Royal Roads Continuing Studies

Snow day!

2012-01-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

With the Royal Roads University campus closed because of mounds of fresh glistening snow and slip-sliding skids of black ice, I’ve been womaning my emails and phone calls from the warmth of home and hearth. Well, no hearth per se; make that a most reliable radiator.

Fewer cars on the road outside my window, fewer voices passing by. The silence is exhilarating and feels almost like a precipice as I lean into its core of expectant wonder. It’s in the peace of days like this that I most hear my heart’s longings. It’s a call to dream, to manifest, to turn inward and somehow fan the flames of alchemy, changing forever the metal of longing into the gold of knowing.

Winter calls for us to go inward and our upcoming courses offer a wonderful bridge to examine your own inner longings.

The Gift of Dreaming: Transforming the Mundane into the Sacred begins Sunday, January 29

Dreams are a valuable and powerful tool. They can be a magical and even mystical experience. When we have a vital, authentic relationship with our dreams, we become more of who we are meant to be. Life takes on a richer sense of meaning as we honour the mystery of our own journey. Join Dr. Corrinne Allyson for this deep and powerful exploration of your relationship with your dreams.

Finding the Poem in Your Heart's Garden begins Saturday, February 4

Everyone, no matter what their skill level, can learn to write a poem, and you will leave with at least five poems to plant into your life and into the lives of others. Wendy Morton, author of five poetry books and a memoir, will guide you through the process where you'll learn what makes a poem, how you can pick a poem out of your experience, how you can write poems for others and how to become a poet or be a better one.

Meditating to Heal the Heart begins Saturday, February 4
Unconditional friendliness toward oneself is the foundation of all the transformation that arises on the human journey. Neil McKinlay is a meditation instructor and personal coach who will guide you through the various practices that can heal your relationship with yourself. Drawing from the Meditating with the Body® curriculum of Dr. Reginald Ray, you will explore both the body and heart in this deep and insightful program.

Whether snow or sun visited you today, wishing you a night of peaceful dreams.

Tess Wixted
Continuing Studies Program Associate

Visit our website at http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies.

New beginnings everywhere

2012-01-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder how much goodness can caress one person in their life? Me for example. I have one of the best jobs in the world. An overstatement? Well, not to me. Every day I look forward to coming to work and help to bring people like Jane Goodall, David Whyte, Robert Bateman and Joanna Macy to people like you. I started at Royal Roads in the Continuing Studies department this past October and dove into the deep underspine of a cresting wave of over 300 courses. Lots of work met me the moment I sat down and just now, in the quiet interlude of winter’s arrival, I can breathe in the work lying ahead in the exhale of a new year.

Coming to Royal Roads has been part and parcel to stepping into a deep abiding of the call to service within me. When the opportunity came to work here I leapt at the chance. Like I said, where else do you get to work with such amazing facilitators, look out at the ocean, walk magnificent gardens and have lunch with peacocks. Wow.

It’s traditional to look back at the year that has passed and examine the path with eyes now far down the road of time. This was my first year in Victoria having moved last December from wee Cortes Island, BC, my home for nearly three years. I smile at the realization of how rich and welcoming Victoria can be to a new arrival. Friends grow into communities, discoveries of secret beaches, favoured farmers’ markets and the riot of azure blue spring camas exalting from Beacon Hill. Coffee houses and music festivals, dragon boat races and busking festivals. Victoria is my home and every day I treasure its embrace of me and my life.

I’m looking forward to bringing you bits of information and inspiration from the warmest spot in Canada. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things ~ Henry Miller

Tess Wixted

Continuing Studies Associate

http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies

EUROPEAN WINE CRUISE INFORMATION SESSION

2010-12-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

Please join us on January 26th at 7pm for an information session hosted by Deborah Wickins of Wine Love Wine Lust and Oceania Cruise Lines.

Learn about our Vineyards and Vignettes sailing from London to Barcelona in September 2011.

We sail on the luxurious mid-size ship Insignia, where you will be treated to a host of discoveries, enrichment and experiences that are beyond compare.

Stroll the Champs Elysee, delight in tasting the superb wines of Bordeaux, visit the stunning Guggenheim Museum, tour the port houses of Oporto, explore the Andalusian wine country and Jerez, the home of sherry and experience authentic tapas bars and paella restaurants in Spain. This tour includes return air from Vancouver, 14 day cruise, all onboard meals, pre-paid gratuities and is hosted by Victoria sommelier Deborah Wickins.

For information and to RSVP contact Linda Nelson at Cruise Holidays Pacific 250-472-2789 linda@cruiseholidayspacific.com

Sustainability "U"

2010-09-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

With so much focus on global sustainability, how much time and energy are we actually devoting to the more personal aspects of balance and wholeness?

Please join us October 7, 2010 from 7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. in the Mews Conference Centre at Royal Roads University for a free to the public evening showcasing leading edge and innovative personal sustainability practices in short half hour preview sessions as a glimpse into the full courses offered throughout the year in Continuing Studies.

Explore fearless painting, story-telling, journaling, and the ancient art of tea leaf reading as a way to tap into your creativity and intuition.
Or, if you are curious about the healing arts, discover meditation practice and laughter yoga while sampling healthy living through whole and wild foods, and diets that will slow down the aging process or stave off diabetes.
Learn about permaculture by design, cob-building, eco-system based living and the study of traditional plant knowledge called ethnobotany.
Find out how our own wild nature is best contextualized in the natural world through the lens of integral ecology and ecopsychology,
Hear about how mythology and astrology affect you in midlife and see personal coaching in action

…and more!

Click here to view the PDF poster.

Please RSVP – October 4 by calling 250-391-2600 ext. 4801Co-Sponsored by the West Shore Arts Council

About Continuing Studies 2010-11

2010-08-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

“What makes me hopeful is not so much the certainty of the find, but my movement in the search.” – Paulo Freire, (1997)

Our cover is designed with the earth in mind. The creek metaphor illustrates those same moving aspects we can experience in our own comings and goings, erodings and tumblings, drifting, shifting and forming as we learn.

