Robin Mueller

Background

About Robin Mueller

I situate myself as a white Settler Canadian, currently living as an uninvited visitor on the traditional lands of the Snuneymuxw ancestors and families. My ancestral ties are to England, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. I acknowledge that my maternal and paternal extended families have lived on and profited from stolen land for over 100 years. I take responsibility for the harm done to Indigenous peoples through this occupation, and I seek to contribute to the reparation of relationships by fore-fronting the land and Indigenous peoples in both my personal and professional lives; my focus is on supporting other Settler Canadians to shoulder the work of decolonization. I am a leader, teacher, scholar, and consultant. Over the past 25 years, I have honed my expertise in higher education administration and leadership, specifically in the areas of strategic planning, change leadership, pedagogical innovation, and settler decolonization in post-secondary systems. Additionally, I have fifteen years of teaching experience in higher education, where I specialize in experiential and inquiry-based learning. I am recognized for my research and community engagement in the areas of social innovation, social innovation education, higher education pedagogy, strategic planning, change management, and leadership development. I also worked for over a decade in university student services, which influenced my ongoing commitment to student success in higher education. I have articulated philosophies of teaching, research, and leadership that intersect in three ways to inform my overarching beliefs about higher education practice. First, I believe that it is my responsibility as a scholar and educational leader to foster environments that enable deep learning, which are welcoming, inclusive, collaborative, and safe spaces for exploration. Second, I believe that all aspects of higher education—teaching, research, and community engagement—are most effective when they are curiosity and inquiry driven. Third, I believe that learning is an active and dynamic process, so teaching, research, and leadership in higher education ought to be equally active and dynamic. I believe that higher education enacted in alignment with these principles can lead to transformative experiences for students, teachers, researchers, and communities alike.