Annual Activities Report -- Metropolis Project CERIS Toronto Fiscal Year 1997-98 Submitted to SSHRC April 30, 1998 Administration and Infrastructure Executive Committee Members of the Executive Committee and their Responsibilities The CERIS Executive Committee consists of the Chair of the Management Board, the three directors, and the two staff coordinators. The Executive Committee meets every two weeks, or more often if needed, to coordinate and plan activities on the basis of the decisions made by the Management Board. The participation of the Management Board Chair provides an essential level of communication and continuity between the Executive Committee and the Management Board. The remaining members of the Executive Committee, along with participating in the collective duties of the Executive, have a number of particular tasks within CERIS. Dr. Morton Beiser, CERIS Director, reports to the Management Board on implementation of their decisions by the directors and staff, on behalf of the Executive, through his director's reports (see Appendices). He is responsible for our fundraising activities and funding initiatives, and is a member of the Major Research Initiatives Working Group. During the past year Dr. Beiser has devoted a large amount of his time to planning and developing, in collaboration with CJRT-FM, the public radio broadcast series Strangers Becoming Us. Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride, Associate Director, is Chair of the Communications Committee and Managing Editor of the CERIS Newsletter. She is also very active within the Metropolis network in developing collaborative research within the Education Domain. Dr. Valerie Preston, Associate Director, is Chair of the Data Committee. Dr. Preston during the recent year has been very active in dissemination activities, both in Canada and internationally, linked to CERIS research and the Metropolis project. Our Academic Coordinator Dr. Anneke Rummens coordinates all aspects of the research program as determined by the Management Board including the development and circulation of the annual Request for Proposals and the adjudication process. She is also responsible for liaison with CERIS researchers, visiting scholars and international delegations. As well, Dr. Rummens is a member of the Major Research Initiatives Working Group. During the past year, Dr. Rummens was particularly busy with the intensive work involved in formalizing our process of affiliation. The Administrative Coordinator / Business Officer is Mr. Ted Richmond, whose responsibilities include general financial management and reporting, along with coordination of office activities. Mr. Richmond acts as Recording Secretary to the Management Board and provides the agendas and minutes for Executive meetings. Along with his administrative responsibilities, much of Mr. Richmond's time is taken up with liaison with our government and community partners including the PAC and the Advisory Committee on Immigration and Refugee Issues in the City of Toronto. Mr. Richmond also plans and coordinates the CERIS WebSite and Resource Centre and supervises temporary and contract staff, student placements and volunteers working in these areas. As well, Mr. Richmond is a member of the CERIS Data Committee. Collective Work of the Executive Committee During the past year a number of issues have required the collective attention of the CERIS Executive Committee in general and the three directors in particular. The greater part of these involved coordination of common activities within the Metropolis network among the four centres and with the National Secretariat including planning of national and international conferences, seeking additional funding sources, examining accounting practices, regularizing meetings of Centre directors, developing standard practices for the Metropolis WebSites, and a joint letter on the 2001 Census. A particularly intensive task for the CERIS directors and staff during the recent year was that of dealing with the Metropolis Management Review. Along with organizing meetings with the consultants and providing large amounts of requested information, members of the Executive were involved in attempting to correct factual errors in the documents produced by the review and bringing the issues raised by the review process to the attention of our Management Board and the PAC. Support to CERIS Director Dr. Morton Beiser in developing new sources of funding for CERIS activities was an integral part of the activities of the Executive this past year. By the end of the year a number of grants to support expanded research and dissemination activities were in development or had been submitted. Discussions with our university partners of possibilities for expanded fund raising, and contacts with foundations, were developed in the past year and hopefully will be consolidated in the coming year. Office Support and Communications Infrastructure CERIS' Secretary Office support to CERIS' activities is now provided by Sue Ann Nguyên Trng, who was hired as our fulltime secretary in November, 1997. Sue Ann came to Canada as a refugee from Vietnam, and for the past six years worked at NOAH Reception Centre for refugees. Her computer skills and experience with a hectic work environment provide essential support to our office work. Thanks are in order as well to the others who took on secretarial duties at CERIS in the past year: Lynn Caruso, Donald Mitchell, Fidelia Torres, and Dan Weisz. Sue Ann has received training on the time-consuming computerized accounting system at the University of Toronto (FIS) and will be taking over more of the tasks of routine financial management from the Administrative Coordinator. Communications Infrastructure In our Activities Report last year, CERIS identified the necessity to improve its communications infrastructure to support our extended and diverse activities. During the past year this was largely accomplished. The mailing list database was completed and automated routines for automatic faxing were established. A recent and key innovation in this regard is the development of a monthly bulletin distributed by electronic mail. Along with providing timely information on recent and upcoming events for those involved with CERIS, the introduction of the monthly email bulletin has significantly reduced the time spent by staff and directors on routine communications. Back to Table of Contents