Both words - course and curriculum - spring from the same watery root of currere meaning “current”, or “onward movement”, “to run”, “ to flow”. And often in education we refer to specificity in learning as “streams”. This watery allegory brings us to wonder, What wellspring of wisdom lies just beneath the surface? How do small ripples so widely change the course of our lives? How can we be more reflective in our teaching and learning practice? How does the overflow of ‘too much’ , or the swirling eddies and deep whirlpools - the inner ponderings - mirror those same qualities of river? Heraclitus (6th Century BCE) believed it was impossible to step twice into the same river because both the river and the person will have flowed on… continuing…becoming.

Tribal cultures that are still in connectivity with the natural world, refer to the “self” as becoming, as a streaming part of the larger identity of all things in kinship with animals, earth, and ancestors. They believe we are not just living on this earth, but that we are a part of how it lives, we are living elements of it, therefore, what we do to the one, we do to the other. And as the earth is a living and open whole system, and we are living ‘cells’ within that system, it would follow then that the world is more full when we live more fully. In essence, the world becomes more of its self as reflected through our engagement and presence. There are clues too in the word ‘education’ which stems from educe meaning “to draw forth”. Environmental educator, David Orr (2004) writes that “the earth is inscribed in us, and we are of the earth - shot through with wildness” - and that we must teach to draw out our affinity for all that is alive on the earth rather than just accumulate more facts and data. How can we approach learning in this way?

It is in wild nature that this is best contextualized. There we can more easily re/member where we come from, where we belong, and what we love, by coming to recognize and understand our own ecological and earthy identities – our true natures while in nature! In doing so, we wade into deeper reservoirs of understanding of the ways in which we are each meant to contribute to the world in terms of developing our true vocation and cultural leadership. A more eco-centric approach to learning can create the conditions for us to become part of the larger story as we examine how to bring our unique gifts, while inviting companionship rather that commodification with the world in that discovery.

Imagine drawing forth our natural affinity together in this bucolic learning place - Royal Roads University - a space to… immerse in creativity, learn reasoning and critical thought; social marketing and increased personal, social and environmental responsibility. Or lead and influence environmen¬tal action, understand the value of sustainability, green energy and climate change through the lens of the new The Carbon and Energy Leadership Certificate. Become an organic master gardener and grow wild, organic foods, bee-keep, and forage for mushrooms. Learn about transition towns, career transition and right livelihood. Design a natural home, a cob building, an ecological landscape, with permaculture in mind. Explore Coast Sal¬ish culture and reconnection with the natural world, star-gaze. Become a ‘sound’ leader, an alchemist for change, and learn the brain science behind authentic leadership. Communicate in stories, listen deeply and write well. Seek organizational change through dialogic engagement and poetry, trace your roots, manage your time and energy, tap into your deepest longings and plan for the long run. Navigate global transformation, mythology, integral ecology and counseling as if the earth mattered. Sculpt, paint, dance, drum, photograph, and let the arts inform your research. Draw from body-held wisdom in meditative and somatic practices. Become more appreciative, find hope and resiliency, live lightly and lighten up! Journey to the Galapagos Island and mysterious Macchu Picchu to walk in Darwin’s footsteps or put your feet up and drink in the scenery on a wine cruise in France. Change your diet, your investments and your mind!

Brimming with over 270 short courses, this 2010–2011 calendar is literally drenched with opportunities! This year we welcome Tibetan Buddhist, Reginald A. Ray ( Mar 25-26-27), world renowned poet-philosopher, David Whyte (May 6 & 7), author/poet/philosopher, Mark Nepo (June 3-4), and depth psychologist, author and wilderness guide, Bill Plotkin (July 12 and July 13-17).

The work of these elegant and masterful cultural agents transcends normally exclusive learning realms to offer visionary models of human development toward a deeply imaginative lifestream of vocation and leadership. We hope to cultivate the kinds of courageous conversations that encourage the uniqueness of each one of us to become more ourselves in service to the whole, in a willingness to continue living our learning, together…to confluence and flow on.

Hilary Leighton MEd, Director, Continuing Studies

The 2010 Bateman Lecture

2010-06-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communications Program of the School of Environment and Sustainability and the Bateman Centre for Environmental Education and Communication

The 2010 Bateman Lecture - STRIKING THE BALANCE: THE CHALLENGES FACING THOSE SEEKING TO PROTECT NATURE

Protecting nature is a vital task filled with conflict, ethical tension, politics, burnout and great rewards. To be a success it is essential that one work with a full range of partners, oftentimes with sectors or individuals that don’t share or respect your interests. How does one rise above these dilemmas to get the job done, yet at the same time retain one’s dignity and integrity? This lecture will explore the world of conservation, environmental non-profits, the role of science, the importance of language and the necessity of hope as society manoeuvres through this challenging and important time on earth.

The 2010 Bateman Lecture will be presented by Mr. Bob Peart.

Bob Peart has spent his life in the world of conservation. Bob was the Executive Director of the BC chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) from 2000-2003. Prior to working at CPAWS, Bob was a Special Project Negotiator with the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, focusing on Clayoquot Sound and the Chilcotin regions of British Columbia. In the early 90s Bob was Chief of Staff for Cabinet Ministers with the BC Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks and was Executive Director of the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC in the late 80s. Bob also has a strong interest in the museum world and from 1985-1988 was Assistant Director at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. Prior to that he spent 10 years in Ontario and Saskatchewan in various federal government positions with the Canadian Wildlife Service and Parks Canada.

For the past thirty-five years Bob has volunteered for numerous conservation groups at the regional, provincial, national and international level - in particular the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Currently Bob is Chair of the Child and Nature Alliance, a Senior Associate with the Children and Nature Network and an Honorary Board member of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC. Bob also serves on the board of The Kesho Trust, the Young Naturalist Association of BC, IUCN's Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative, the Elders Council for Parks in BC and the Fraser Basin Council.

