Reflecting on Professor Stuart Poyntz’ Time as Director of the School of Communication

When School of Communication Professor Stuart Poyntz was confirmed as Director of the School three years ago, it was at a time of need within the department. The COVID crisis was still very much ongoing, and the university was only beginning to return to operating in-person activities. With School leadership in transition, several colleagues asked Stuart to step up to take on the role of School Director, beginning in September of 2021.

Poyntz was no stranger to leadership positions, having previously worked as the Education Director of The Cinematheque in Vancouver for over a decade, along with stints as Associate Dean (2016-2019) and Acting Dean (2019) in the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology at SFU.

“I would describe myself for a very long time as being an institution builder. I’m invested in the idea that there are key places, like the School of Communication, for people to gather in, lead from and learn from,” says Poyntz.

When he began his term as School Director in 2021, Poyntz made it a goal to gradually invite people back into the School and to work together to support each other in the waning time of COVID. He believes strongly in the power of being together, of providing access for all while finding ways to return to campus life, something he considers to be the heart and soul of the university experience. Despite this belief, there were challenges in rebuilding the School community in the after years of COVID.

“What I have learned again over the last three years is that you must recognize that people’s work, performance and needs are quite diverse. My version of how things should look cannot be the version. You must collaborate, you have to be flexible, and you have to be willing to listen to people and their particular needs,” says Poyntz.

Despite the challenges of returning to campus, he believes that the School was able to do so in a way that allowed people to feel cared for. This began with weekly catch-up sessions in the CMNS lounge where staff and faculty were invited to meet with each other in a large space, to begin the process of rebuilding community in the School. Students walking by would also be welcomed into such gatherings, to find in-person connection in a time when so many felt isolated and alone.

“Efforts to gradually rebuild the School in a way that we could be proud of has been received very well. People have put their weight behind major initiatives, major programs and have found ways to work together in a post-COVID environment,” says Poyntz.

To this end, it has been an eventful three years in the School of Communication.

A renovated media production studio (for students and faculty) has been opened in TASC II on Burnaby campus and a new faculty/graduate student research lab has been opened at Harbour Centre (HC 3520).  The School also celebrated its 50^th Anniversary in the fall of 2023 under Poyntz’ leadership, hosting a range of events including  a speakers’ series, an alumni celebration, a research symposium and a new digital timeline that tracks the history of the School since its inception.

Poyntz’ fondest memories in the School include organizing the retirement party for Professor Emerita Alison Beale, who Poyntz has known since he was a MA student in the School in the early 1990s, the 50^th Anniversary celebrations, and a surprise barbecue in August of 2024, organized to celebrate his term as School Director. Such events show both his willingness to serve and celebrate others, as well as the faculty and staff’s recognition of his commitment to the School of Communication.

Poyntz’ service to the School will continue in his new role as Associate School Director, where he will provide support for new School Director, Milena Droumeva, as they transition into their new role. Poyntz describes this support as a form of scaffolding and hopes that this tradition will continue as a way to support new leaders when they take on key roles in the School.

Without the demands of being the School Director, Poyntz is excited to return to his research program and to the classroom as a teacher, a role he has long valued in his university career.

“Throughout my career I have developed close, deep and sustained relationships with undergraduate and graduate students. I’m looking forward to returning to teaching at a different stage in my life, which I think presents a new dynamic with students that I’m excited to see unfold,” he says.

One of Poyntz’s main research projects involves work that he’s been doing in Australia on a new form of urban schooling that responds to urbanization and the increasing diversification and gentrification of cities. These new schools, called vertical schools, really flip the script about how schooling environments are designed and how adolescents respond to them. He is interested in this project because it’s about space and young people’s experiences in cities, which have always been two dynamic areas of research and work for Poyntz.

He will also continue in his role as a Director of SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative, a project he took on in 2019 and which has developed into a robust hub to support and lead community-centred research locally, nationally and beyond. His new co-edited book, (with Drs. Am Johal and Kari Grain) titled, Critical Futures: Community-Engaged Resarch in a Time of Social Transformation (UTP) will be published early in 2025 and this will mark a new phase in Poyntz’s research and collaboration that will guide his work in the years ahead.