Hi Everyone,
Our next board meeting will be held on March 5th from Noon until 2pm, Central time. You should have received a zoom link invitation already. Please let me know if you are unable to attend the meeting so I can make sure that we have quorum.
There are two important items that we need to discuss and make decisions on during this meeting related to changing our membership fee structure and website development. I anticipate that the discussion related to these items may take up most of the time at this meeting. As such, I will not be asking the subcommittees to give a verbal report. If there is time, we will have verbal reports from the Editor of Leisure/Loisir (Rebecca Genoe), Outreach and Events (Updates on Congress, Shintaro Kono), and the Awards Committee (Dawn Trussell). Can these three committees please submit written reports that can be shared in case there is not enough time for a verbal report?
Find attached a pdf of the agenda and minutes from October 2024.
Also note that our next board meeting will be held at Congress of the Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities, June 2nd from 5pm to 7pm Eastern Time, in a hybrid format.
The following notes inform the discussion and motion for our March meeting related to website functionality. I am providing them here so you can think about it ahead of time and, if you are unable to attend the meeting, you can send your thoughts about the motions in the agenda to me directly and before the meeting.
In May of 2024, we created and passed a motion to hire a research assistant to increase website functionality and communication to members. However, there are too many barriers for this work in practice (who will supervise the student? A student from which university? How can we find a leisure student with these skills?). To try and address this problem, I have also been in contact with Mitacs Manitoba who were very supportive and eager to fund a project where a computer science undergraduate student would work on this project with CALS as an industry partner. However, I could not find a computer science prof at UM who would be willing to take on the supervision of such a practical project. I am therefore requesting a new motion, where CALS requests quotes from more than one private firm with a focus on increasing the functionality of the website. The downside of this approach is that, in previous conversations with such firms, most want to build the website from scratch.
See you soon,
Fenton
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Dr. Fenton Litwiller (they/them/theirs)
President, Canadian Association for Leisure Studies (CALS)
Associate Professor
Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management | University of Manitoba
123 Frank Kennedy Centre | Winnipeg MB | R3T 2N2
204.474.8412
fenton.litwiller(a)umanitoba.ca<mailto:fentonl@umanitoba.ca>
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The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininewuk, Anisininewuk, Dakota Oyate and Denesuline, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. UM respects the Treaties that were made on these territories, acknowledges the harms and mistakes of the past and present, and dedicates itself to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of Reconciliation and collaboration.