In 2008 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to conservation and environmental education Bob Peart was awarded Canada's most prestigious conservation award, the J.B. Harkin Medal.

Bob is a registered professional biologist, has a Masters Degree in Education, and has completed formal training in Dispute Resolution at the Justice Institute in Vancouver. He has been an avid outdoors person ever since he was a kid --- he particularly enjoys hiking, backpacking, kayaking and bird watching.
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The 2010 Bateman Lecture will be presented at Royal Roads University on the evening of August 10 from 7:00-9:00 PM. The lecture is open to members of the public and to faculty and students at Royal Roads University. The Bateman Lectures, which were inaugurated in 2005 by Robert Bateman, recognizes the special relationship between Robert Bateman, the Bateman family and Royal Roads University, a relationship embodied in the Bateman Centre for Environmental Education and the Arts. In 2010 Robert Bateman will be presented with the degree of Doctor of Laws, honora causa, at the Royal Roads University Spring Convocation.

Special Lecture Presentation:

2010-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

The Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communications Program of the School of Environment and Sustainability and the Bateman Centre for Environmental Education and Communication

Special Lecture Presentation: Transforming Canada’s Forestry Sector - The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement: Collaboration and Partnership; the 21st Century Business Model

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and nine leading environmental organizations, unveiled an unprecedented agreement on May 18, 2010 that applies to 72 million hectares of public forests licensed to FPAC members. The Agreement, when fully implemented, will conserve significant areas of Canada’s Boreal Forest, protect threatened woodland caribou and provide a competitive market edge for participating companies.

This world-leading collaborative Agreement sets Canada’s forest industry apart from the rest of the world, and clearly signifies a paradigm shift in 21st century business practices. This Agreement ultimately provides others in Canada and around the globe with the opportunity to learn how to develop, and structure, a collaborative approach to finding solutions that meet both environmental and economic objectives.

Presenters will review the two year process of collaborative negotiations, and discuss the implementation objectives that encompass a “whole-cloth” approach to managing the interwoven aspects of the global environment and the economy.

Speakers:

Avrim Lazar is President and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada, since Jan. 1, 2002. He also chaired the National Business Association Roundtable and is the Past-President of the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA). Mr. Lazar has held senior policy positions in the government of Canada in the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture, Environment and Human Resource Development. During this period he was responsible for national policy in areas as diverse as climate change, biodiversity, child poverty, employment insurance and labour force training.

Mr. Lazar was Chair of the Committee of the Whole of the Second UN Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1995. Mr. Lazar taught high school in Vancouver and Zambia from 1969 to 1973. Over the years, Mr. Lazar has given many courses in the graduate studies programs at the University of Ottawa and Carleton
University. Mr. Lazar holds degrees in science and education, including a B.Sc (1968) from McGill University, a B.Ed (1970) and a PhEd in Ed (1976) from the University of Ottawa.

Mr. Lazar has four children.

Lorne Johnson has fifteen years of experience in multi-stakeholder consultation, facilitation and consensus building working with resource industries, government, NGOs, local communities and First Nations. Lorne successfully coordinated the development of regional and national corporate social responsibility standards for Canada’s forest sector for the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) international eco-labelling system between 1996 and 2005. More recently, Lorne led World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) government relations efforts in Ottawa representing the organization on a diversity of files including climate change, oceans management and energy policy. Lorne has a track record of proactively helping industry, government and NGOs find practical solutions to sustainability challenges. Lorne holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University, and a Masters of Science, Forestry, from the University of Toronto. He is now a Principal in the Boxfish Consulting Group and is based in Ottawa.
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The presentation is sponsored by the Royal Roads University, School of Environment and Sustainability and the Bateman Centre for Environmental Education and the Arts as part of the annual Robert Bateman Lecture Series.

Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Time: 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Place: Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC.

Planetize the Movement: Connecting Ecology, Social Justice and Cosmology

2010-03-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

– co-sponsored with Programs in Earth Literacies

In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. said “planetize the movement” calling for a creative mal-adjustment to what were the norms of societal justice and human rights of the day. He asked “Why adjust to insanity? Mal-adjust to right work”. Thankfully today we have eloquent activists like Drew Dellinger who continue to carry this encouragement, to ask provocatively, “What did we do when we knew?” Based on years of study with Thomas Berry, and in-depth survey of the writings and sermons of Martin Luther King Jr., Drew Dellinger connects ecology, cosmology and justice with humanity’s path into a sustainable future through the poetic. Drew is a spoken word poet, teacher, writer, activist and founder of Poets for Global Justice. He has shared the stage with Brian Swimme, Van Jones, Ani DiFranco, Paul Hawken, Alice Walker, Robert Kennedy Jr and others. View his new video http://drewdellinger.org/pages/video/187/hieroglyphic-stairway.

Drew is here at RRU with Continuing Studies for a one day workshop on May 1st….not to be missed! Please pass it on!
http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies/CYGLEL1819-Y09.htm

A Naturalists Journey - Walk with Darwin in the Galapogos Islands

2010-02-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

Continuing Studies is pleased to be offering in partnership with Cruise Holidays Pacific "A Naturalists Journey - Walk with Darwin in the Galapogos Islands"

Join Dr. Richard Kool, Ed.D, Biologist, Educator and Linda Nelson, Cruise and Travel Consultant of Cruise Holidays Pacific for a free information session on a unique touring experience that will take you through the incredible natural wonders . . . of the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador in the fall of 2010!

