Faculty of Education names new director of Indigenous initiatives
Frank Deer
Dr. Frank Deer, former acting associate dean (undergraduate programs) and current assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, has been named the Faculty of Education’s inaugural Director of Indigenous Initiatives, effective July 2014.
In this new position, Deer will work to support the field of Indigenous education as a field of study and practice. He will also be responsible for upholding the University of Manitoba’s vision for advancing Indigenous achievement by positively influencing teaching, research and service related to the field of Indigenous education.
“It’s not just about empowering Indigenous teacher candidates—although that’s a very important part of it. This is about a field that should be accessible to Indigenous and non-Indigenous students,” Deer says.
Some duties of Deer’s new role will include: developing an Indigenous Teacher Education Program (ITEP); providing support for Indigenous graduate students at the M.Ed. and Ph.D. levels; and working with faculty members to integrate Indigenous perspectives across the curriculum.
Deer earned a PhD in educational administration from the University of Saskatchewan in 2008 after obtaining a BEd and MEd from the University of Manitoba in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He has been a classroom teacher in the Frontier School Division and the Winnipeg School Division. His scholarly interests include Indigenous education, the philosophy of education, Indigenous languages and identity studies.
“The appointment of Frank Deer to this new role is an important step for the Faculty. Our Indigenous faculty members already contribute significantly to the provincial, national and international dialogue on Indigenous rights and education—this will help take our efforts to the next level,” says Dean David Mandzuk.
Deer is the recipient of a 2014 SSHRC grant for the study, “First Nations Languages: A Comparative Study in Culturally Relevant Sustainability.” He is president of the Canadian Association for the Study of Indigenous Education (CASIE) and has published articles in journals such as InEducation and the Canadian Journal of Education.