout that Canadians can claim no advantage when it comes to racism, prejudice and bias as shown by what we have done and continue to do to Indigenous and Black people, and other people of colour, in Canada. In only the past week, we have seen a racist incident within our university campus directed at Muslim students during an online meeting, and in a Saskatoon restaurant directed at Asian people working there.

The other book I am reading in installments is One Story, One Song, a collection of short stories by the late Richard Wagamese, an Ojibway man from the Wabaseemoong First Nation in northwestern Ontario. He is probably best known for the novel Indian Horse which was made into a film of the same name. I have heard Val Arnault-Pelletier, CoM Indigenous Coordinator, use the following Richard Wagamese quote many times:

“All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…”

So finally, February in Saskatchewan. As a colleague in the Ministry of Advanced Education said yesterday, “Wow, winter has officially flexed its muscles.” There is no better time of the year to curl up with a good book and learn other peoples’ stories. By reading others’ stories and sharing our own, “we change the world.”

Take care! Remember, with the COVID-19 variants now with us, the basics—distance, masks, stay in your bubble, and wash your hands—are more important than ever. And keep warm!