Date: April 13, 2010 Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

RSVP by March 12, 2010 to Karen Brown in Continuing Studies at 250-391-2600 ext. 4801

Printable Itinerary

Printable Brochure

Every Road Leads Home concert

2010-01-21T13:05:00.001-08:00

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

Continuing Studies facilitators and co-directors Shivon Robinsong and Denis Donnelly present “Every Road Leads Home” with The Getting Higher Choir and special guest Shari Ulrich in support to the Power of Hope’s 12th Annual Benefit.

Cost: $20 ($15 for seniors/students)
When: Friday, January 29 at 7:30pm or Sunday January 31 at 2pm
Where: Alix Goolden Performance Hall (907 Pandora)
Tickets are on sale at: Munro’s Books, Larsen Music, Ivy’s Books, James Bay Coffee and Books, and Dig This (Broadmead). For out of town tickets call 250-995-8731

An Artful Representation of the Life of Cougar Annie

2010-01-21T13:03:00.001-08:00

Continuing Studies is pleased to announce that Katrina Kadoski one of the staff at Cougar Annie’s Garden also known asthe “Pioneer Songstress” will be performing “Pioneer Ballads and Cougar Annie Tales” at Goo Goo Gigs (761 Fort St) on Monday, January 25 (doors open at 7:30 pm, show starts at 8PM - suggested donation of $10.00 at the door.)

Over her tenure as a caretaker and lover of Cougar Annie’s Garden, Katrina has written an in depth, evocative collection of beautiful ballads, created a slideshow with narration and poetry about pioneer life and about Cougar Annie herself. Katrina performs many of these songs during our annual trips to the Garden. It is a brilliant way come to understand more deeply the complexity of life at Hesquiaht Harbour over the last century through the lens of unique character. Not to be missed!

For further information phone 250-381-7797 or www.googoogoogles.ca

And for further info on either of Continuing Studies trips to Cougar Annie’s Garden check out:

The Wild Beauty: An Artful Retreat at Cougar Annie’s Garden (May 2010)

or

The Wild Feminine: Being in Nature and the Nature of Being at Cougar Annie's Garden (Sept 2010)

Mongolia: Nomadic Journeys from the Ancient to the Modern (a travel tour)

2009-12-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

Journey to Mongolia, the historical center of the Mongol Empire and the contemporary site of post-Soviet transition in Asia! Nomadic and pastoral traditions remain pervasive in Mongolian society, and it is still possible today to glimpse aspects of the Asian Steppe as even Genghis Khan may have seen it when he founded the Great Mongol State in 1206. Mongolia is also home to a dynamic and globalizing culture, where democracy and free-market capitalism interact with the frontier spirit of the Inner Asian nomad. Mongolia without a doubt is one of the world’s most fascinating countries, drenched in historical mystique and the paradoxes of tradition and societal change in a globalizing world. In partnership with Continuing Studies at RRU, the American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS), an international academic research centre located at the Mongolian National University, will assist and manage this academic travel program once on the ground in Mongolia for a group limited to 20persons.

We will travel to Mongolia for a 9 day travel tour (with two additional travelling days for a total of 11 days away from Canada). While in Mongolia the group will be based in Ulaanbaatar. The group will also make a multi-day excursion to Kharkhorin, the ancient capital of Mongolia. Along the way the group will see Takhi (wild Mongolian horses), Turkic monuments, and the life of nomadic herders, among many other things, receiving firsthand exposure at the intersection between the modernizing present and the traditional past. This is a rare opportunity to travel with academic guides off the beaten track in places of historical significance and witness the traditional Mongolian nomadic lifestyle and modern Mongolian life.

Topics:
Lectures:
History of the Mongols and Mongolian Statehood
Politics & Foreign Relations
Economic Development
Mongolian Geography and Ecology

Co-curricular Site Visits & Field Trips:
City tour of Ulaanbaatar
National University of Mongolia
Gandan Buddhist Monasteries in Ulaanbaatar
Meet with NGOs working on issues of policy, governance and development
Museums of National History, Natural History and Fine Art
Hustai Nuruu National Park – home of native Takhi horses and Steppe wildlife
Erdene Zuu Monastery in Kharkhorin
Pre-Mongol Turkic historic sites and monuments
Visit herding families and participate in daily activities such as putting up a traditional tent, milking animals, preparing food etc.
The program will include all arrangements for the program itinerary including:
Pre-departure hand out materials and discussions.
Academic presentations presented in English by scholars from academic institutions and other local experts – such as leaders of governmental, non-governmental and business organizations. Handouts will be made available to participants such as maps, charts, and statistical information presented during the lectures. In cases where presenters are unable to speak English, an interpreter will be provided.
Participants will spend four nights in the Mongolian countryside at a traditional “ger” camps – the circular felt tents that the Mongolians have lived in for centuries!
Meals: breakfasts and lunches in Ulaanbaatar, and dinners while in the countryside. Participants will be responsible for their own dinners in Ulaanbaatar
Local transportation: meet, greet and round-trip transfer service from the Ulaanbaatar airport to hotel; daily transportation in Ulaanbaatar to all included activities; all transport outside Ulaanbaatar.

PLEASE NOTE: The hotel in Ulaanbaatar where the participants will spend the majority of their time meets all international standards. The tourist “ger” accommodation, however, while clean and comfortable is based on double-occupancy and has a separate building with hot water and toilets.

Who Should Attend?
Anyone interested in travelling to Mongolia to learn on the ground about this fascinating place and its history, culture and peoples.
History buffs and historians, educators.

Your host during the tour will be the American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS) in partnership with Royal Roads University. The ACMS is a consortium of Canadian, US and international academic institutions, and maintains a full-time staffed office and library at the National University of Mongolia. The ACMS provides visiting and local scholars support and resources to facilitate their research and study. The ACMS will arrange academic lectures and unique educational experiences during your visit. At the centre you will have access to one of the country’s best collections of English language books related to Mongolian history and culture. You will also have access to the internet and office equipment such a photocopier, printer, and scanner. The ACMS will be our partner before, during, and after your visit to Mongolia. For more information on the ACMS, please visit www.mongoliacenter.org

Date: Sunday, June 20 through Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Length: 9 days (plus 2 for travel)
Times: various – field trip
Cost: $2800 + GST
Course Code: GLEA1800
Please Register By: Sunday, April 25, 2010

* Note: Cost includes most meals, accommodation, instruction, tours and transportation while in Mongolia. Price DOES NOT include air travel to Mongolia – please call us for more information.

