By Jeffrey Trainor (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 6, 2015
Prof Talk is The Cascade’s oral history series, featuring the people best qualified to talk about what UFV has been like over the course of its first few decades: its professors. Each week we’ll interview a professor from a different department, asking them what UFV was like before it was UFV, and how they expect things will continue to change here.
Greg Schlitt is a math professor at UFV. He has been a full-time professor here for 23 years.
What brought you to UFV?
Originally I came to UFV as a student. I was here when it was Fraser Valley College in 1980 and 1981. I did my first two years of university here and then went off to UBC, SFU, and McMaster. I came back here as an instructor in 1992 after a post-doc at SFU. So I was here just when it was converting from Fraser Valley College to UCFV. It was an exciting place to be, on the ground floor of the program, so I was here helping build all those things.
When you first started here as an instructor, was there a big influx of new staff due to the change from FVC to UCFV?
There was a big hire that year — I believe the number was about 35 new people hired that year and then [about] 20 the next. So yeah, there were large changes afoot. There was a big new crowd, lots of fresh faces and so on.
What did you initially teach when you started at UCFV?
I was here for the degree program — the program was just starting in math, and we only had minors in those days, but we did have a few upper level courses, so I was teaching, just like now, all across the spectrum: first to fourth year and some university prep stuff as well. That hasn’t really changed; we have more courses, but I still teach the same spectrum.
You mentioned the change from FVC to UCFV. How about the change from UCFV to UFV — what was that shift like?
There’s been a lot of changes throughout the institution, many mandated by our becoming a university. We are a lot more on the ball now and there’s a lot more need for care and governance. We have exempt status now with the Ministry of Advanced Education, which means we can advance programs much more readily than we used to. Having that requires we have departmental reviews and so on, so there’s a good deal more happening now in terms of structure, but necessarily so.
Has your teaching approach changed over time?
Yeah, it has. I would say it’s more interactive now than it used to be. It’s a funny thing that graduate students are taught to be disciplined experts, but they’re not usually given much pedagogical instruction, so it’s assumed because we’re content experts that we’re pedagogical experts, which is not necessarily the case. So, there’s a good deal of growing to do in one’s teaching as you move along. I can’t say I’ve arrived at my goal but I can say I’ve made some progress.
How has technology impacted your approach?
I’m using the web a good deal more now than I used to, so students have a good deal of support from getting instructional materials from the web, online testing, and so on. I also use a tablet in class and all these sorts of things, so it’s a more dynamic environment, but there’s still that time for the whiteboard — nothing can replace a whiteboard. Sometimes — especially in math — sometimes you’re developing a big, broad argument and a PowerPoint slide just doesn’t cut it.
Have you done any research projects while you’ve been teaching?
Yes, I have an ongoing project in an area of group theory, which is my research area. I had a sabbatical about two years ago, which is where I spent some time advancing that project, so I have a paper in the works about that. I spent a good deal of time — probably in total eight or nine years — as department head, so I’ve had a lot to do with the administration, program growth and that kind of thing.
How have you noticed the area around the university change during your tenure?
Well, Chilliwack has changed a good deal, in particular with the university — the CEP campus is a wonderful place, like a built-in university campus. In a sense, it’s kind of a pity everything couldn’t be there because there is land, space, and a wonderful environment. That being said, there are interesting plans here afoot with the university [district], so it’ll be interesting to see that in 10 years — it will be really exciting. We’re kind of marooned here on the edge of industrial parks and so on, so in some ways it can be not that inspiring an environment; it becomes a commuter campus. But if we can build a community around us, I think that will strengthen the university, just make it that much better, make it more welcoming a place, and a better academic environment too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