Wild Beauty: An Artful Retreat at Cougar Annie’s Garden

2009-12-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

Out on the wild westcoast is a secret garden nestled in among the tall ancient trees called Cougar Annie's Garden, we will take a rich and artful journey to a remote retreat location and spend time sketching, drawing, painting, photographing, journal writing, barefoot mapping and celebrating the poetry of being together, being in wild nature!

Join acclaimed biologist, writer, artist and map-maker Briony Penn, well loved painter Joanne Thomson, American nature photographer Nirvan Hope and ecopsychologist, Hilary Leighton and other kindred souls for an artful journey into the garden. This is the time when the gardens are in full bloom leaving us with full evidence that the universe fully expresses its joy through the blush of the azalea. Everyone welcome! No background in art required.

About the Garden: In 1915, Ada-Annie Rae-Arthur, later known as “Cougar Annie”, settled a homestead with her husband and three children in Boat Basin, 50 or so kilometres north of Tofino in Clayoquot Sound on the far reaches of the west coast of Vancouver Island. There, having pre-empted 120 acres within the traditional lands of the Hesquiat peoples, she lived for seventy years and created a garden that is a centre of beauty and interest.

Today, Cougar Annie’s Garden is owned by the Boat Basin Foundation, a non-profit foundation. Surrounded by rainforest and mountains, this wilderness property offers highly unusual educational opportunities to students and to small groups of visitors. Along with Cougar Annie's Garden and the Temperate Rainforest Field Study Centre, the site is very remote, accessible only by boat or float plane.

*This area is not intended as a tourist destination and those who visit must be motivated, physically fit and independent. Rustic but beautiful and comfortable room and board will be included with registration fees. Marshalling at Middle Beach in Tofino, we will take a water taxi to the Stewardson Inlet and a “crummy” to Boat Basin.

For more information please visit the Boat Basin website: http://www.boatbasin.org/ and we recommend you read Margaret Horsfield’s wonderful book, Cougar Annie’s Garden

Facilitators: Joanne Thomson is a professional Artist and Illustrator with a passion for helping adults discover their own creativity through painting and drawing. With a Master’s degree in Adult Education and training as a Registered Nurse Joanne spent many years teaching Nurses and Care Aides. Now she turns her teaching skills toward assisting adults to use art-making for self-discovery or just for the joy of it.

Dr. Briony Penn is a geographer from Saltspring Island. She has lived most of her life on the shores of the Salish Sea. She is an adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies Program of the University of Victoria and a writer and illustrator with illustrated columns in several regional newspapers. She has been creating maps and teaching community mapping for many years around the province. A founding director of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, she has been involved with community stewardship initiatives ranging from landowner contact programs throughout B.C. to teaching for the Wetlands Institute and has written and illustrated various books and educational publications.

Nirvan Hope has been an artist all her life. After studying Experiential Aesthetics at Portland State University, she spent many years travelling, painting, meditating and take photographs around the world. As a painter she had her own studio/gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. Wanting to reach a wider audience with her work, she switched to nature photography. Her work intends to inspire others to seek out their own unique relationship with nature. Reaching deep into connection with nature through the bliss of visceral perception, one can record and bring back images of that journey to share and inspire others. Nirvan owns a successful nature photography business in Western Washington: "Earth Rhythms Photography", and is author of the book "Three Seasons of Bees and Other Natural and Unnatural Things.

Hilary Leighton’s early deep and vivid resonance of living processes and universal patterns in wild nature rooted in her a belief that all teaching is an act of love and remembering – this infuses her writing, teaching and learning She is a natural educator, a perennial learner, a tireless advocate for well-being and a wild poet at heart! Hilary holds a MEd, Curriculum and Instruction from SFU, has studied Ecopsychology (EP) at Naropa University, and is completing a three year program in Integrated Body Psychotherapy Practitioner Training, and not least of all embarking on a doctoral program in EP. She is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader, a certified Myers-Briggs facilitator, and although she spends most of her days imagining and designing ways to bring pedagogical spaces of possibility as the Director of Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University, Hilary derives the most satisfaction from the generosity of teaching and encouraging others - especially out on the land.

Seating is extremely limited so please register early to avoid disappointment!

Date: Friday, May 28 through Sunday, May 30, 2010
Length: 2 nights – 3 daysTimes: various – field trip

Cost: $695 + GST

Course Code: GLEA1798

Please Register By: Friday, May 7, 2010

* Note: cost includes water taxis and transportation to Boat Basin from Tofino, room, board, learning activities, lectures, and tours. Participants responsible for their own transportation to Tofino

FOR THE LOVE OF LEARNING…and the joy of lightening up!

2009-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

This new publication from Brenda Robinson, Continuing Studies facilitator extrordinaire examines how we can bring joy-filled learning experiences to the classroom in at time when education may have gotten altogether too serious!

If you have had the good fortune of being in one of Brenda’s sessions here, you will know that this book really will be a gift!

There are a limited amount of copies available at http://www.robcan.ca/ or by email robcan.mail@shaw.ca or a CD set… see Brenda in action on Youtube www.youtube.com/user/TheRobcanGroup

Are you interested in Green IT?

2009-11-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

Learn how implementing Green IT practices can transform your organization’s sustainability. Join Jessica Vreeswijk, BCom, MCPM, MBA in Sustainable Business, and President of Terrabytes Consulting and Green IT Tools.com for a free 2 hour presentation to examine the environmental impact of IT equipment, specific green IT practices, and provide you with resources to help you make smart IT decisions designed to minimize your environmental impact and save you money.

This presentation is perfect for sustainability and IT professionals who want to learn what green IT is and how it can benefit their business. It serves as a precursor to the Conducting A Green IT Assessment course held here on February 18, 2010. http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies/CYGLEL1814-Y09.htm

Length: evening talk - 2 hours
Date: Thursday, December, 3, 2009
Times: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: No charge
To save a seat, please call Continuing Studies at 250-391-2600 ext 4801.

Facilitator: Jessica Vreeswijk, BCom, MCPM, MBA in Sustainable Business Candidate (2009) is the founder and principal of Terrabytes Consulting and Green IT Tools.com. Jessica is passionate about providing green information technology services to a range of organizations, from non-profits to large businesses. With a background in IT operations, project management, and sustainability, Jessica provides organizations with the counsel and tools they require to measure and reduce the environmental and financial impact of their information technology. The Director of IDC (Canada) said this of Jessica’s presentation, "Brilliant presentation. One of the most practical and actionable presentations I've attended on Green IT."

GREEN CHRISTMAS - A Hand-on Making of Fresh Wreaths, Swags and Garland

2009-11-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

Using native BC boughs, greens and cones, join acclaimed wild crafter Betty Foote in a relaxed and productive day of creating fragrant Christmas decorations from the wild. This workshop is informative, fun and interactive, and you will leave with fresh, natural decorations for your entire home.

Pack a lunch and we’ll supply the coffee, tea and cookies in the afternoon but register early as seating is limited! All supplies included.

Hands-On Making of Fresh Wreaths, Swags and Garlands

Dates: Saturday, December 12 or Sunday, December 13, 2009

Times: 10 am – 2 pm Cost: $ 65 + GST

Course Codes: GLNA1844 (Saturday) or GLNA1845 (Sunday)

To register call 4801 or visit www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies

Email: continuingstudies@royalroads.ca

Natural Leaders funding - please vote & promote!

2009-11-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Continuing Studies is supporting an idea from the Children and Nature Alliance (the result of the Get Outside! It’s In Our Nature forum held at RRU last year and co-sponsored by this department) in the Aviva Community Fund, a competition that could result in positive change in communities across Canada.

If the idea receives enough votes, it will have a chance at sharing in $500,000 of funding, and we have 12 days left to vote and every vote counts. You can vote once per day. They need about a hundred more votes. We would really appreciate your help in elevating this idea to the finals.

Please vote for it at http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf1444

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS….!

2009-10-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

Chris Leischner who has taught altered book-making for Continuing Studies for the past four years is having her own show on Salt Spring Island this weekend with three other artists, called Rock, Paper, Scissors!

For more on altered books and to read about Chris’s particular talents, view her course offering called Create An Altered Book Earth Journal. Chris will be on campus on March 6^th to providing all of the necessary supplies, expertise, encouragement and inspiration for participants to create their own ecological placebooks and artfully reconnect to the source of all we are (earth) through creative recycling (discarded books and found ephemera). This is a really cool course for those who want to experience this medium firsthand and its many and wide applications (in any content area) and is especially suitable for those who teach and those who want to facilitate diverse ways that self-expression contributes to meaning-making and knowledge as we deconstruct the old to reconstruct something entirely unique to convey the phenomenological.

Where: Noble Studio, 2636 Fulford-Ganges Rd
When: 2-5pm, Saturday October 17, 2009

For further information on Chris' Altered Books course call 250-391-2600 ext 4801 or click here

A Wise Elder

2009-10-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

It is with deep gratitude that we send out thanks to the 65 or so Getting’ Higher Choir (GHC) members who sang for the venerable Joanna Macy (respected Buddhist scholar, articulate and passionate writer and speaker, fierce activist, and imaginative teacher) last Thursday evening to a sold-out crowd of 250 on the Quarterdeck! Singing in the evening with a resonant rendition of Gaia- Another World is Possible and led by their co-director, Shivon Robinsong, the choir set a tone of intention and love that wrapped itself around and held the evening.

Joanna was brilliantly inspiring – you could have heard a pin drop the entire time this wise and enlivened elder woman spoke of our dark time and the precious gifts that are making themselves available to us as we take the time to honour the pain for the world and share all of ourselves (and what it means to be fully human), with each other and with the more than human world. Closing with We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For and then a book signing, many lingered on, basking in the glow of what beautiful thing had just happened!

For more information on Joanna Macy visit http://www.joannamacy.net/ or for information on a Continuing Studies course of The Work That Reconnects in November, click here or call ext 4801.

Cougar Annie's Garden Trip 2008

2009-09-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Spotlight on Green Learning...

2009-09-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Location: The Grant building - Quarterdeck Cost: $15.00 + GST
Course Code: GLEL1769-Y08

The Hidden Promise of Our Dark Age: The Wisdom, Strength & Beauty We Are Discovering - an evening talk with Joanna Macy

"As we free ourselves from the delusions and dependencies bred by the industrial growth society, something wonderful can happen to us. If we manage to steer clear of panic, we may well find at last the wild power of our creativity and solidarity."

The ecological and social crises we face are inflamed by an economic system dependent on accelerating growth. This self-destructing political economy sets its goals and measures its performance in terms of ever-increasing corporate profits--in other words by how fast materials can be extracted from Earth and turned into consumer products, weapons, and waste. A revolution is underway because people are realizing that our needs can be met without destroying our world. To see this as the larger context of our lives clears our vision and summons our courage. Joanna Macy provides this context in an inspirational evening talk, The Hidden Promise of Our Dark Age.

This is a precious and hope-filled opportunity …please join us!

RRU Continuing Studies calendar distributed in today's Times Colonist

2009-09-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

More than 250 learning opportunities are unveiled in the new Continuing Studies Calendar distributed today in the Victoria Times Colonist. The vision for this year's ambitious continuing studies calendar . . . comes from this question; 'What life wants to be lived through you?'" said Hilary Leighton, director of Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University. "Perhaps together we can find the answer."

See the new continuing calendar online. Hard copies are also available at libraries, recreation centres and other locations on and off campus.

Has it been a long time or a short time since we last met?

2009-09-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

While we carefully designed and co-created this year with our brilliant facilitators and learning partners, we imagined you here on this lifelong path exploring with us over 270 trans-disciplinary (non-degree) educational opportunities and events that promise to be extraordinary!

Join futurist Meg Wheatley (Sept 30th), eco-philosopher Joanna Macy (Oct 8th), and social justice poet Drew Dellinger (May 1st) in one of the most magnificent places on earth - where Edwardian gardens, a 1908 castle and ancient forests meet the ocean and the snow-capped Olympia’s beyond.

And we're bringing back favourites such as the Professional and Applied Communications Skills Certificate, the three Professional Management Skills Certificates and NEW this year -- an Eco-Literacy Certificate with competency areas that cover: systems thinking, social and environmental responsibility, designing with the earth in mind, community-building and collaboration, and more. Not least of all, for those alumni who “learn until they know” instead of when the program ends, we offer a 5 day post-graduate in residency certificate – Foundations in Innovation and Transformation - beginning in January.

Off campus Continuing Studies is proud to co-sponsor an innovative leadership event designed to ignite social change and foster communities of practice called The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter October 15-18, 2009 at the Tamawaga Campus, on Vancouver Island, just south of Nanaimo. These 3 days will explore how to apply the practices of courageously inviting, designing and hosting conversations that matter (such as Open Space Technology, World Cafe, Circle, and Appreciative Inquiry) during times of uncertainty. Visit www.berkana.org/aoh for registration.

Now is the perfect time to collaborate, participate and learn together!

See you soon…

The Continuing Studies team

Ask yourself, “What life wants to be lived through me?”

2009-09-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

“In wildness is the preservation of the world” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Brilliant physicist and cosmologist, Brian Swimme recently suggested we simply substitute the word ‘resource’ for ‘relative’ to remind ourselves of our kinship with all living things. The salmon, for example would no longer be reduced to something for our use but rather become a relative to know and care for. This clever word exchange elegantly reveals our intrinsic interconnectedness with all of life. We would no sooner think of selling off our natural resources than selling our own mothers! A shift in perspective, indeed.

The time is ripe for shifting into new and fresh ways of knowing, being, and thinking. But perhaps there are clues in the not so new. If we look to the instruction-filled ecological systems of the natural world we see age old, ubiquitous examples of innovation, cooperation and community, or to the 14 billion year old story of the universe tellung us of an evolutionary push toward unstoppable creativity since the beginning, or to healthy, life-enhancing tribal cultures that supported each person to discover his or her particular and deeply fulfilling way of belonging to the world… then we can see the world as interactive and recognize that we come from this place (instead of own or control it) -- that we’re all in this together especially when we participate! By spending more time outside in nature, especially with our children, we are readily reminded that the changes we seek are actually well within our reach.

Learning together can also be a catalyst for such transformations through the relational and living inquiry of trans-disciplinary practices that further the conditions that invite: multiple intelligences; originality; creative ignition; critical thought; and personal, social and environmental responsibility. In dialogue and open exchange, we learn to become more ourselves, deeply understanding of the unique ways in which we are each meant to serve this world. It is both a personal and a planetary act of grace (and salvation) to develop ourselves in this way, to grow up rather than simply age, and take responsibility of how we can best serve in our place of belonging. This in turn contributes to the likelihood of keeping the world’s diversity of possibility alive and well and increasing exponentially.

Here is your invitation to learn about: sustainable and eco-systems based living; transition towns; hand-sculpted houses; and energy and emissions through the new Eco-Literacy Certificate. Grow organic food and healthy children, bee-keep, forage for mushrooms, explore ethnobotany. Become water smart, put your passion to work, change the world by telling a different story and just listen for a change. Find expression in art, music, drumming, and writing. Seek renewable leadership, lead as mensch, or lead from the inside out. Develop compassion from ecopsychology, draw from body-held wisdom in meditative practice. Journey to the wilds of Cougar Annie’s Garden or the far reaches of Mongolia to learn more about the mystery and spirit of the people, the land and the history of place.

Inspire by learning, stay awake and listen deeply for eloquence and unexpected teachers everywhere ...like futurist Meg Wheatley (Sept 30th), eco-philosopher Joanna Macy (Oct 8th), and social justice poet Drew Dellinger (May 1st). And not least of all, for those alumni who “learn until they know” instead of when the program ends, a 5 day post graduate residency certificate (Jan).

Ask yourself, “What life wants to be lived through me?” And perhaps, when we all participate in rich, wide-ranging opportunities for experiential and emergent life-long learning (here and elsewhere), we will all one fine day live into the answers.

Hilary Leighton,
Director, Continuing Studies

Spotlight on Professional Advancement:

2009-08-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Meg Wheatley on Renewable Leadership: How to Respond Well to Crisis after Crisis

Renewable energy comes from sources (such as wind and solar) that are never used up no matter how much they’re used. For the past several years, Meg has been working in-depth with leaders and communities in the U.S. and Australia who have experienced repeated crises and disasters. She has noted their capacity to function at high performance levels during the crisis, then use the pause time to learn and refine their responses and thus prepare themselves for the next challenge. Meg is calling this capacity to keep responding well to each crisis, “Renewable Leadership.” and her interest has been in understanding the cyclical nature of crisis response: immediate response followed by periods of learning in order to prepare for the next crisis.

Meg has come to realize that the lessons learned from such terrible crises as Katrina are fully relevant to all organizations and all situations during this era of turbulence and uncertainty. How does any organization not only respond, but also grow and learn, so that it is better positioned for the next disruption or crisis? How does an organization or community grow in resiliency and intelligence in these chaotic times?

Renewable leadership relies on the skills, intelligence, generosity and caring of people within the organization and the community of stakeholders. These leaders know how to build a strong container for self-organization, where people use their own intelligence and experience to decide how best to respond in the moment. Creating this container requires several fundamental conditions and actions:

The leader has a clear theory of action that explains why people do what they do, and dedicates time to educating everyone to become skilled in its application.

The leader is present, available, appreciative and communicating constantly.

The leader knows the roadmap of the journey out of the current crisis and constantly draws attention to the progress that’s been made and where the organization is on this journey of recovery.

A strong web of relationships among staff is woven ahead of time and tended to over time.

People know how to learn; time and resources are given to making learning visible and sharing it among all stakeholders.

The organization knows itself, what its capacities, strengths and weaknesses are.

The organization is clear at its core: everyone knows what the expectations, standards and values are and how to embody them in whatever the context.

Who Should Attend?

Everyone who leads and or aspires to leadership
Those interested in renewable personal energy!

Facilitator: Margaret Wheatley, EdD., writes, teaches, and speaks about how we might organize and accomplish our work in chaotic times. She invites us to attend to the quality of our relationships to weather the increasing turbulence. She knows that whatever the problem, community is the answer. She is co-founder and President emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable global foundation that works in partnership with a rich diversity of people around the world who strengthen their communities by working with the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions and environment. (www.berkana.org) She has written four books: Leadership and the New Science (in twenty languages and third edition), Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (in two editions), A Simpler Way (with Myron Rogers) and, most recently, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. Her numerous articles appear in both professional and popular journals and may be downloaded free from her website. www.margaretwheatley.com Wheatley received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior and Change from Harvard University, and a Masters in Media Ecology from New York University. She has been a global citizen since her youth, serving in the Peace Corps in Korea in the 1960s. She was a practicing consultant for 30 years to a very wide variety of organizations on all continents.

Length: 1 day
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Times: 9am – 5pm
Cost: $255 + GST
Course Code: PABL1951
Please Register By: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

For further information please call 250-391-2600 ext 4801 or toll free at 866-890-0220

Everything Conspires to Tell Us....

2009-08-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. ~Robert Frost, 1920.

Everything conspires to tell us the story of life – the forest, the mountains, the birds, the salmon, the slug, the bear, the stars. Our own cultural story has, in the words of Thomas Berry, “become inadequate for meeting survival demands of the present situation” (1988, pg xii). So, how do we create an empowering new story while appreciating the distant past, present and near future?

It seems our society lives in a state of irony where organizations stumble along in disorganization, leaders seem rudderless, peace-keepers engage in war, over-consumption creates a culture of wanting and emptiness, ‘organic’ products ship in plastics, and not least of all, advanced communication technologies threaten to isolate and further disconnect us all. And the supreme irony is that the same systems that served to deliver mankind into industrial ‘progress’ now act as a powerful, disintegrational force. What can we learn from these paradoxes? What road shall we take to find our way through this dark and challenging wood?

There has never been in all of our history such a perfect time for us to start listening to and reviving our intimacy with the phenomenal, animate world returning to the primordial source of all that we are and ask, “What can we learn from the places we inhabit?” When we foster our human-earth relationships, engage in a discourse with the wider natural community and develop a deep and abiding sense of place and connection beyond the borders of the modern mind, we begin to hear the call of earth’s aliveness everywhere – a resounding “yes”, everywhere, instruction.

If we care to look, learning can be found codified in: ecological perspectives that value natural living systems as our primary teachers; the boundarylessness of the human smile; the perennial return of spring; the endless intuition of the river, the calm before the storm, the wellspring of knowing of the ancient traditions, the sweet triumphant life of the seed that grows in the sidewalk crack. Learning happens when we make the time to seek, listen, question, and wonder. And lifelong learning – that crosses multiple disciplines - can light the way on many new paths of possibility in an atmosphere of open participation, critical inquiry, creativity and curiosity, honour and care. A compelling invitation to live into the larger questions that are our lives.

Participate, rejuvenate, incubate, while contributing to cultivating a more sustainable, resilient, and peace-filled existence for all. Keep learning and be more responsible to what you know -and as the poet says- choose the path that will make all the difference.

~We’ll meet you there…

Hilary Leighton, MEd
Director, Continuing Studies

first printed in 2008-09 CS Calendar

A Wide World of Possibilities at Royal Roads University

2009-08-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men.

Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them; for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.” ~Thomas Merton, 1961

This is a precious time.

Our ability to gather sufficient information in order to character-and nation-build, and our ability (and freedom) to act to create a civil and just society that understands the interconnected open system in which we live, will enable our very survival. We dedicate this work to the legacy of our ancestors, to the unborn generations, and to the living body of the earth, by recognizing there are many ways of building a democratic, peaceful, compassionate, and sustainable civilization. Learning together, we can shift perceptions, awaken communities of practice, collaborate, listen to one another and embrace the wisdoms of ancient and sacred traditions.

Learning together in this exquisite forested and gardened space by the sea, reaffirms out interconnectedness to everything that lives. Learning together transforms and readies us to contribute more to our families, our co9mmunities and our organizations. Learning together brings meani8ng and purpose, encourages questions and conversations, opens up to a wide world of hope-filled possibilities, and bonds us into collective action.

This is a precious place.

Everyone is welcome here, every voice is heard. We honour the richness of experience and knowledge that each learner brings in a climate of open participation, critical inquiry, curiosity and creativity.

This is your invitation to participate in true trans-disciplinary learning to: incubate ideas; explore and map out new paths; gather information and research, build friendships and networks; increase personal responsibility, skills, knowledge and confidence. And not least of all, in all that we do - the personal and professional - find ways to create a more sustainable existence on this earth - the source of all we are and all we can achieve.

Hilary Leighton, MEd
Director Continuing Studies Royal Roads University

originally printed in CS calendar September 2007